lyL  -^  •' 


i 


► 


HISTORY 


CHKISTIAN  CHIJECH 


PHILIP  SCHAFP 


Christianus  sum  :  Christiani  nihil  a  me  alienum  puto 


VOL.   IV. 

MEDIEVAL    CHRISTIANITY 

From  Gregory  I  to  Gregory  Vn 
A.D.  590-1073 


NEW  YOEK 
CHARLES  SCRIBKER'S   SONS 

1885 


COPTRICnT  BT 

PniLU'    SCUAFF. 
1885 


OEA.NT  *  r^IUES 
PUILADKLrillA 


TO 
HIS  OLDEST    AMERICAN   FRIEND 

The  Rev.  GEOEGE  L.  PRENTISS,  D.D. 

PROFESSOR  IN  THE  UNION  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

THIS  VOLUME  IS 

DEDICATED 

BY 

THE  AUTHOR 


My  Dear  Prentiss  : 

When,  forty-five  years  ago,  we  met  in  tlie  house  of  Tholuck 
at  Halle,  then  in  Neander's  lecture-room  at  Berlin,  and  two  years  later 
in  St.  Peter's  and  on  the  Capitol  at  Eome,  and  wandered  over  the  ruins 
of  the 

urbs  ceterna,  qua  nihil  possis  visere  majus, 

we  did  not  dream  of  ever  seeing  each  other  in  your  native  land,  still  less 
of  becoming  colleagues  there  in  the  same  institution  of  sacred  learning. 
But  this  thought  occurred  to  me  even  then :  If  Prentiss  is  a  fair  speci- 
men of  his  countrymen,  I  would  not  object  to  live  and  labor  among 
them. 

I  was  not  mistaken  in  you,  nor  disappointed  in  America.  That  Pro- 
vidence which  shapes  our  ends  far  better  than  we  could  do  ourselves, 
brought  us  together  in  the  most  congenial  field  of  labor,  where  German, 
English,  and  American  ideas  and  learning  find  a  hospitable  home  and 
hopeful  pupils.  The  recent  festival  of  dedication  of  the  new  buildings 
on  Lenox  Hill  marks  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  our  beloved  Seminary, 
and  makes  us  more  willing  than  ever  to  devote  the  remainder  of  our 
lives  to  its  service  and  welfare.  May  every  year  be  a  "step  heaven- 
ward," till  we  reach  heaven  itself  to  meet  our  beloved  friends  and  co- 
workers who  have  already  passed  from  the  theology  of  faith  to  the 
theology  of  beatific  vision. 

Yours,  in  unbroken  friendship. 

Philip  Schaff. 
New  York,  Union  Theological  Seminary. 

January  1,  1885. 


CONTENTS. 


MEDIEVAL  OHEISTIAE'ITY. 

FROM  A.   D.   590-1517. 


CHAPTER  I.  PAGE 

General  Ijttroductiok  to  Medieval  Church  History. 

§  1.  Sources  and  Literature, 1 

§  2.  The  Middle  Age.     Limits  and  General  character,          ...  5 

§  3.  The  Nations  of  Medieval  Cliristianity,  Kelt,  Teuton,  Slav,        .  7 

§  4.  Genius  of  Medieval  Christianity, 11 

§  5.  Periods  of  the  Middle  Age, 14 


FOURTH   PERIOD. 

THE  CHURCH  AMONG  THE  BARBARIANS. 

From  Gregory  I.  to  Gregory   VII. 
A.  D,  590—10  49   (10  73). 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Conversion  of  the  Northern  and  Western  Barbarians, 

§  6.  Character  of  Mediaeval  Missions,   .......  17 

I.  The  Conversion  of  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland. 

§     7.  Literature, 19 

§     8.  The  Britons, 22 

1  9.  The  Anglo-Saxons, 27 

2  10.  The  Mission  of  Gregory  and  Augustin.  Conversion  of  Kent,  .  30 
§  11.  Antagonism  of  the  Saxon  and  British  Clergy,  ....  35 
§  12.  Conversion  of  the  other  Kingdoms  of  the  Heptarchy,  ...  37 
i  13.  Conformity  to  Rome  Established.  Wilfrid,  Theodore,  Bede,  .  39 
§  14.  Conversion  of  Ireland.     St.  Patrick,  St.  Bridget,           ...  43 

(Critical  Note  on  St.  Patrick). 

§  15.  The  Irish  Church  after  St.  Patrick, 52 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

{  1(T.  Subjection  of  Ireland  to  English  and  Roman  Rule,      ...  53 

J  17.  Convereion  of  Sc-ollaud.    St.  Ninian  and  St.  Kcntigern,  d 

I  18.  St.  Columbaaud  the  Munatitcry  of  lona, G4 

I  111.  The  Culdccs, ''^ 

1  20.  Extinction  of  the  Keltic  Church,  and  Triumph  of  Rome  under 

King  David  I., "^ 

II.  The  ChnrfTsion  of  France,  Germany,  and  Adjacent  Countries. 

General  Literature •         •         •  ''i 

S  21.  Arian  ClirLstianity  among  the  Goths  and  other  German  Tribes,  .  77 

J  2'J.  ConviTsion  of  ("lovis  and  the  IVanks, 80 

2  *2:J.  CoIumbaniLs  and  the  Irish  Missionaries  on  the  Continent,    .  84 

I  24.  (iurinan  Missionaries  before  Boniface, 89 

{  2-3.  Boniface,  the  AiMxstle  of  Germany, 92 

1  2C.  Pupils  of  Boniface.     Willibald,  Gregory  of  Utrecht,  Sturm  of 

Ful.la, 100 

5  27.  Conversion  of  tlie  S.ixon.s.     Cliarlemagne  and  Alcuin.     The  Ile- 

liand  and  tlie  Gosi)el  Harmony,      .         .        ^         .        .        .102 

III.  The  Conversion  of  Scandinavia. 

General  Literature, 106 

5  2S.  S<andinavi:in  Heathenism, 107 

2  2*.  Cliristlanization  of  Dcnm.irk.     St.  Ansgar,        .         •         .         .  IlO 

1  SO.  Ciirisiiaiiization  of  Sweden, 118 

5  31.  Christianization  of  Norway  and  Iceland,  120 

IV.   The  Christianizalion  of  the  Slavs. 

2  32.  Genend  Survey, 124 

{  33.  Chri.stian  MLisions  among  the  "Wends 126 

1  34.  Cyrillas  and  Methodius,  the  Apostles  of  the  Slavs.    Christianiza- 

lion of  Moravia,  Bohemia  and  Poland, 12S 

2  3.5.  Conversion  of  the  Bulg.-iri.ins,  I.34 

I  36.  Conversion  of  the  Magyars, 135 

{  37.  Chrlsiianizatioo  of  Russia, 13S 

ClIArrER  IIL 

Mon.\MMEDAXISM  IN  ITS    RkI.ATIuN  TO  ClIULSTIAXITY 


1  38.  Literature, 

i  39.  Statistic*  and  Chronological  Table,  . 

{  40.  Position  of  Mohammedanism  in  Chureh  Hi.storv, 
§  41.  The  Home,  and  the  AnttTodents  of  Ishim, 

2  42.  Life  an<l  ClianictiT  of  Mohammed, 

{  43.  Till"  ( 'oiiiiui-sts  of  Islam,   ..... 
{  44.  Tiie  Koran  antl  the  I>il)lo,    .         .         .         .         . 


143 
148 
150 
155 
160 
171 
174 


I  45.  The  Mohammedoo  Religion,    ......        133 


CONTENTS.  ix 

PAGE 

§  46.  Mohammedan  Worship, .190 

§  47.  Christian  Polemics  against  Islam.     Note  on  Mormonism,        .        195 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Papal  Hierarchy  and  the  Holy  Eoman  Empire. 

§  48.  General  Literature  on  the  Papacy, 203 

§  49.  Chronological  Table  of  the  Popes,  Anti-Popes  and  Emperors  from 

Gregory  I.  A.  D.  590  to  Leo.  XIII.  A.  D.  1878,  .        .        205 

§  50.  Gregory  the  Great.    A.  D.  590-604, 211 

§  51.  Gregory  and  the  Universal  Episcopate, 218 

§  52.  The  Writings  of  Gregory,    .         .         .         .         .         .__       .         .225 

I  53.  The  Papacy  from  Gregory  I.  to  Gregory  II.  A.D.  604-715,  .  230 
§  54.  From  Gregory  II.  to  Zacharias.     A.  D.  715-741,  .         .  '       .     231 

§  55.  Alliance  of  the  Papacy  with  the  New  Monarchy  of  the  Franks. 

Pepin  and  the  Patrimony  of  St.  Peter.    A.  D.  741-755,       .        232 

g  56.  Charlemagne.  .  A.  D.  768-814 236 

§  57.  Founding  of  the  Holy  Eoman  Empire.    A.  D.  800.    Charlemagne 

and  Leo  III., 250 

§  58.  Survey  of  the  History  of  the  Holy  Eoman  Empire,  .  .  .  255 
§  59.  The  Papacy  and  the  Empire  from  the  Death  of  Charlemagne  to 

Nicolas  I.     A.  D.  814-858.     Myth  of  the  Papess  Joan,       .        264 

§  60.  Tiie  Pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals, 266 

§61.  Nicolas  L     April,  858— Nov.  13,  867, 273 

§  62.  Adrian  II.  and  John  VIII.,  A.  D.  867-882,  .  .  .  .277 
§  63.  Degradation  of  the  Papacy  in  the  Tenth  Century,    .        .        .        279 

§  64.  Interference  of  Otho  the  Great, 288 

§  65.    Second  Degradation  of  the  Papacy  from  Otho  I.  to  Henry  III. 

A.  D.  973-1046.   .        .  " 293 

§  66.  Henry  III.  and  the  Synod  of  Sutri.     Deposition  of  Three  Eival 

Popes.    A.  D.  1046 299 


CHAPTEE  V. 

The  Conflict  op  the  Eastern  and  Western  Churches  and  their 

Separation. 

§  67.  Sources  and  Literature  on  the  Oriental  Schism,    ....  304 

I  68.  Consensus  and  Dissensus  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches,  306 

§  69.  Causes  of  Separation, 309 

§  70.  The  Patriarch  and  the  Pope.     Photius  and  Nicolas,    .         .         .  312 

§  71.  Progress  and  Completion  of  the  Schism.     Cerularius.     1054.    .  317 

§  72.  Fruitless  Attempts  at  Eeunion,             321 


CONTEXXa 

CHAPTER  VI. 
MoRAxs  AND  Religion. 

PAGE 

2  73.  Literature, 326 

§  74.  General  Character  of  Mediajval  MoraLs,           ....  327 

g  75.  Clerical  Morals 330 

?  76.  Domestic  Life. 333 

§  77.  Slavery,         ...                  334 

§  78.  FcuiLs  and  Private  War.    The  Truce  of  God,           .        .  339 

I  79.  Tlie  Ordeal, 341 

§  80.  The  Torture, .348 

i  81.  Christian  Charity, 355 


CHAPTER  Vn. 

MONASTICISM. 

2  82.  Use  of  Convents  in  the  Middle  Ages, 363 

§  83.  St.  Benedict,  St.  l^^ilus,  St.  Romuald, 364 

I  84.  The  Convent  of  Cluny, 367 


CH.\PTER  VIIL 

CrnjKCH  Discipline. 

§  85.  The  Penitential  Books, 371 

i  86.  Ecclesiastical  Punishments.    Excommunication,  Anathema,  In- 
terdict,           376 

2  87.  Penance  and  Indulgence, 381 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CnuKCH  AND  State. 

2  88.  LeRisIation   .    .  386 

2  89.  Tlie  Roman  Law 388 

2  90.  The  Capitularies  of  Charlemagne, '  390 

§  91.  English  Legislation, 392 


CO^"TENTS. 


§92. 

§93. 

§94. 

§95. 

§96. 

§97. 

§98. 

§99. 
§100. 
§  101. 
§102. 

§103. 

§104. 
§105. 


CHAPTEE  X. 
Worship  and  Ceremonies. 

PAGE 

TIieMass, ^97 

The  Sermon, 399 

Church  Poetry.     Greek  Hymns  and  Hymnists,  ....  402 

Latin  Hymnody.     Literature,  ......  416 

Latin  Hymns  and  Hymnists, 420 

The  Seven  Sacraments, 436 

The  Organ  and  the  Bell, 439 

The  Worship  of  Saints, 442 

The  Worship  of  Images.     Literature.     Different  Theories,         .  447 

The  Iconoclastic  War,  and  the  Synod  of  754,  .         .         •  454 

The  Restoration  of  Image- Worship  and  the  Seventh  (Ecumenical 

Council,  A.  D.  787, .459 

Iconoclastic  Reaction  and  Final  Triumph  of  Image-Worship. 

A.  D.  842, 464 

The  Caroline  Books  and  the  Prankish  Church,  .         •         .  465 

Evangelical  Eeformers.    Agobard  of  Lyons  and  Claudius  of  Turin,  470 


CHAPTER  XL 

Doctrinal  Controversies. 


§  106.  General  Survey, 

§  107.  I.  The  Procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit,    . 

§  108.  The  Arguments  for  and  against  the  Filioque, 

§  109.  II.  The  MoNOTHELETic  Controversy.     Literature, 

§  110.  The  Doctrine  of  Two  Wills  in  Christ, 

§  111.  History  of  Monotheletism  and  Dyotheletism, 

§  112.  The  Sixth  (Ecumenical  Council.     A.D.  680, 

§  113.  The  Heresy  of  Honorius,  .        .        .        • 

§  114.  Concilium  Quinisextum,     A.  D.  692,   . 

§  115.  Reaction  of  Monotheletism.    The  Maronites,  . 

§  116.  III.  The  Adoptionist  Controversy.     Literature, 

§  117.  History  of  Adoptionism, 

§  118.  Doctrine  of  Adoptionism, 

§  119.  IV.  The  Predestinarian  Controversy.     Literature 
§  120.  Gottschalk  and  Rabanus  Maurus, 

?  121.  Gottschalk  and  Hincmar, 

§  122.  The  Contending  Theories  of  Predestination,  and  the  Victory 

Semi-Augustinianism, 

§  123.  The  Doctrine  of  Scotus  Erigena  on  Predestination  and  Free  Will 

§  124.  V.  The  Eucharistic  Controversies.     Literature, 

§  125.  The  Two  Theories  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  .        .        •        . 


of 


475 
476 
484 
489 
490 
494 
499 
500 
507 
510 
511 
513 
517 
522 
525 
528 

530 
539 
543 
544 


cii  CONTENTS. 

?  12G.  The  Theory  of  Paschasius  Kadbertus, 

2  127.  The  Theory  of  RatramnuP,       .... 

§  128.  The  Eerengar  Controversy, 

2  129.  Berengar's  Tlieory  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 

§  130.  Lanfranc  and  the  Triumph  of  Traasubstantiation, 


PAGE 
.     546 

549 
.     554 

564 
.    567 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Heretical  Sects. 


131.  The  Paulicians, 

132.  The  Eiichites  and  other  Sects  in  the  East, 

133.  The  New  Manichaeans  in  the  West,  . 


573 

578 
680 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  State  of  Learning. 


§  134.  Literature, 583 

5  135.  Literary  Character  of  the  early  Middle  Ages,  .         .         .  585 

§  136.  Learning  in  the  Eastern  Church, 586 

§  137.  Christian  Platonipm  and  the  Pseudo-Dionysian  Writings,         .  589 

I  138.  Ignorance  in  the  Wejt, 600 

§  139.  Educational  Efforts  of  the  Latin  Church,  ....  604 

1  140.  Charles  the  Great,  and  Charles  the  Bald, 614 

2  141.  King  Alfred,  and  Education  in  England,        ....  618 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

BioGRAPnicAL  Sketches  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Writers. 

§  142.  Chronologist  List  of  the  Principal   Ecclesiastical  Writers  from 

the  Sixth  to  Ihe  Twelfth  Century, 621 

I.  Greek  Authors. 

§  143.  St.  Maximus  Confessor,    ........  622 

I  144.  St.  .Jolin  of  Dama.scus, 626 

§  145.  Photius 636 

?  146.  Simeon  Metaphrastes, 642 

§  147.  Gi^cumenius, 643 

§  148.  Theophylact ...  643 

I  149.  Michael  Psellns, 646 

§  150.  Enthymins  Zigabenus, 647 

§  151.  Eustnthius  of  Thcssalonica, 648 

§  152.  Nicetas  Acominatos, 652 


CONTENTS.  xiii 
II.  Latin  Authors. 

PAGE 

§  153.  Cassiodorus, G53 

^  154.  St.  Gregory  of  Tours,  .        .        .        , 658 

I  155.  St.  Isidore  of  Seville, 662 

§  156.  The  Venerable  Bede, 669 

§  157.  Faul  the  Deacon, .  677 

§  158.  St.  Paulinus  of  Aquileia, 681 

I  159.  Alcuin, 684 

§  160.  St.  Liudger, 691 

§  161.  Theodulph  of  Orleans, 695 

I  162.  St.  Eigil, 699 

§  163.  Amalarius, 701 

I  164.  Einhard, 704 

I  165.  Smaragdus, •     .         .  709 

§  166.  Jonas  of  Orleans,          .        .        . 711 

I  167.  Kabanus  Maurns, 713 

I  168.  Haymo  of  Halberstadt, 728 

I  169.  Walahfrid  Strabo, 729 

§  170.  Florus  Magister  of  Lyons, 733 

I  171.  Servatus  Lupus, 735 

\  172.  Druthmar, •         ....  739 

§  173.  St.  Paschasius  Eadbertus, 741 

^  174.  Eatramnus,    .        .        .        , 746 

I  175.  Hincmar  of  Eheims, 750 

\  176.  Scotus  Erigena, 761 

§  177.  Anastasius, 774 

§  178.  Eatherius  of  Verona, 776 

I  179.  Gerbert  (Sylvester  II.), 777 

I  180.  Fulbert  of  Chartres, ...  782 

§  181.  Eodulfus  Glaber.    Adam  of  Bremen 785 

i  182.  St.  Peter  Damiani, 787 


Alphabetical  Index 793 


*l 


HISTORY 

OP 

MEDIAEVAL  CHRISTIANITY. 

FEOM  A.D.  590  TO  1517. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  TO  MEDIEVAL  CHURCH  HISTORY. 

§  1.  Sources  and  Literature. 

August  Potthast  :  Blbliotheca  Historica  Medii  Acevi.  Wegweiser  durch 
die  Oeschichtsioerke  des  Europaischen  Alittelalters  von  375-1500.  Ber- 
lin, 1862.    Supplement,  1868. 

The  mediaeval  literature  embraces  four  distinct  branches. 

1.  The  Romano-Germanic  or  Western  Christian ; 

2.  The  Grseco-Byzantine  or  Eastern  Christian; 

3.  The  Talmudic  and  Rabbinical ; 

4.  The  Arabic  and  Mohammedan. 

We  notice  here  only  the  first  and  second ;  the  other  two  will  be  mentioned 
in  subdivisions  as  far  as  they  are  connected  with  church  history. 

The  Christian  literature  consists  partly  of  documentary  sources,  partly  of 
historical  works.  We  confine  ourselves  here  to  the  most  important 
works  of  a  more  general  character.  Books  referring  to  particular 
countries  and  sections  of  church  history  will  be  noticed  in  the 
progress  of  the  narrative. 
I.  Documentary  Sources. 

They  are  mostly  in  Latin — the  official  language  of  the  Western  Church,— 
and  in  Greek, — ^the  official  language  of  the  Eastern  Church. 

1 


2  MEDIEVAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

(1)  For  the  history  of  missions:  the  letters  and  biographies  of  mis- 
sionaries. 

(2j  For  church  polity  and  government:  the  official  letters  of  popes, 
j)atriarch.s,  and  bishops. 

The  documents  of  the  papal  court  embrace  (a)  Regesta  [registra),  the 
transactions  of  the  various  branches  of  the  papal  government  from 
A.  D.  1198-1572,  deposited  in  the  Vatican  library,  and  difficult  of 
access,  (b)  Epistolas  decretales,  which  constitute  the  basis  of  the 
Corpus  juris  canonici,  brought  to  a  close  in  1313.  (c)  The  bulla 
{bulla,  a  seal  or  stamp  of  globular  form,  though  some  derive  it  from 
Pov'/.i;,  rvill,  decree)  and  briefs  {breve,  a  short,  concise  summary),  i.  e., 
the  official  letters  since  the  conclusion  of  the  canon  law.  They  are 
of  equal  authority,  but  the  bulls  diffiir  from  the  briefs  by  their  more 
solenm  form.  The  bulls  are  written  on  parchment,  and  sealed  with 
a  seal  of  lead  or  gold,  which  is  stamped  on  one  side  with  the  effigies 
of  Peter  and  Paul,  and  on  the  other  with  the  name  of  the  reigning 
pope,  and  attached  to  the  instrument  by  a  string ;  while  the  briefs  are 
Avritten  on  paper,  scaled  with  red  was,  and  impressed  with  the  seal 
of  the  fisherman  or  Peter  in  a  boat. 

(3)  For  the  history  of  Christian  life :  the  biographies  of  saints,  the 
disciplinary  canons  of  synods,  the  ascetic  literature. 

(4)  For  worship  and  ceremonies :  liturgies,  hymns,  homilies,  works  of 
architecture,  sculpture,  painting,  poetry,  music.  The  Gothic  cathe- 
drals are  as  striking  embodiments  of  mediaeval  Christianity  as  the 
Egyptian  pyramids  are  of  the  civilization  of  the  Pharaohs. 

(5)  For  theology  and  Christian  learning:  the  works  of  the  later  fathers 
(beginning  with  Gregory  I.),  schoolmen,  mystics,  and  the  forerunners 
of  the  Reformation. 

II.   DOCUMENTAUY  COLLECTIONS.     WOEKS  OF  MEDIEVAL  WeITEES. 

(1)  For  the  Oriental  Church. 

Corpus  Scriptorum  Ilistorice  Bgzanfince,  opera  NiEBTJHElI,  Bekkeei,  et  al. 
Bonnx',  1828-78,  50  vols.  8vo.  Contains  a  complete  history  of  the 
E;u<t-Roinan  Empire  from  the  sixth  century  to  its  fall.  The  chief 
writers  are  Zoxaeas,  from  the  Creation  to  A.  D.  1118;  Nicetas,  from 
1118  to  120G;  GitEGOEAS,  from  1204  to  1359;  Laonicus,  from  1298 
to  14G3;  DucAS,  from  1341  to  1462;  Pheantzes,  from  1401  to  1477. 

J.  A.  Fabeicius  (d.  173G) :  Bibliotheca  Grceca  site  Notitia  Scriptorum 
rctcrum  Grcvcorum,  4th  ed.,  by  G.  Chr.  Harless,  with  additions. 
Hamburg,  1790-1811,  12  vols.  A  supplement  by  S.  F.  W.  Hoff- 
mann :  Bibliograplmchcs  Lexicon  dcr  gesammten  Liter atur  der 
Gricchcn.     Leipzig,  1838-'45,  3  vols. 

(2)  For  the  Western  Church. 

Jiibliothcca  Afaxima  Patrum.     Lugduni,  1677,  27  vols.  fol. 

Mahtene  (d.  1739)  and  Dueand  (d.  1773)  :    Thesaurus  Anecdotorum 

Novtu,  ecu   Colkdio  Monutnentorum,  etc.     Paris,  1717,  5  vols.  fol. 

V,\  the  same :    Vdcrum  Scriptorum  ct  Monumentorum  Collectio  ampliss. 

Paris,  1724-'33,  9  vols.  fol. 


§1.   SOUECES   AND   LITERATURE.  3 

J.  A.  Fabeicius  :  Bibliotheca  Lat'uia  MedicB  et  Infimce  JEtatis.     Hamb. 

1734,  and  with  supplem.  1754,  6  vols.  4to. 
Abbe  MiGNE :  Patralogice  Cursus  Completus,  sive  Bibliotheca  Universalis  .  .  . 

Patrum,  etc.     Paris,  1844-'66.     The  Latin  series  (1844-'55)  has  221 

vols.  (4  vols,  indices) ;  the  Greek  series  (1857-'66)  has  166  vols.   The 

Latin  series,  from  torn.  80-217,  contains  the  writers  from  Gregory 

the  Great  to  Innocent  III.     Eeprints  of  older  editions,  and  most 

valuable  for    completeness  and    convenience,  though    lacking   in 

critical  accuracy. 
Abbe  HoRAY  :  Ifedii  JEui  Bibliotheca  Patristica  ab  anno  MCCXVI  usque 

ad  Concilii  Ti'identini  Tempera.     Paris,  1879  sqq.    A  continuation  of 

Migne  in  the  same  style.     The  first  4  vols,   contain  the    Opera 

Honorii  IIP. 
Joan.  Domin.  Mansi  (archbishop  of  Lucca,  d.  1769) :  Sacrorum  Con- 

ciliorum  nova  et  amplissima  Collectio.     Florence  and  Venice  1759- 

1798,  31  vols.  fol.     The  best  collection  down  to  1509.     A  new  ed. 

(fac-simile)   publ.   by   Victor  PalmS,  Paris   and    Berlin   1884  sqq. 

Earlier  collections  of  Councils  by  Labbe  and  Cossart  (1671-72, 

18  vols),  COLET  (with  the  supplements  of  Mansi,  1728-52,  29  vols. 

fob),  and  Haedouin  (1715,  12  vols.  fob). 
C.  COCQUELINES :  Magnum  Bullarium  Bomanum.     Bullarum,  PrivUegio- 

runi  ac  Diplomatmn  Romanorum  Pontificum  usque  ad  Clementem  XII. 

amplissima  Collectio.     Eom.  1738-58.     14  Tom.  fol.  in  28  Partes; 

new  ed.  1847-72,  in  24  vols. 
A.  A.  Barberi  :    Magni  Bullarii  Bom.  Continuatio  a  Clemente  XIII.  ad 

Pium  VIII.  (1758-1830).     Rom.  1835-'57,  18  vols.  fol.     The  bulls 

of  Gregory  XVI.  appeared  1857  in  1  vol. 
G.  H.  Pertz  (d.  1876):  Montimenta  Germanioe   Historica.   Hannov.  1826- 

1879.    24  vols.  fol.    Continued  by  G.  Waitz. 

III.  Documentary  Histories. 
Acta  Sanctorum  Bollandistarum.  Antw.  Bruxellis  et  Tongerlose,  1643- 
1794;  Brux.  1845  sqq.,  new  ed.  Paris,  1863-75,  in  61  vols.  fol.  (with 
supplement).  See  a  list  of  contents  in  the  seventh  volume  for  June 
or  the  first  volume  for  October  ;  also  in  the  second  part  of  Potthast, 
sub  "Vita,"  pp.  575  sqq. 

This  monumental  work  of  John  Bolland  (a  learned  Jesuit,  1596- 
1665),  Godefr.  Henschen  (tl681),  Dan.  Papebroch  (tl714),  and  their  as- 
sociates and  followers,  called  Bollandists,  contains  biographies  of  all 
the  saints  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  order  of  the  calendar,  and 
divided  into  months.  They  are  not  critical  histories,  but  compila- 
tions of  an  immense  material  of  facts  and  fiction,  which  illustrate 
the  life  and  manners  of  the  ancient  and  mediteval  church.  Potthast 
justly  calls  it  a  "  riesenhaftes  Denkmal  wissenschaftlichcn  Strebens."  It 
was  carried  on  with  the  aid  of  the  Belgic  government,  which  con- 
tributed (since  1837)  6,000  francs  annually. 


4  MEDLEVAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

C-E3.  Bauoxius  (d.  1607) :  Annates  ecdesiastici  a  Chrisfo  nato  ad  annum 
1198.  Rom.  1588-1593,  12  vols.  Continued  by  Raynaldi  (from 
1198  to  15G5),  Laderchi  (from  1566-1571),  and  A.  Theiner  (1572- 
1584).  Best  ed.  by  Mansi,  with  the  continuations  of  Raynaldi, 
and  the  Critica  of  Pagi,  Lucca,  1738-'59,  35  vols.  fol.  text,  and  3  vols, 
of  index  universalis.  A  new  ed.  by  A.  Theiner  (d.  1874),  Bar-le-Duc, 
1864  sqq.  Likewise  a  work  of  herculean  industry,  but  to  be  used 
with  critical  caution,  as  it  contains  many  spurious  documents,  legends 
and  fictions,  and  is  written  in  the  interest  and  defence  of  the  papacy. 

IV.  Modern  Histories  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

J.  M.  F.  Fraxtix  :  Annates  du  moyen  age.     Dijon,  1825,  8  vols.  8vo. 

F.  Ri:nM :  Geschichte  des  Mftelalters.     Marbg,  1821-'38,  4  vols.  8vo. 

IlKiNKicn  Leo:  Geschichte  des  Mittetatters.     Halle,  1830,  2  vols. 

Chaiu'EXTIER  :  IFistoire  titeraire  du  moyen  age.     Par.  1833. 

R.  HampsoS':  Mcdii  ^oi  Calendarium,  or  Dates,  Charters,  and  Customs 
of  the  Mddle  Ages,  with  Kalenders  from  the  Xth  to  the  XVth  century. 
London,  1841,  2  vols.  8vo. 

Hexry  IIallam  (d.  1859) :  View  of  the  State  of  Europe  during  the  Middle 
Ages.  London,  1818,  3d  ed.  1848,  Boston  ed.  1864  in  3  vols.  By  the 
game :  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  Europe  in  the  Ibth,  Kith,  and 
nth  centuries.  Several  ed.,  Engl,  and  Am.  Boston  ed.  1864  in  4 
vols.;  N.  York,  1880,  in  4  vols. 

Charles  Hardwick  (11859) :  A  History  of  the  Christian  Church.  Middle 
Age.    3d  ed.  by  Stubbs,  London,  1872. 

Henry  Hart  Milman  (11868) :  History  of  Latin  Christianity;  includ- 
ing tfuit  of  the  Popes  to  the  Pontificate  of  Nicliolas  V.  London  and  N. 
York,  1854,  8  vols.,  new  ed.,  N.  York  (A.  C.  Armstrong  &  Son),  1880. 

Richard  Chexevix  Trexcu  (Archbishop  of  Dublin)  :  Lectures  on 
Mrdirrvnl  Church  History.     London,  1877,  republ.  N.  Y^ork,  1878. 

V.  The  Mediaeval  Sections  of  the  General  Church  Histories. 

(a)  Roman  Catholic  :  Baronius  (see  above),  Fleury,  Mohler,  Alzoq, 

DuLLixciER  (before  1870),  Hergenrother. 

(b)  Protestant:  MosHEiM,  Schrockh,  Gieseler,  Neander,  Baur, 
Hagexbach,  Robertson.  Also  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the 
Rom.  Empire  (Win.  Smith's  ed.),  from  ch.  45  to  the  close. 

VI.  Auxiliary. 

DoMix.  Du  Canoe  (Charles  du  Fresne,  d.  1688) :  Glossarium  ad  Scriptores 
mrdiw  rt  injiinrc  Latinitatis,  Paris,  1678;  new  ed.  by  Henschel,  Par. 
1840-'60,  in  7  vols.  4to ;  and  again  by  Favre,  1883  sqq.— By  the 
Eamc:  Glofsarium  ad  Scriptores  media;  et  infimce  Grcecitatis,  Par. 
1682,  and  Lugd.  Batav.  1G88,  2  vols.  fol.  These  two  works  are  the 
philological  keys  to  the  knowledge  of  niediteval  church  history. 

An  Kiij:lisli  nl.  of  the  Latin  glossary'  has  been  announced  by  John 
Murray,  of  Lon<loii :  Mrdiwval  Lntin-English  Dictionary,  based  upon 
t/ir  grriit  wttrl:  of  Du  Cange.  ]Vith  additions  and  corrections  by  E,  A. 
Dayman. 


§  2.    THE  MIDDLE  AGE.   LIMITS  AND  GENERAL  CHARACTER.  5 

§  2.  The  Middle  Age.     Limits  and  General  Character. 

The  Middle  Age,  as  the  term  implies,  is  the  period  which 
intervenes  between  ancient  and  modern  times,  and  connects  them, 
by  continuing  the  one,  and  preparing  for  the  other.  It  forms 
the  transition  from  the  Grseco-Roman  civilization  to  the  Romano- 
Germanic  civilization,  which  gradually  arose  out  of  the  inter- 
vening chaos  of  barbarism.  The  connecting  link  is  Christianity, 
which  saved  the  best  elements  of  the  old,  and  directed  and 
moulded  the  new  order  of  things. 

Politically,  the  middle  age  dates  from  the  great  migration  of 
nations  and  the  downfall  of  the  western  Roman  Empire  in  the 
fifth  century;  but  for  ecclesiastical  history  it  begins  with  Gre- 
gory the  Great,  the  last  of  the  fathers  and  the  first  of  the  popes, 
at  the  close  of  the  sixth  century.  Its  termination,  both  for  secu- 
lar and  ecclesiastical  history,  is  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century  (1517),  which  introduces  the  modern  age  of  the  Chris- 
tian era.  Some  date  modern  history  from  the  invention  of  the 
art  of  printing,  or  from  the  discovery  of  America,  which  pre- 
ceded the  Reformation ;  but  these  events  were  only  preparatory 
to  a  great  reform  movement  and  extension  of  the  Christian 
world. 

The  theatre  of  mediaeval  Christianity  is  mainly  Europe.  In 
Western  Asia  and  North  Africa,  the  Cross  was  supplanted 
by  the  Crescent;  and  America,  which  opened  a  new  field  for 
the  ever-expanding  energies  of  history,  was  not  discovered 
until  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

Em"oj)e  was  peopled  by  a  warlike  emigration  of  heathen  bar- 
barians from  Asia,  as  America  is  peopled  by  a  peaceful  emigra- 
tion from  civilized  and  Christian  Europe. 

The  great  migration  of  nations  marks  a  turning  point  in  the 
history  of  religion  and  civilization.  It  was  destructive  in  its 
first  effects,  and  appeared  like  the  doom  of  the  judgment-day; 
but  it  proved  the  harbinger  of  a  new  creation,  the  chaos  pre- 
ceding the  cosmos.  The  change  was  brought  about  gradually. 
The  forces  of  the  old  Greek  and  Roman  world  continued  to 


6  MEDLEVAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

work  for  centuries  alongside  of  the  new  elements.    The  barbarian 
irruption  came  not  like  a  single  torrent  Avhich  passes  by,  but  as 
the  tide  which  advances  and  retires,  returns  and  at  last  becomes 
master  of  the  flooded  soil.     The  savages  of  the  north  swept 
down  tlie  valley  of  the  Danube  to  the  borders  of  the  Greek 
Emi)irc,  and  southward  over  the  Rhine  and  the  Vosges  into 
Gaul,  across  the  Alps  into  Italy,  and  across  the  P}Tenees  into 
Spain.     They  wore  not  a  single  people,  but  many  independent 
triJHJs;  not  an  organized  army  of  a  conqueror,  but  irregular 
hordes  of  wWd  warriors  ruled  by  intrepid  kings ;  not  directed 
by  the  ambition  of  one  controlling  genius,  like  Alexander  or 
Caxsar,  but  prompted  by  the  irresistible  impulse  of  an  historical 
instinct,  and  unconsciously  bearing  in  tke^r  rear  the  future  des- 
tinies of  Europe  and  America.     They  brought  with  them  fire 
and  sword,  destruction  and  desolation,  but  also  life  and  vigor, 
respect  for  woman,  sense  of  honor,  love  of  liberty — noble  in- 
stinct-', which,  being  purified  and  developed  by  Christianity, 
became  the  governing  principles  of  a  higher  civilization  than 
tliat  of  Greece  and  Rome.     The  Christian  monk  Salvian,  who 
lived  in  the  midst  of  the  barbarian  flood,  in  the  middle  of  the 
fifth  century,  draws  a  most  gloomy  and  appalling  picture  of  the 
vicas  of  the  orthodox  Romans  of  his  time,  and  does  not  hesitate 
to  give  j)reference  to  the  heretical  (Arian)  and  heathen  barba- 
rians, "  whose  chastity  purifies  the  earth,  deep  stained  "with  the 
Roman  debauches."     St.  Augustin    (d.  430),  who  took  a  more 
sober  and  comprehensive  view,  intimates,  in  his  great  w'ork  on 
the  Cifi/  of  God,  the  possibility  of  the  rise  of  a  new  and  better 
civilization  from  the  ruins  of  the  old  Roman  empire;  and  his 
j)upil,   Orosius,   clearly   expresses   this   hopeful   view.     "  Men 
assert,"  he  says,  "  that  the  barbarians  are  enemies  of  the  State. 
I  reply  that  all  the  East  thought  the  same  of  the  great  Alexan- 
der ;  the  Romans  also  seemed  no  better  than  the  enemies  of  all 
H(K,:icty  to  the  nations  aiar  off,  whose  repose  they  troubled.     But 
the  (ireeks,  you  say,  established  empires;  the  Germans  overthrow 
them.     "Well,  the  Macedonians  began  by  subduing  the  nations 
which  afterwards  they  civilized.     The  Germans  are  now  upset- 


§  3.   THE   NATIONS   OP   MEDIAEVAL   CHEISTIANITY.  7 

ting  all  this  world ;  but  if,  which  Heaven  avert,  they  finish  by 
continuing  to  be  its  masters,  peradventm-e  some  day  posterity 
will  salute  with  the  title  of  great  princes  those  in  whom  we  at 
this  day  can  see  nothing  but  enemies." 

§  3.    The   Nations   of  3Iecliceval    Christianity.     The   Kelt,   the 
Teuton,  and  the  Slav. 

The  new  national  forces  which  now  enter  upon  the  arena  of 
church-history  may  be  divided  into  four  groups : 

1.  The  Romanic  or  Latin  nations  of  Southern  Europe,  in- 
cluding the  Italians,  Spaniards,  Portuguese  and  French.  They 
are  the  natural  descendants  and  heirs  of  the  old  Roman  nation- 
ality and  Latin  Christianity,  yet  mixed  with  the  new  Keltic 
and  Germanic  forces.  Their  languages  are  all  derived  from  the 
Latin  ;  they  inherited  Roman  laws  and  customs,  and  adhered  to 
the  Roman  See  as  the  centre  of  their  ecclesiastical  organization ; 
they  carried  Christianity  to  the  advancing  barbarians,  and  by 
their  superior  civilization  gave  laws  to  the  conquerors.  They 
still  adhere,  with  their  descendants  in  Central  and  South  Ame- 
rica, to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

2.  The  Keltic  race,  embracing  the  Gauls,  old  Britons,  the 
Picts  and  Scots,  the  Welsh  and  Irish  with  their  numerous  emi- 
grants in  all  the  large  cities  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States,  appear  in  history  several  hundred  years  before  Christ,  as 
the  first  light  wave  of  the  vast  Aryan  migration  from  the  mys- 
terious bowels  of  Asia,  which  swept  to  the  borders  of  the  extreme 
West.^     The  Gauls  were  conquered  by  Csesar,  but  afterwards 

1  KelToi  or  KeTiTai,  Celtce,  Taldrai,  Galalce  or  Gcdati,  Galli,  Gael.  Some 
derive  it  from  celt,  a  cover,  shelter;  others  from  celu  (Lat.  celo)  to  conceal.  Hero- 
dotus first  mentions  them,  as  dwelling  in  the  extreme  northwest  of  Europe.  On 
these  terms  see  Diefenbach,  Celtica,  Brandes,  Kelten  und  Germanen,  Thierry,  His- 
toire  des  Gaulois,  the  art.  Galli  in  Pauly's  Eealencyclopddie,  and  the  introductions 
to  the  critical  Commentaries  on  the  Galatians  by  Wieseler  and  Lightfoot  (and 
Lightfoot's  Excursus  I.).  The  Galatians  in  Asia  Minor,  to  whom  Paul  addressed 
his  epistle,  were  a  branch  of  the  Keltic  race,  which  either  separated  from  the 
main  current  of  the  westward  migration,  or,  being  obstructed  by  the  ocean, 
retraced  their  steps,  and  turned  eastward.  Wieseler  (in  his  Com.  and  in  several 
articles  in  the  "Studien  und  Kritiken,"  and  in  the  "  Zeitschrift  fiir  Kirchen- 
geschichte,"  1877  No.  1)  tries  to  make  them  Germans,  a  view  first  hinted  at 


g  MEDIEVAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

comniinrrlcd  with  the  Teutonic  Francs,  who  founded  the  French 
monarchy.  The  Britons  were  likewise  subdued  by  the  Romans, 
and  afterwards  di'iven  to  Wales  and  Cornw^all  by  the  Anglo- 
Saxons.  The  Scotch  in  the  highlands  (Gaels)  remained  Keltic, 
while  in  tlie  lowlands  they  mixed  with  Saxons  and  Normans. 

The  mental  characteristics  of  the  Kelts  remain  unchanged  for 
two  thousand  years:  quick  wit,  fluent  speech,  vivacity,  spright- 
lincss,  impressibility',  personal  bravery  and  daring,  loyalty  to  the 
chief  or  the  clan,  but  also  levity,  fickleness,  quarrelsomeness  and 
incapacity  for  self-government.  "They  shook  all  empires,  but 
founded  none."  The  elder  Cato  says  of  them :  "  To  two  things 
are  the  Kelts  most  attent :  to  fighting  {ars  miUtaris),  and  to 
adroitness  of  speech  [argute  loqui)."  Coesar  censures  their  love 
of  levity  and  change.  The  apostle  Paul  complains  of  the 
same  weakness.  Thierry,  their  historian,  well  describes  them 
tlius :  "  Their  prominent  attributes  are  personal  valor,  in  Avhich 
they  excel  all  nations;  a  frank,  impetuous  spirit  open  to  every 
impression ;  great  intelligence,  but  joined  with  extreme  mobility, 
deficient  perseverance,  restlessness  under  discipline  and  order, 
boastfulness  and  eternal  discord,  resulting  from  boundless  vanity." 
Mommsen  quotes  this  passage,  and  adds  that  the  Kelts  make 
good  soldiers,  but  bad  citizens;  that  the  only  order  to  which 
they  submit  is  the  military,  beaiuse  the  severe  general  discipline 
relieves  them  of  the  hea\y  burden  of  individual  self-control.^ 

Keltic  Christianity  -was  at  first  independent  of  Rome,  and 
even  antagonistic  to  it  in  certain  subordinate  rites;  but  after  the 
Saxon  and  Norman  conquests,  it  was  brought  into  conformity, 
and  since  the  Reformation,  the  Irish  have  been  more  attached  to 
the  Roman  Church  tlian  even  the  Latin  races.  The  French  for- 
merly inclincxl  likewise  to  a  liberal  Catholicism  (called  Gallican- 
ism) ;  but  they  sacrificed  the  Gallican  liberties  to  the  Ultramontan- 
isni  of  the  Vatican  Council.  The  Welsh  and  Scotch,  on  the  con- 
trary, with  the  exception  of  a  portion  of  the  Highlanders  in  the 

by  Luther.     But  the  fickleness  of  the  Galatian  Christians  is  characteristic  of 
.the  ancient  Ganls  and  ni(HU'rn  French. 

'  liomiaclic  QeachicfUe,  Vol.  I.,  p.  329,  ath  ed.,  Berlin,  1868. 


§3.   THE  NATIONS  OF  MEDIEVAL.  CHRISTIANITY.  9 

North  of  Scotland,  embraced  the  Protestant  Reformation  in  its 
Calvinistic  rigor,  and  are  among  its  sternest  and  most  vigorous 
advocates.  The  course  of  the  Keltic  nations  had  been  anticipated 
by  the  Galatians,  who  first  embraced  with  great  readiness  and 
heartiness  the  independent  gospel  of  St.  Paul,  but  were  soon 
turned  away  to  a  Judaizing  legalism  by  false  teachers,  and  then 
brought  back  again  by  Paul  to  the  right  path. 

3.  The  Germanic^  or  Teutonic'*  nations  followed  the  Keltic 
migration  in  successive  westward  and  southward  waves,  before 
and  after  Christ,  and  spread  over  Germany,  Switzerland,  Hol- 
land, Scandinavia,  the  Baltic  provinces  of  Russia,  and,  since  the 
Anglo-Saxon  invasion,  also  over  England  and  Scotland  and  the 
northern  (non-Keltic)  part  of  Ireland.  In  modern  times  their 
descendants  peacefully  settled  the  British  Provinces  and  the 
greater  part  of  North  America.  The  Germanic  nations  are  the 
fresh,  vigorous,  promising  and  advancing  races  of  the  middle 
age  and  modern  times.  Their  Christianization  began  in  the 
fourth  century,  and  went  on  in  wholesale  style  till  it  was  com- 
pleted in  the  tenth.  The  Germans,  under  their  leader  Odoacer 
in  476,  deposed  Romulus  Augustulus — the  shadow  of  old  Romu- 
lus and  Augustus — and  overthrew  the  West  Roman  Empire, 
thus  fulfilling  the  old  augury  of  the  twelve  birds  of  fate,  that 
Rome  was  to  grow  six  centuries  and  to  decline  six  centuries. 
Wherever  they  went,  they  brought  destruction  to  decaying  insti- 
tutions. But  with  few  exceptions,  they  readily  embraced  the 
religion  of  the  conquered  Latin  provinces,  and  with  childlike 
docility  submitted  to  its  educational  power.  They  were  predes- 
tinated for  Christianity,  and  Christianity  for  them.  It  curbed 
their  warlike  passions,  regulated  their  wild  force,  and  developed 

^  The  word  is  of  uncertain  origin.  Some  derive  it  from  a  Keltic  root,  garm  or 
gairm,  i.  e.  noise;  some  from  the  old  German  gere  (guerre),  a  pointed  weapon, 
spear  or  javelin  (so  that  German  would  mean  an  armed  man,  or  ivar-man,  Wekr- 
mann) ;  others,  from  the  Persian  irman,  erman,  i.  e.  guest. 

^  From  the  Gothic  thiudisco,  gentUis,  popularis;  hence  the  Latin  teutonicus, 
and  the  German  deutsch  or  teutsch  (which  may  also  be  connected  with  diuian, 
deuten,  deutlich).  In  the  English  usage,  the  term  German  is  confined  to  the 
Grermans  proper,  and  Dutch  to  the  Hollanders;  but  Germanic  and  Teutonic 
apply  to  all  cognate  races. 


10  MEDIEVAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

their  nobler  instincts,  their  devotion  and  fidelity,  their  respect 
for  woman,  their  reverence  for  all  family-relations,  their  love  of 
personal  liberty  and  independence.  The  Latin  church  was  to 
them  onlv  a  school  of  discipline  to  prepare  them  for  an  age  of 
Christian  manhood  and  independence,  which  dawned  in  the  six- 
teenth centurv.  Tlie  Protestant  Reformation  was  the  emancipa- 
tion of  the  Germanic  races  from  the  pupilage  of  mediaeval  and 
legalistic  CatholicLsm. 

Tacitus,  the  great  heathen  historian,  no  doubt  idealized  the 
barbaroas  Germans  in  contrast  with  the  degenerate  Romans  of 
hLs  day  (as  Montaigne  and  RoiLsscau  painted  the  savages  "  in  a 
fit  of  ill  humor  against  their  country");  but  he  unconsciously 
prophesied  their  future  greatness,  and  hjs  proj)hecy  has  been 
more  than  fulfilled. 

4.  The  Slavonic  or  Slavic  races,  or  Slavs  ^  in  the  East  and 
North  of  Europe,  including  the  Bulgarians,  Bohemians  (Czechs), 
M<M-avians,  Slovaks,  Servians,  Croatians,  Wends,  Poles,  and 
Russians,  were  mainly  converted  through  Eastern  missionaries 
since  the  ninth  and  tenth  century.  The  Eastern  Slavs,  wdio  are 
the  vast  majority,  were  incorporated  with  the  Greek  Church, 
which  bccanic  the  national  religion  of  Russia,  and  through  this 
empire  acquired  a  territory  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  Roman 
Church.  The  western  Slavs,  the  Bohemians  and  Poles,  became 
subject  to  the  Papacy. 

The  Slavs,  who  number  in  all  nearly  80,000,000,  occupy  a 
very  subordinate  position  in  the  history  of  the  middle  ages,  and 

'  The  term  Slav  or  Slavonian  is  derived  by  some  from  slovo,  word;  by  others 
from  slam,  glory.  From  it  are  derived  the  words  slave  and  slavery  {Sclave, 
eaclave),  because  many  Slavs  were  reduced  to  a  state  of  slavery  or  serfdom  by 
their  German  masters.  Webster  spells  slave  instead  of  sluv,  and  Edward  A. 
Freeman,  in  his  UiMorkal  Essays  (third  series,  1879),  defends  tliis  spelling  on 
three  prounds:  1)  No  En<,'lisli  word  ends  in  i-.  But  many  Russian  words  do,  as 
A'lef',  Ynroslav,  and  some  Hebrew  granmiai-s  use  Tav  and  Vav  for  Tau  and  Fait. 
2)  Anal(ijr>'.  Wc  write  Dane,  Swede,  Pole,  not  Dan,  etc.  But  the  a  in  Slav  has 
the  continental  sound,  and  the  tendency  is  to  get  rid  of  mute  vowels.  3)  The 
form  Slave  perpetuates  the  etymology.  But  the  etymology  (slave=f5oaof)  is 
untxTt-iin,  ami  it  is  well  to  di.stinguLsh  the  national  name  from  the  ordinary 
Blavcs,  and  thus  avoid  ofTence.  The  Germans  also  distinguish  between  Slaren, 
Sdaven. 


§4.   GElSnUS   OF   MEDIEVAL  CHRISTIANITY.  11 

are  isolated  from  the  main  current ;  but  recently  they  have  begun 
to  develop  their  resources,  and  seem  to  have  a  great  future  before 
them  through  the  commanding  political  power  of  Russia  in 
Europe  and  in  Asia.  Russia  is  the  bearer  of  the  destinies  of 
Panslavism  and  of  the  Eastern  Church. 

5.-  The  Greek  nationality,  which  figured  so  conspicuously  in 
ancient  Christianity,  maintained  its  independence  down  to  the 
fall  of  the  Byzantine  Empire  in  1453;  but  it  was  mixed  with 
Slavonic  elements.  The  Greek  Church  was  much  weakened  by 
the  inroads  of  -IMohammedanism,  and  lost  the  possession  of  the 
territories  of  primitive  Christianity,  but  secured  a  ne^v  and  vast 
missionary  field  in  Russia. 

§  4.   Genius  of  3Iedlceval  Christianity. 

Mediaeval  Christianity  is,  on  the  one  hand,  a  legitimate  con- 
tinuation and  further  development  of  ancient  Catholicism ;  on 
the  other  hand,  a  preparation  for  Protestantism. 

Its  leading  forces  are  the  papacy,  monasticism,  and  scholasti- 
cism, which  were  developed  to  their  height,  and  then  assailed  by 
growing  oj^position  from  within. 

Christianity,  at  its  first  introduction,  had  to  do  with  highly 
civilized  nations ;  but  now  it  had  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  new 
civilization  among  barbarians.  The  apostles  planted  churches 
in  the  cities  of  the  Jews,  Greeks,  and  Romans,  and  the  word 
"l^agan,"  i.  e.  villager,  backwoodsman,  gradually  came  to  de- 
note an  idolater.  They  spoke  and  wrote  in  a  language  which 
had  already  a  large  and  immortal  literature ;  their  progress  was 
paved  by  the  high  roads  of  the  Roman  legions;  they  found 
everywhere  an  established  order  of  society  and  government;  and 
their  mission  was  to  infuse  into  the  ancient  civilization  a  new 
spiritual  life  and  to  make  it  subservient  to  higher  moral  ends. 
But  the  missionaries  of  the  dark  ages  had  to  visit  wild  woods  and 
untilled  fields,  to  teach  rude  nations  the  alphabet,  and  to  lay  the 
foundation  for  society,  literature  and  art. 

Hence  Christianity  assumed  the  character  of  a  strong  discipli- 
nary institution,  a  training  school  for  nations  in  their  infancy, 


12  MEDIEVAL  CHUECH    HISTORY. 

which  had  to  be  treated  as  children.  Hence  the  legalistic,  hier- 
archical, ritualistic  and  romantic  character  of  mediaeval  Catholi- 
cism. Yet  in  proportion  as  the  nations  were  trained  in  the 
school  of  the  church,  tlicy  began  to  assert  their  independence  of 
tlie  hierarchy  and  to  develop  a  national  literature  in  their  own 
language.  Compared  -with  our  times,  in  Avhich  thought  and 
reflection  have  become  the  highest  arbiter  of  human  life,  the 
middle  age  was  an  age  of  passion.  The  written  law,  such  as  it 
was  developed  in  Roman  society,  the  barbarian  could  not  under- 
stand and  would  not  obey.  But  he  was  easily  impressed  by  the 
8i)okcn  law,  the  living  Avord,  and  found  a  kind  of  charm  in 
bending  his  will  absolutely  before  another  will.  Thus  the  teach- 
ing church  became  the  law  in  the  land,^and  formed  the  very 
foundation  of  all  social  and  political  organization. 

The  middle  ages  are  often  called  "the  dark  ages:"  truly,  if 
we  compare  them  with  ancient  Christianity,  which  j^receded, 
and  A\ith  modern  Christianity,  which  followed;  falsely  and  un- 
justly, if  the  church  is  made  responsible  for  the  darkness. 
Christianity  was  the  light  that  shone  in  the  darkness  of  sur- 
rounding barbarism  and  heathenism,  and  gradually  dispelled  it. 
IndiLstrious  priests  and  monks  saved  from  the  A^TCck  of  the 
Koman  Empire  the  treasures  of  classical  literature,  together  with 
the  Holy  Scriptures  and  patristic  writings,  and  transmitted  them 
to  bettor  times.  The  mediajval  light  was  indeed  the  borrowed 
star  and  moon-light  of  ecclesiastical  tradition,  rather  than  the 
clear  sun-light  from  the  inspired  pages  of  the  New  Testament ; 
but  it  was  such  light  as  the  eyes  of  nations  in  their  ignorance 
couhl  bear,  and  it  never  ceased  to  shine  till  it  disappeared  in 
the  day-light  of  tlie  great  Reformation.  Christ  had  his  witnesses 
in  all  ages  and  countries,  and  those  shine  all  the  brighter  who 
were  surrounded  by  midnight  darkness. 

"Pause  where  ttp  may  upon  tlie  desert-road, 
Some  slielter  Ls  in  siglit,  some  sacred  safe  abode." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  middle  ages  are  often  called,  especially 
by  li.mian  Catholic  writers,  "the  ages  of  faith."     They  abound 


§4.   GENIUS  OF   MEDIAEVAL  CHEISTIANITY.  13 

in  legends  of  saints,  wliich  had  the  charm  of  religious  novels. 
All  men  believed  in  tlie  supernatural  and  miraculous  as  readily 
as  children  do  now.  Heaven  and  hell  were  as  real  to  the  mind 
as  the  kingdom  of  France  and  the  republic  of  Venice.  Skep- 
ticism and  infidelity  were  almost  unknown,  or  at  least  suppressed 
and  concealed.  But  with  faith  was  connected  a  vast  deal  of  super- 
stition and  an  entire  absence  of  critical  investigation  and  judg- 
ment. Faith  was  blind  and  unreasoning,  like  the  faith  of  children. 
The  most  incredible  and  absurd  legends  were  accepted  without  a 
question.  And  yet  the  morality  was  not  a  whit  better,  but  in  many 
respects  ruder,  coarser  and  more  passionate,  than  in  modern  times. 

The  church  as  a  visible  organization  never  had  greater  power 
over  the  minds  of  men.  She  controlled  all  departments  of  life 
from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  She  monopolized  all  the  learning, 
and  made  sciences  and  arts  tributary  to  her.  She  took  the  lead 
in  every  progressive  movement.  She  founded  universities,  built 
lofty  cathedrals,  stirred  up  the  crusades,  made  and  unmade  kings, 
dispensed  blessings  and  curses  to  whole  nations.  The  mediaeval 
hierarchy  centering  in  Rome  re-enacted  the  Jewish  theocracy  on 
a  more  comprehensive  scale.  It  was  a  carnal  anticipation  of  the 
millennial  reign  of  Christ.  It  took  centuries  to  rear  up  this 
imposing  structure,  and  centuries  to  take  it  down  again. 

The  opposition  came  partly  from  the  anti-Catholic  sects,  which, 
in  spite  of  cruel  persecution,  never  ceased  to  protest  against  the 
corruptions  and  tyranny  of  the  jDapacy;  partly  from  the  spirit 
of  nationality  which  arose  in  opposition  to  an  all-absorbing  hie- 
rarchical centralization;  partly  from  the  revival  of  classical  and 
biblical  learning,  which  undermined  the  reign  of  superstition 
and  tradition ;  and  partly  from  the  inner  and  deeper  life  of  the 
Catholic  Church  itself,  which  loudly  called  for  a  reformation, 
and  struggled  through  the  severe  discipline  of  the  law  to  the 
light  and  freedom  of  the  gospel.  The  mediaeval  Church  was  a 
schoolmaster  to  lead  men  to  Christ.  The  Reformation  was  an 
emancipation  of  Western  Christendom  from  the  bondage  of  the 
law,  and  a  re-conquest  of  that  liberty  "wherewith  Christ  hath 
made  us  free"  (Gal.  v.  1). 


14  MEDIiEVAL  CHUECH   HISTORY. 

§  5.  Periods  of  the  Middle  Age. 
The  Middle  Age  may  be  divided  into  three  periods : 

1.  The  missionary  period  from  Gregory  I.  to  Hildebrand  or 
Gregory  VII.,  A.  D.  590-1073.  The  conversion  of  the  northern 
bai-barians.  The  dawn  of  a  new  civilization.  The  origin  and 
progress  of  Islam.  The  separation  of  the  West  from  the  East. 
Some  subdivide  this  period  by  Charlemagne  (800),  the  founder 
of  the  German-Roman  Empire. 

2.  The  palmy  period  of  the  papal  theocracy  from  Gregory 
VII.  to  Boniface  VIIL,  A.  D.  1073-1294.  The  height  of  the 
papacv,  nionasticism  and  scholasticism.  The  Crusades.  The 
conflict  between  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor.  If  we  go  back  to 
the  rise  of  Hildebrand,  this  period  begins  in  1049. 

3.  The  decline  of  mediaeval  Catholicism  and  preparation  for 
modern  Cliristianity,  from  Boniface  VIII.  to  the  Reformation, 
A.  D.  1294-1517.  The  papal  exile  and  schism ;  the  reformatory 
councils ;  the  decay  of  scholasticism ;  the  gro-svth  of  mysticism ; 
the  revival  of  letters,  and  the  art  of  printing;  the  discovery 
of  America;  forerunners  of  Protestantism;  the  dawn  of  the 
Reformation. 

Tiicsc  three  periods  are  related  to  each  other  as  the  wild  youth, 
the  ripe  manhood,  and  the  declining  old  age.  But  the  gradual 
dLssolution  of  medirevalism  was  only  the  preparation  for  a  new 
life,  a  destruction  looking  to  a  reconstruction. 

The  three  periods  may  be  treated  separately,  or  as  a  continuous 
whole.  Both  methods  have  their  advantages:  the  first  for  a 
minute  study ;  the  second  for  a  connected  survey  of  the  great 
movements. 

According  to  our  division  laid  down  in  the  introduction  to 
the  first  volume,  the  three  periods  of  the  middle  ages  are  the 
fnurili,  fifth  and  sixth  periods  of  the  general  history  of  Chris- 
tianity. 


FOURTH  PERIOD. 


THE  CHURCH  AMONG  THE   BARBARIANS 

OB 

THE  MISSIONARY  PERIOD  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGE. 


FEOM  GREGORY  I.  TO  GREGORY  VII. 

A.  D.  590  TO  1049  (OE  1073). 


rOURTH  PERIOD. 


THE  CHURCH  AMONG  THE  BARBARIANS, 

FEOM  GREGORY  I.  TO  GREGORY  VII. 
A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 


CHAPTER   II. 

CONYEESION  OF  THE  NORTHERN  AND  WESTERN  BARBARIANS. 

§  6.   Character  of  Medioeval  Missions. 

The  conversion  of  the  new  and  savage  races  which  enter  the 
theatre  of  history  at  the  threshold  of  the  middle  ages,  was  the 
great  work  of  the  Christian  church  from  the  sixth  to  the  tenth 
century.  Already  in  the  second  or  third  century,  Christianity 
was  carried  to  the  Gauls,  the  Britons  and  the  Germans  on  the 
borders  of  the  Rhine.  But  these  were  sporadic  eiforts  with  tran- 
sient results.  The  work  did  not  begin  in  earnest  till  the  sixth 
century,  and  then  it  went  vigorously  forward  to  the  tenth  and 
twelfth,  though  with  many  checks  and  temporary  relapses  caused 
by  civil  wars  and  foreign  invasions. 

The  Christianization  of  the  Kelts,  Teutons,  and  Slavonians  was 
at  the  same  time  a  process  of  civilization,  and  differed  in  this 
respect  entirely  from  the  conversion  of  the  Jews,  Greeks,  and 
Romans  in  the  preceding  age.  Christian  missionaries  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  alphabet,  literature,  agriculture,  laws,  and  arts 
of  the  nations  of  Northern  and  Western  Europe,  as  they  now  do  ■ 
2  17 


IS  FOURTH  TERIOD.    A. D.  590  TO  1049. 

amon-  the  heathen  nations  in  Asia  and  Africa.  "  The  science 
of  language,"  says  a  competent  judge/  "owes  more  than  its  first 
impulse  to  Christianity.  The  pioneers  of  our  science  were  those 
vcrv  apostles  \vho  were  commanded  to  go  into  all  the  world  and 
I)rcach  the  gospel  to  every  creature;  and  their  true  successors, 
tlie  missionaries  of  the  whole  Christian  church."  The  same  may 
be  said  of  every  branch  of  knowledge  and  art  of  peace.  The 
missionaries,  in  aiming  at  piety  and  the  salvation  of  souls,  inci- 
dentally promoted  mental  culture  and  temporal  prosperit}-.  The 
feeling  of  brotherhood  inspired  by  Christianity  broke  down  the 
partition  walls  between  race  and  race,  and  created  a  brotherhood 
of  nations. 

The  maliajval  Christianization  was  a  wholesale  conversion,  or 
a  conversion  of  nations  under  the  command  of  their  leaders.  It 
was  carried  on  not  only  by  missionaries  and  by  spiritual  means, 
but  also  by  politick  influence,  alliances  of  heathen  princes  wdth 
Christian  ^^^ves,  and  in  some  cases  (as  the  baptism  of  the  Saxons 
under  Charlemagne)  by  military  force.  It  was  a  conversion  not  to 
the  primary  Christianity  of  inspired  apostles,  as  laid  down  in  the 
New  Testament,  but  to  the  secondary  Christianity  of  ecclesiastical 
tradition,  as  taught  by  the  fathers,  monks  and  popes.  It  w^as  a 
baptism  l)y  water,  rather  than  by  fire  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  The 
preceding  instruction  amounted  to  little  or  nothing;  even  the 
baptismal  formula,  mechanically  recited  in  Latin,  was  scarcely 
understood.  The  rude  barbarians,  owing  to  the  weakness  of 
their  heathen  religion,  readily  submitted  to  the  new  religion;  but 
some  tribes  yielded  only  to  the  sword  of  the  conqueror. 

This  superficial,  wholesale  conversion  to  a  nominal  Christianity 
must  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  national  infant-baptism.  It 
furnisher]  the  basis  for  a  long  process  of  Christian  education. 
Tlie  1)nrl)arians  were  children  in  knowledge,  and  had  to  be  treated 
like  childron.  Christianity  assumed  the  form  of  a  new  law  lead- 
ing them,  as  a  schoolmaster,  to  the  manhood  of  Christ. 

The  missionaries  of  the  middle  ages  were  nearly  all  monies. 

'  Mux  Milllcr,  Science  of  Lamjuage,  I.  121. 


§  7.  LITEKATUEE.  19 

They  were  generally  men  of  limited  education  and  narrow  views, 
but  devoted  zeal  and  heroic  self-denial.  Accustomed  to  primi- 
tive simplicity  of  life,  detached  from  all  earthly  ties,  trained  to 
all  sorts  of  privations,  ready  for  any  amount  of  labor,  and  com- 
mandino-  attention  and  veneration  by  their  unusual  habits,  their 
celibacy,  fastings  and  constant  devotions,  they  were  upon  the 
whole  the  best  pioneers  of  Christianity  and  civilization  among 
the  savage  races  of  Northern  and  Western  Europe.  The  lives  of 
these  missionaries  are  surrounded  by  their  biographers  with  such 
a  halo  of  legends  and  miracles,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  sift 
fact  from  fiction.  Many  of  these  miracles  no  doubt  were  pro- 
ducts of  fancy  or  fraud ;  but  it  would  be  rash  to  deny  them  all. 
The  same  reason  which  made  miracles  necessary  in  the  first 
introduction  of  Christianit}^,  may  have  demanded  them  among 
barbarians  before  they  were  capable  of  appreciating  the  higher 
moral  evidences. 


I.  THE  CONVEKSION  OF  ENGLAND,  IRELAND,  AND  SCOTLAND. 

§  7.  Literature. 
I.   SOURCES. 

GiLDAS  (Abbot  of  Bangor  in  Wales,  the  oldest  Britisb  historian,  in  the 
sixth  cent.) :  De  e.vcidio  BrUannioz  conquestus,  etc.  A  picture  of 
the  evils  of  Britain  at  the  time.  Best  ed.  by  Joseph  Stevenson,  Lond., 
1838.     (English  Historical  Society's  publications. | 

Nennius  (Abbot  of  Bangor  about  620) :  Eulogium  Britannice,  sive  Hlsto- 
ria  Britonum.     Ed.  Stevenson,  1838. 

The  Works  of  Gildas  and  Nennius  transl.  from  the  Latin  by  J.  A. 
Giles,  London,  1841. 

*Beda  Venerabilis  (d.  734):  Historia  Ecdesiastica  gentis  Anglorum;  in 
the  sixth  vol.  of  Migne's  ed.  of  Bedae  Opera  Omnia,  also  often  sepa- 
rately published  and  translated  into  English.  Best  ed.  by  Stevenson, 
Lond.,  1838;  and  by  Giles,  Lond.,  1849.  It  is  the  only  reliable 
church-history  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  period. 

The  Anglo-Saxojj  Chronicle,  from  the  time  of  Cassar  to  1154.  A  work 
of  several  successive  hands,  ed.  by  Gibson  with  an  Engl,  translation, 
1823,  and  by  Giles,  1849  (in  one  vol.  with  Bede's  Eccles.  History). 

See  the  Six  Old  English  Chronicle?,,  in  Bohn's  Antiquarian  Library 
(1848);  and  Church  Historians  of  England  trans,  by  Jos.  Stevenson, 
Lond.  1852-'56,  6  vols. 


20  FOUKTII  PERIOD,    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

Sir  IIexby  Spelmax  (d.  IG-il):  CoiicUia,  dccreta,  leges,  constitutiones  in 
re  ccclmarinn  orbia  Britannici,  etc.  Lond.,  1639-64,  2  vols.  fol. 
(Vol.  I.  reaches  to  the  Norman  conquest;  vol.  ii.  to  Henry  VIII  ). 

David  Wilkixs  (d.  1745):  Concilia  Mag/ux  Britannice  et  ITibermce  (from 
44(j  to  1717),  Lond.,  1737,  4  vols.  fol.  (Vol.  I.  from  446  to  1265). 

*Aktiiur  West  Haddax  and  William  Stubbs:  Councils  and  Ecclesi- 
(ulical  Documents  relating  to  Oreat  Britain  and  Ireland :  edited  after 
Sprlman  and  Wdhins.  Oxford  (Clarendon  Press),  1869  to  '78.  So 
far  3  vols.     To  be  continued  down  to  the  Reformation, 

The  Penitentials  of  the  Irish  and  Anglo-Saxon  Churches  are  col- 
lected and  edited  by  F.  Kuxstmanx  [Die  Lot.  Ponitentialbiicher  der 
Angelsachsen,  1844);  Wassekschlebe:^  {Die  Bmsordnungen  der 
abendliind.  Kirche,  1851);  SCHMITZ  {Die  Bussbucher  u.  d.  Bussdis- 
dpi  in  d.  Kirche,  1883), 

//.  ITistorical  Works. 
(a)  The  Christianization  of  England. 

*J.  UssHEU  (d.  1655):  Britannicanim  Eccles.  Antiquitates.  Dublin,  1639; 
London,  1687 ;   Works  ed.  by  Elrington,  1847,  Vols,  V,  and  VI, 

E.  Stillixgfleet  (d,  1699):  Origenes  Britannicce;  or,  the  Antiqu.  of  the 
British  Churches.   London,  1710;  Oxford,  1842;  2  vols, 

J.  LiXGARD  (R.  C,  d,  1851) :  The  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  Church.     London,  1806,  new  ed.,  1845. 

Karl  Schrodl  (R.  C)  :  Da^  crste  Jahrhundcrt  der  englischen  Kirche. 
Passau  &  Wien,  1840. 

Edward  Ciiurtox  (Rector  of  Crayke,  Durham):  The  Early  English 
Church.    London,  1841  (new  ed.  unchanged,  1878). 

James  Yeowell:  Chronicles  of  the  Ancient  British  Church  anterior  to  the 
Saxon  era.     London,  1846. 

Francis  Thackeray  (Episcop.) :  Researches  into  the  Eccles.  and  Political 
State  of  Ancient  Britain  under  the  Roman  Emperors.  London,  1843, 
2  vols. 

♦Count  pe  Montalembert  (R.  C,  d.  1870);  The  Monks  of  the  West. 
Edinburgh  and  London,  1861-79.  7  vols.  (Authorized  transl.  from 
tlic  French.)     The  third  vol.  treats  of  the  British  Isles. 

Reintiold  Pauli:  Bilder  aus  Alt-England.     Gotha,  1860. 

W,  1'"'.  Hook:  Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury.  London,  2nd  ed,, 
1861  sqfl. 

G.  F.  Maclear  (D.D..  Head-master  of  King's  College  School):  Conver- 
sion of  the  West.  The  English.  London,  1878.  By  tlie  same:  The 
Krlfs,  1878.     (Popular.) 

William  Bright  (Dr,  and  Prof,  of  Eccles.  Hist.,  Oxford):  Chapters  on 
Earl;/  English  Church  THsfory.     Oxford,  1878  (460  pages), 

John  Prvce:  History  of  the  Ancient  British  Church.     Oxford,  1878, 

Edward  L.  Cutts:  Turning  Points  of  English  Church-History.  London, 
1878. 


§  7.  LITERATUEE.  21 

DUGALD  MacColl  :  Earhj  British  Church.  The  Arthurian  Legends.  la 
"The  Catholic  Presbyterian,"  London  and  New  York,  for  1880, 
No.  3,  pp.  176  sqq. 

(b)  The  CJiristianization  of  Ireland,  Wales,  and  Scotland. 

De.  Lanigan  (R.  C.)  :  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Ireland.     Dublin,  1829. 

William  G.  Todd  (Episc,  Trinity  Coll.,  Dublin) :  The  Church  of  St. 
Patrick:  An  Historical  Inquiry  into  the  Independence  of  the  Ancient 
Church  of  Ireland.  London,  1844.  By  the  same:  A  History  of  the 
Ancient  Church  of  Ireland.  London,  1845.  By  the  same :  Booh  of 
Hymns  of  the  Ancient  Church  of  Ireland.     Dublin,  1855. 

Ferdinand  Walter  :  Das  alte  Wales.     Bonn,  1859. 

John  Cunningham  (Presbyterian) :  The  Church  History  of  Scotland  from 
the  Commencement  of  the  Christian  Era  to  the  Present  Day.  Edinburgh, 
1859,  2  vob.   (Vol.  I.,  chs.  1-6). 

C.  Innes  :  Sketches  of  Early  Scotch  History,  and  Social  Progress.  Edinb. , 
1861.  (Refers  to  the  history  of  local  churches,  the  university  and 
home-life  in  the  mediaeval  period.) 

Thomas  McLauchlan  (Presbyt.):  The  Early  Scottish  Church:  the  Ec- 
clesiastical History  of  Scotland  from  the  First  to  the  Twelfth  Century. 
Edinburgh,  1865. 

*Dr.  J.  H.  A.  Ebrard  :  Die  iroschottische  Missionskirche  des  6,  7  und  8 

ten  Jahrh.,  und  ihre  Verbreitung  auf  dem  Festland.      Giitersloh,  1873. 

Comp.  Ebrard's  articles   Die   culdeische  Kirche  des  6,  7  und  ^ten 

Jahrh,  in  Niedner's  "Zeitschrift  fiir  hist.  Theologie"  for  1862  and 

1863. 

Ebrard  and  McLauchlan  are  the  ablest  advocates  of  the  anti- 
Eomish  and  alleged  semi-Protestant  character  of  the  old  Keltic 
church  of  Ireland  and  Scotland ;  but  they  present  it  in  a  more  favor- 
able light  than  the  facts  warrant. 

*Dr.  W.  D.  Killen  (Presbyt.) :  The  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Ireland  from 
the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Present  Times.     London,  1875,  2  vols. 

*Albx.  Penrose  Forbes  (Bishop  of  Brechin,  d.  1875):  Kalendars  of 
Scottish  Saints.  With  Personal  Notices  of  those  of  Alba,  Laudonia  and 
Stratchclyde.  Edinburgh  (Edmonston  &  Douglas),  1872.  By  the 
same :  Lives  of  S.  Ninian  and  S.  Kentigern.  Compiled  in  the  twelfth 
century.     Ed.  from  the  best  MSS.    Edinburgh,  1874, 

*William  Reeves  (Canon  of  Armagh):  Life  of  St.  Columba,  Founder  of 
Hy.  Written  by  Adamnan,  ninth  Abbot  of  that  monastery.  Edinburgh, 
1874. 

*William  F.  Skene:  Keltic  Scotland.  Edinburgh,  2  vols.,  1876,  1877. 
Vol.  I.  treats  of  history  and  ethnology;  Vol.  II.,  of  church  and 
culture. 

*F.  E.  Warren  (Fellow  of  St,  John's  Coll.,  Oxford) :  The  Liturgy  and 
Ritual  of  the  Celtic  Church.     Oxford  1881(291  pp.). 


22  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

Comp.  also  tlie  relevant  sections  in  the  Histories  of  England,  Scot- 
land, and  Ireland,  by  Hume  (Ch.  I -III.),  Lingard  [Ch.  L  VIII.), 
Lappenbero  (Vol.  I.),  Green  (Vol.  I.),  Hill  Burton  [Hid.  of 
Scotland,  Vol.  I.) ;  Milman's  Latin  Christianity  (Book  IV.,  Ch.  3-5); 
Maclear's  Apostles  of  Mediaeval  Europe  (Lond.  1869),  Thomas 
Smith's  Medioeval  Missions  (Edinb.  1880). 

§  8.   The  Britons. 
Literature:  The  works  of  Bede,  Gildas,  Nennius,  Ussher,  Bright, 
PRYCE,  quoted  in  ^  7. 

.Britain  made  its  first  appearance  in  secular  history  half  a  cen- 
tury before  the  Christian  era,  when  Julius  Caesar,  the  conqueror 
of  Gaul,  sailed  with  a  Roman  army  from  Calais  across  the  chan- 
nel, and  added  the  British  island  to  tha  dominion  of  the  eternal 
city,  though  it  was  not  fully  subdued  tilLthe  reign  of  Claudius 
(A.  D.  41-54).  It  figures  in  ecclesiastical  history  from  the  con- 
version of  the  Britons  in  the  second  centmy.  Its  missionary 
history  is  divided  into  two  periods,  the  Keltic  and  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  both  catholic  in  doctrine,  as  far  as  developed  at  that  time, 
slightly  differing  in  discipline,  yet  bitterly  hostile  under  the 
influence  of  the  antagonism  of  race,  which  was  ultimately  over- 
come in  England  and  Scotland,  but  is  still  burning  in  Ireland, 
the  proper  home  of  the  Kelts.  The  Norman  conquest  made  both 
races  better  Bomanists  than  they  were  before. 

The  oldest  inhabitants  of  Britain,  like  the  Irish,  the  Scots,  and 
the  Gauls,  were  of  Keltic  origin,  half  naked  and  painted  barba- 
rians, quarrelsome,  rapacious,  revengeful,  torn  by  intestine  fac- 
tions, which  facilitated  their  conquest.  They  had  adopted,  under 
different  appellations,  the  gods  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and 
worshipped  a  multitude  of  local  deities,  the  genii  of  the  Avoods, 
rivers,  and  mountains;  they  paid  special  liomage  to  the  oak,  the 
king  of  the  forest.  They  offered  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  the 
spoils  of  the  enemy,  and,  in  the  hour  of  danger,  human  lives. 
Their  priests,  called  druids,^  dwelt  in  huts  or  caverns,  amid  the 

'  Tlie  word  Druid  or  Driiidli  is  not  from  the  Greek  c^pvg,  oak  (as  the  elder 
Pliny  thoiight),  hut  a  KeUic-  term  drniod,  meamn^snge,  priest,  and  is  equivalent 
to  tiic  niai^i  in  the  ancient  East.  In  the  Irish  Scriptures  draiod  is  used  for 
magi,  Mutt.  2:1. 


§  8.  THE  BEITONS.  23 

silence  and  gloom  of  the  forest,  were  in  possession  of  all  educa- 
tion and  spii'itual  po%Yer,  professed  to  know  the  secrets  of  natui'e, 
medicine  and  astrology,  and  practised  the  arts  of  divination. 
They  taught,  as  the  three  principles  of  wisdom :  "  obedience  to 
the  laws  of  God,  concern  for  the  good  of  man,  and  fortitude 
under  the  accidents  of  life."  They  also  taught  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  and  the  fiction  of  metempsychosis.  One  class  of  the 
druids,  who  delivered  their  instructions  in  verse,  were  distin- 
guished by  the  title  of  bards,  who  as  poets  and  musicians  accom- 
panied the  chieftain  to  the  battle-field,  and  enlivened  the  feasts 
of  peace  by  the  sound  of  the  harp.  There  are  still  remains  of 
druidical  temples — the  most  remarkable  at  Stonehenge  on  Salis- 
bury Plain,  and  at  Stennis  in  the  Orkney  Islands — ^that  is,  cir- 
cles of  huge  stones  standing  in  some  cases  twenty  feet  above  the 
earth,  and  near  them  large  mounds  supposed  to  be  ancient  burial- 
places  ;  for  men  desu'e  to  be  buried  near  a  place  of  worship. 

The  first  introduction  of  Christianity  into  Britain  is  involved 
in  obscurity.  The  legendary  history  ascribes  it  at  least  to  ten 
different  agencies,  namely,  1)  Bran,  a  British  prince,  and  his  son 
Caradog,  who  is  said  to  have  become  acquainted  with  St.  Paul  in 
Rome,  A.D.  51  to  58,  and  to  have  introduced  the  gospel  into 
his  native  country  on  his  return.  2)  St.  Paul.  3)  St.  Peter. 
4)  St.  Simon  Zelotes.  5)  St.  Philip.  6)  St.  James  the  Great. 
7)  St.  John.  8)  Aristobulus  (Rom.  xvi.  10).  9)  Joseph  of 
Arimathffia,  who  figures  largely  in  the  post-Norman  legends  of 
Glastonbury  Abbey,  and  is  said  to  have  brought  the  holy  Graal 
— the  vessel  or  platter  of  the  Lord's  Supper — containing  the 
blood  of  Christ,  to  England.  10)  Missionaries  of  Pope  Eleu- 
therus  from  Rome  to  King  Lucius  of  Britain.^ 

^  See  Haddan  &  Stubbs,  Coune.  and  Eecles.  Doc.  I.  22-26,  and  Pryce,  31  sqq. 
HadJan  says,  that  "  statements  respecting  (a)  British  Cliristians  at  Eome,  (6) 
British  Christians  in  Britain,  (c)  Apostles  or  apostolic  men  preaching  in  Bri- 
tain, in  the  first  century — rest  upon  either  guess,  mistake  or  fable ;"  and  that 
"  evidence  alleged  for  the  existence  of  a  Christian  church  in  Britain  during  the 
second  century  is  simply  unliistorical."  Pr}''ce  calls  these  early  agencies  "gratui- 
tous assumptions,  plausible  guesses,  or  legendary  fables."  Eusebius,  Dem.  Ev. 
in.  5,  speaks  as  if  some  of  the  Twelve  or  of  the  Seventy  had  "crossed  the 


24  FOUETH  PEEIOD.    A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

But  these  legends  cannot  be  traced  beyond  the  sixth  century, 
and  are  therefore  destitute  of  all  historic  value.  A  visit  of  St. 
Paul  to  Britain  between  A.  D.  63  and  67  is  indeed  in  itself  not 
impossible  (on  the  assumption  of  a  second  Roman  captivity),  and 
has  been  advocated  even  by  such  scholar  as  Ussher  and  Stilling- 
fleet,  but  is  intrinsically  improbable,  and  destitute  of  all  e\ddence.^ 

The  conversion  of  King  Lucius  in  the  second  century  through 
correspondence  "svith  the  Roman  bishop  Elcutherus  (176  to  190), 
is  related  by  Bede,  in  connection  with  several  errors,  and  is  a 
legend  rather  than  an  established  fact.^  Irenaeus  of  Lyons,  who 
enumerates  all  the  churches  one  by  one,  knoAVS  of  none  in  Britain. 
Yet  the  connection  of  Britain  with  Rome  and  with  Gaul  must 

ocean  to  the  bles  called  BritLsh ;"  but  the  passage  is  rhetorical  and  indefinite. 
In  his  Cfiurch  History  he  omits  Britain  from  the  apostolic  mission-field. 

'  It  is  merely  an  inference  from  the  well-kno^vn  passage  of  Clement  of  Home, 
Ep.  ad  Corinth,  c.  5,  that  Paul  carried  the  gospel  "to  the  end  of  the  "West" 
(i-l  TO  ripfxa  rrjg  dvacuc).  But  this  is  far  more  naturally  understood  of  a  visit  to 
Spain  which  Paul  intended  (Eom.  xv.  28),  and  which  seems  confirmed  by  a 
passage  in  the  Muratorian  Fragment  about  170  {"  Profectionem  Pauli  ab  urbe 
ad  Spaniam  proficiscentis") ;  while  there  is  no  trace  whatever  of  an  intended  or 
actual  visit  to  Britain.  Canon  Bright  calls  this  merely  a  "pious  fancy"  (p.  1), 
and  Bishop  Lightfoot  remarks:  "For  the  patriotic  belief  of  some  English 
writers,  who  have  included  Britain  in  the  Apostle's  travels,  there  is  neither 
evidence  nor  probability "  (St.  Clement  of  Rome,  p.  50).  It  is  barely  possible* 
however,  that  some  Galatian  converts  of  Paul,  visiting  the  far  West  to  barter 
the  liair-cloths  of  their  native  land  for  the  useful  metal  of  Britain,  may  have 
first  made  known  the  gospel  to  the  Britons  in  their  kindred  Keltic  tongue.  See 
Lightfoot,  Com.  on  Gal.,  p.  246. 

*  Book  I.,  ch.  4 :  "  Lucius,  king  of  the  Britons,  sent  a  letter  to  Eleutherus, 
entreating  that  by  his  command  he  might  be  made  a  Christian.  lie  soon  ob- 
tained his  pious  request,  and  tlie  Britons  preserved  the  faith,  which  they  had 
received,  uncorrupted  and  entire,  in  peace  and  tranquillity, until  the  time  of  the 
Emperor  Diocletian."  Comp.  the  foot-note  of  Giles  in  loc.  Haddan  says  (I.  25) : 
"The  story  of  Lucius  rests  solely  upon  the  later  form  of  the  Caialogu-H  Pontificum 
Bomnnonim  which  was  written  c.  A.D.  530,  and  which  adds  to  the  Vita  Eleiitheri 
(A.D.  171-186)  that  '7/ic  {Eleutherus)  accepit  epistolam  a  Lucia  Britannice  Rege, 
tU  Christiamis  efficeretur  par  ejwi  mandatum.'  But  these  words  are  not  in  the 
original  Calnlorfu.%  written  shortly  after  A.  D.  353."  Beda  copies  the  Eoman 
account.  Gildas  knows  nothing  of  Lucius.  According  to  other  accounts,  Lu- 
cius (Lever  Maur,  or  the  Great  Light)  sent  Fagan  and  Dervan  to  Eome,  who 
were  ordained  by  Evaristus  or  Eleutherus,  and  on  their  return  established  the 
British  church.    See  Lingard,  History  of  England,  1.  46. 


§  8.  THE  BKITONS.  25 

have  brought  it  early  into  contact  with  Christianity^  About 
A.  D.  208  Tertullian  exultingly  declared  "that  places  in  Britain  \ 
not  yet  visited  by  Romans  were  subject  to  Christ."^  St.  Alban, 
probably  a  Homan  soldier,  died  as  the  British  proto-martyr  in 
the  Diocletian  persecution  (303),  and  left  the  impress  of  his 
name  on  English  history.^  Constantine,  the  first  Christian  em- 
peror, was  born  in  Britain,  and  his  mother,  St.  Helena,  was 
probably  a  native  of  the  country.  In  the  Council  of  Aries, 
A.  D.  314,  which  condemned  the  Donatists,  we  meet  with  three 
British  bishops,  Eborius  of  York  (Eboracum),  Restitutus  of 
London  (Londinmn),  and  Adelfius  of  Lincoln  (Colpnia  Londi- 
nensium),  or  Carleon  in  Wales,  besides  a  presbyter  and  deacon.' 
In  the  Arian  controversy  the  British  chm-ches  sided  mth  Atha- 
nasius  and  the  Nicene  Creed,  though  hesitating  about  the  term 
homoousios.^  A  notorious  heretic,  Pelagius  (Morgan),  was  from 
the  same  island;  his  abler,  though  less  influential  associate,  Ce- 
lestius,  was  probably  an  Irishman;  but  theii'  doctrines  were  con- 
demned (429),  and  the  Catholic  faith  reestablished  with  the 
assistance  of  two  Gallic  bishops.^ 

]\Ionumental  remains  of  the  British  church  during  the  Roman  1 
period  are  recorded  or  still  exist  at  Canterbury  (St.  IMartin's), 
Cffirleon,    Bangor,   Glastonbury,    Dover,   Richborough    (Kent),  ; 
Reculver,  Lyminge,  Brixworth,  and  other  places.^ 

The  Roman  dominion  in  Britain  ceased  about  A.  D.  410;  the 

^  Adv.  Judceos  7:  "  Britannorum  inaccessa  Romanis  loca,  Christo  vero  subdita." 
Bishop  Kaye  {Tcrtidl.,  p.  94)  understands  this  passage  as  referring  to  the  far- 
thest extremities  of  Britain.  So  Burton  (II.  207) :  "Parts  of  the  island  which 
had  not  been  visited  by  the  Eomans."  See  Bright,  p.  5. 

2  Bede  I.  7.     The  story  of  St.  Alban  is  first  narrated  by  Gildas  in  the  sixth     i 
century.     Milman  and  Bright  (p.  6)  admit  his  historic  reality. 

3  Wiltsch,  Handbuch  der  kirchl.  Geogr.  und  Statistik  I.  42  and  238,  Mansi,  Cone. 
II.  467,  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  I.  c,  1. 7.  Haddan  identifies  Colonia  Londinensium 
with  Col.  Legionensium,  i.  e.  Caerleon-on-Usk. 

*  See  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  I.  7-10. 

5  Bede  I.  21  ascribes  the  triumph  of  the  Catholic  faith  over  the  Pelagian 
heresy  to  the  miraculous  healing  of  a  lame  youth  by  Germanus  (St.  Germain), 
Bishop  of  Auxerre.     Comp.  also  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  I.  15-17. 

6  See  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  I.  36-40. 


26  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

troops  Avcrc  withdrawn,  and  the  country  left  to  govern  itself.  The 
result  was  a  partial  relapse  into  barbarism  and  a  demoralization 
of  the  church.  The  intercourse  with  the  Continent  was  cut  off, 
and  the  barbarians  of  the  North  pressed  heavily  upon  the  Britons. 
For  a  century  and  a  half  we  hear  nothing  of  the  British  churches 
till  the  silence  is  broken  by  the  querulous  voice  of  Gildas,  who 
informs  us  of  the  degeneracy  of  the  clergy,  the  decay  of  religion, 
the  introduction  and  suppression  of  the  Pelagian  heresy,  and  the 
mission  of  Palladius  to  the  Scots  m  Ireland.  This  long  isolation 
accounts  in  part  for  the  trifling  differences  and  the  bitter  antago- 
nism between  the  remnant  of  the  old  British  church  and  the  new 
chmx'h  imported  from  Rome  among  the  hated  Anglo-Saxons. 

The  difference  was  not  doctrinal,  but  ritualistic  and  discipli- 
nary. The  British  as  well  as  the  Irish  and  Scotch  Christians  of 
the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  kept  Easter  on  the  very  day  of 
the  full  moon  in  March  when  it  was  Sunday,  or  on  the  next 
Sunday  following.  They  adhered  to  the  older  cycle  of  eighty- 
four  years  in  opposition  to  the  later  Dionysian  cycle  of  ninety-five 
years,  which  came  into  use  on  the  Continent  since  the  middle  of 
the  sixth  century.*  They  shaved  the  fore-part  of  their  head  from 
car  to  ear  in  the  form  of  a  crescent,  allowing  the  hair  to  grow 
behind,  in  imitation  of  the  aureola,  instead  of  shaving,  like  the 
Romans,  the  crown  of  the  head  in  a  circular  form,  and  leaving  a 
circle  of  hair,  which  Avas  to  represent  the  Saviour's  crown  of 
thorns.  They  had,  moreover — and  this  was  the  most  important 
and  most  irritating  difference — become  practically  independent 
of  Rome,  and  transacted  their  business  in  councils  without 
referring  to  the  pope,  who  began  to  be  regarded  on  the  Continent 
as  the  righteous  ruler  and  judge  of  all  Christendom. 

*  The  British  and  Irish  Christians  were  stigmatized  by  their  Roman  oppo- 
nents as  licrctical  Qiiartodecimans  (Bcde  III.  4) ;  but  the  Eastern  Quartodecimans  ' 
invariably  celebrated  Easter  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  (hence  their 
designation"),  whether  it  fell  on  a  Sunday  or  not ;  while  the  Britons  and  Irish 
celebrated  it  always  on  a  Sundmj  between  the  14th  and  the  20th  of  the  month;; 
the  Romans  between  the  lotli  and  21st.  Comp.  Skene,  /.  c.  II.  9  sq. ;  the  elabo- 
rate discussion  of  El)rard,  Die  iro-schott.  Mi^sionskirche,  19-77,  and  Killen, 
Ecdcs.  Hist,  of  Ireland,  I.  57  sqq. 


?  9.  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS.  27 

From  these  facts  some  historians  have  inferred  the  Eastern  or 
Greek  origin  of  the  old  British  church.  But  there  is  no  evidence 
whatever  of  any  such  connection,  unless  it  be  perhaps  through 
the  medium'  of  the  neighboring  church  of  Gaul,  which  was  partly 
planted  or  moulded  by  Ireuaeus  of  Lyons,  a  pupil  of  St.  Poly- 
carp  of  Smyrna,  and  which  always  maintained  a  sort  of  inde- 
pendence of  Rome. 

But  in  the  points  of  dispute  jiLst  mentioned,  the  Galilean 
chm-ch  at  that  time  agreed  mth  Rome.  Consequently,  the 
peculiarities  of  the  British  Christians  must  be  traced  to  their 
insular  isolation  and  long  separation  from  Rome.  The  Western 
church  on  the  Continent  passed  through  some  changes  in  the 
development  of  the  authority  of  the  papal  see,  and  in  the  mode 
of  calculating  Easter,  until  the  computation  was  finally  fixed 
through  Dionysius  Exiguus  in  525.  The  British,  unacquainted 
with  these  changes,  adhered  to  the  older  independence  and  to  the 
older  customs.  They  continued  to  keep  Easter  from  the  14th  of 
the  moon  to  the  20th.  This  difference  involved  a  difference  in 
all  the  moveable  festivals,  and  created  great  confusion  in  Eng- 
land after  the  conversion  of  the  Saxons  to  the  Roman  rite. 

§  9.   The  Anglo-Saxons. 

LITERATURE. 

I.  The  sources  for  the  planting  of  Roman  Christianity  among  the 
Anglo-Saxons  are  several  Letters  of  Pope  Geegoey  I.  {Epp.,  Lib. 
VI.^7,  51,  53,  54,  55,  56,  57,  58,  59;  IX.  11,  108;  XL  28,  29,  64,  65, 
66,  76;  in  Migne's  ed.  of  Gregory's  Opera,  Vol.  IIL;  also  in  Haddan 
and  Stubbs,  III.  5  sqq.) ;  the  first  and  second  books  of  Bede's  Ecdes. 
Hist.;  GoscELiN^'s  Life  of  St.  Auffusfin,  written  in  the  11th  century, 
and  contained  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum  of  May  26th ;  and  Thoene's 
Chronicles  of  St.  Augustine's  Abbey.  See  also  Haddan  and  Stubbs, 
Councils,  etc.,  the  3d  vol.,  which  comes  down  to  A.  D.  840. 

XL  Of  modern  lives  of  St.  Augustin,  we  mention  Montalembeet, 
3Ionh  of  the  West,  Vol.  III. ;  Dean  Hook,  Archbishops  of  Canterbunj, 
Vol.  L,  and  Dean  Stakley,  Memorials  of  Canterbunj,  1st  ed.,  1855, 
9th  ed.  1880.     Comp.  Lit.  in  Sec.  7. 

British  Christianity  was  always  a  feeble  plant,  and  suffered 
greatly  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  conquest  and  the  devastating  wars 


28  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

which  followed  it.  With  the  decline  of  the  Roman  power,  the 
Britous,  weakened  by  the  vices  of  Roman  civilization,  and  unable 
to  resist  the  aggressions  of  the  wild  Picts  and  Scots  from  the 
North,  called  Hengist  and  Horsa,  two  brother-princes  and 
reputed  descendants  of  Wodan,  the  god  of  war,  from  Germany 
to  their  aid,  A.  D.  449.' 

From  this  time  begins  the  emigration  of  Saxons,  Angles  or 
An<i-lians,  Jutes,  and  Frisians  to  Britain.  They  gave  to  it  a  new 
nationality  and  a  new  language,  the  Anglo-Saxon,  which  forms 
the  base  and  trunk  of  the  present  people  and  language  of  Eng- 
land (Angle-land).  They  belonged  to  the  great  Teutonic  race, 
and  came  from  the  Western  and  Northern  parts  of  Germany, 
from  the  districts  North  of  the  Elbe,  the  Wes^r,  and  the  Eyder, 
especially  from  Holstein,  Schles^dg,  and  Jutland.  They  could 
never  be  subdued  by  the  Romans,  and  the  emperor  Julian  pro- 
nounced them  the  most  formidable  of  all  the  nations  that  dwelt 
beyond  the  Rhine  on  the  shores  of  the  Western  ocean.  They 
were  tall  and  handsome,  with,  blue  eyes  and  fair  skin,  strong  and 
enduring,  given  to  pillage  by  land,  and  piracy  by  sea,  leaving 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  wath  the  care  of  their  flocks,  to  women 
and  slaves.  They  were  the  fiercest  among  the  Germans.  They 
sacrificed  a  tenth  of  their  chief  captives  on  the  altars  of  their 
gods.  They  used  the  spear,  the  sword,  and  the  battle-axe  Avith 
terrible  effect.  "  We  have  not,"  says  Sidonius,  bishop  of  Cler- 
mont,''  "a  more  cruel  and  more  dangerous  enemy  than  the  Sax- 
ons. They  overcome  all  who  have  the  courage  to  oppose  them. 
....  AVhen  they  pursue,  they  infallibly  overtake;  when  they 
are  pursued,  their  escape  is  certain.  They  despise  danger ;  they 
are  inured  to  ship\\'Teck ;  they  are  eager  to  purchase  booty  \nth. 
the  peril  of  their  lives.  Tempests,  which  to  others  are  so  dread- 
ful, to  them  are  subjects  of  joy.  The  storm  is  their  protection 
when  they  are  pressed  by  the  enemy,  and  a  cover  for  their  ope- 

*  The  chronology  is  somewhat  uncertain.  See  Lappenberg's  Geschichte  von 
England,  Bd.  I.,  p.  73  sqq. 

'  Quoted  by  Lincjard,  I.  02.  Tlie  picture  liere  given  corresponds  closely  with, 
that  given  in  Beowulf's  Drapa,  from  the  9th  century. 


§  9.  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS.  29 

rations  when  they  meditate  an  attack."  Like  the  Bedouins  in 
the  East,  and  the  Indians  of  America,  they  were  divided  in 
tribes,  each  with  a  chieftain.  In  times  of  danger,  they  selected  a 
supreme  commander  under  the  name  of  Konyng  or  King,  but 
only  for  a  period. 

These  strangers  from  the  Continent  successfully  repelled  the 
Northern  invaders;  but  being  well  pleased  with  the  fertility  and 
climate  of  the  country,  and  reinforced  by  frequent  accessions 
from  their  countrymen,  they  turned  upon  the  confederate  Britons, 
drove  them  to.  the  mountains  of  Wales  and  the  borders  of  Scot- 
land, or  reduced  them  to  slavery,  and  within  a  century  and  a 
half  they  made  themselves  masters  of  England.  From  invaders 
they  became  settlers,  and  established  an  octarchy  or  eight  inde- 
pendent kingdoms,  Kent,  Sussex,  Wessex,  Essex,  Northumbria, 
Mercia,  Bernicia,  and  Deira.  The  last  two  were  often  united 
under  the  same  head;  hence  we  generally  speak  of  but  seven 
kingdoms  or  the  Anglo-Saxon  heptarchy. 

From  this  period  of  the  conflict  between  the  two  races  dates 
the  Keltic  form  of  the  Arthurian  legends,  which  afterwards  un- 
derwent a  radical  telescopic  transformation  in  France.  They 
have  no  historical  value  except  in  connection  with  the  romantic 
poetry  of  mediseval  religion.^ 

^  King  Arthur  (or  Artiis),  the  hero  of  Wales,  of  the  Chronicles  of  Geofirey  of 
Monmouth,  and  the  romances  of  the  Eound  Table,  if  not  entirely  m^-thical,  was 
one  of  the  last  Keltic  chiefs,  who  struggled  against  the  Saxon  invaders  in  the 
sixth  century.  He  resided  in  great  state  at  Cferleon  in  Wales,  surrounded  by 
valorous  knights,  seated  with  him  at  a  round  table,  gained  twelve  victories  over 
the  Saxons,  and  died  in  the  battle  of  Mount  Badon  or  Badon  Hill  near  Bath 
(A.  D.  520).  The  legend  was  afterwards  christianized,  transfeiTcd  to  French 
soil,  and  blended  with  the  Carlovingian  Knights  of  the  Round  Table,  which 
never  existed.  Arthur's  name  was  also  connected  since  the  Crusades  with  the 
quest  of  the  Holy  Grail  or  Graal  { Keltic  greal,  old  French  san  great  or  greet), 
i.  e.  the  wonderful  bowl-shaped  vessel  of  the  Lord's  Supper  (used  for  the  Paschal 
Lamb,  or,  according  to  another  view,  for  the  cup  of  blessing),  in  which  Joseph 
of  Arimathtea  caught  the  blood  of  the  Saviour  at  the  cross,  and  which  appears 
in  the  Arthurian  romances  as  the  token  of  the  visible  presence  of  Christ,  or  the 
symbolic  embodiment  of  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  Hence  the  deriva- 
tion of  Grail  from  sanguis  realis,  real  blood,  or  sanrj  royal,  the  Lord's  blood. 
Others  derive  it  from  the  Romanic  greal,  cup  or  dish;  still  others  from  the 


30  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

§10.   The  IFission  of  Gregory  and  Augmtin.    Conversion  of  Kent. 
A.  D.  595-6()4. 

"With  the  conquest  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  who  were  heathen 
barbarians,  Christianity  was  nearly  extirpated  in  Britain.  Priests 
were  cruelly  massacred,  churches  and  monasteries  were  destroyed, 
tofrether  with  the  vestiires  of  a  weak  Roman  civilization.  The 
hatred  and  weakness  of  the  Britons  prevented  them  from  offer- 
ing the  gospel  to  the  conquerors,  who  in  turn  would  have  rejected 
it  from  contempt  of  the  conquered.  ^ 

But  fortunately  Christianity  was  re-introduced  from  a  remote 
country,  and  by  persons  who  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  quar- 
rels of  the  two  races.  To  Rome,  aided  by  the  influence  of 
France,  belongs  the  credit  of  reclaiming  England  to  Christianity 
and  civilization.  In  England  the  first,  and,  we  may  say,  the 
only  purely  national  church  in  the  West  was  founded,  but  in 
close  union  with  the  papacy.  "The  English  church,"  says 
Freeman,  "  reverencing  Rome,  but  not  slavishly  bowing  down 
to  her,  grew  up  with  a  distinctly  national  character,  and  gra- 
dually infused  its  influence  into  all  the  feelings  and  habits  of  the 
English  people.  By  the  end  of  the  seventh  century,  the  inde- 
pendent, insular,  Teutonic  church  had  become  one  of  the  bright- 
est lights  of  the  Christian  firmament.     In  short,  the  introduction 

Latin  qraduale.  See  Geoffrey  op  Monmouth,  Chronicon  sive  Historia  Bri- 
tonum  (1180  and  1147,  translated  into  English  by  Aaron  Thomson,  London 
1718);  Sir  T.  Malory,  History  of  Prince  Arthur  (1480-1485,  new  ed.  by 
Southey,1817);  Wolfram  vox  EscnENBAcn,  Pnrcivaland  Tiiurel  (about  1205 
transl.  by  K.  Simrock,  Stuttg.,  1842);  Lachmann,  Wolfram  von  Esckenbach 
(Berlin,  1833,  2nd  ed.,  1854);  Gosciiel,  Die  Sage  von  Parcival  und  vom  Gral 
nach  Wolfram  von  Esckenbach  (Berlin,  1858);  Paulin  Paris,  Les  Romans  de  la 
Table  Ronde  (Paris,  1860);  Tennyson,  The  Idylls  of  the  Kinr/  (1859),  and  The 
Holy  Orail  (1869);  Skene,  Four  Ancient  Books  of'  Wales  (1868);  Stuart- 
Glennie,  Arthurian  Localities  (1869) ;  Bircii-IIirsciifeld,  Die  Sage  vom  Gral 
(Lcipz.,  1877);  and  an  article  of  Gosciiel,  Gral,  in  the  first  ed.  of  Ilerzoo^s 
Encykl.  V.  312  (omitted  in  tlie  second  ed.). 

'  Bede  (T.  22)  connts  it  among  the  most  wicked  acts  or  neglects,  rather  of 
the  Britons  mentioned  even  by  their  o^vn  historian  Gildas,  that  they  never 
preached  the  faith  to  the  Saxons  who  dwelt  among  them. 


?  10.  THE  MISSION  OF  GEEGOKY  AND  AUGUSTIN.        31 

of  Christianity  completely  changed  the  position  of  the  English 
nation,  both  within  its  own  island  and  towards  the  rest  of  the 
world."  ^ 

The  origin  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  mission  reads  like  a  beautiful 
romance.  Pope  Gregory  I.,  when  abbot  of  a  Benedictine  con-^ 
vent,  saw  in  the  slave-market  of  Rome  three  Anglo-Saxon  boys 
oifered  for  sale.  He  was  impressed  with  their  fine  appearance, 
fair  complexion,  sweet  faces  and  light  flaxen  hair ;  and  learning, 
to  his  grief,  that  they  were  idolaters,  he  asked  the  name  of  their 
nation,  their  country,  and  their  king.  When  he  heard  that  they 
were  Angles,  he  said :  "  Right,  for  they  have  angelie  faces,  and 
are  worthy  to  be  fellow-heirs  with  angels  in  heaven."  They  Avere 
from  the  province  Deira.  "  Truly,"  he  replied,  "  are  they  De- 
ira-ns,  that  is,  plucked  from  the  ire  of  God,  and  called  to  the 
mercy  of  Christ."  He  asked  the  name  of  their  king,  which  was 
^llaor  Ella  (who  reigned  from  559  to  588).  "Hallelujah;' 
he  exclaimed,  "the  praise  of  God  the  Creator  must  be  sung  in 
those  parts."  He  proceeded  at  once  from  the  slave  market  to 
the  pope,  and  entreated  him  to  send  missionaries  to  England, 
offering  himself  for  this  noble  work.  He  actually  started  for  the 
spiritual  conquest  of  the  distant  island.  But  the  Romans  would 
not  part  with  him,  called  him  back,  and  shortly  afterwards 
elected  him  pope  (590).  What  he  could  not  do  in  person,  he 
carried  out  through  others.^ 

In  the  year  596,  Gregory,  remembering  his  interview  with  the 
sweet-faced  and  fair-hau*ed  Anglo-Saxon  slave-boys,  and  hearing 
of  a  favorable  opportunity  for  a  mission,  sent  the  Benedictine 
abbot  Augustus  (Austin),  thirty  other  monks,  and  a  priest,  Lau- 
rentius,  with  instructions,  letters  of  recommendation  to  the  Frank 

'  History  of  the  Norman  conquest  of  England,  Vol.  I.,  p.  22  (Oxford  ed.  of  1873). 

^  Beda  (B.  II.,  ch.  1  at  the  close)  refceived  this  account  "from  the  ancients" 
{ab  antiquis,  or  traditione  majorum),  but  gives  it  as  an  episode,  not  as  a  part  of 
the  English  mission  (which  is  related  I.  53).  The  elaborate  play  on  words 
excites  critical  suspicion  of  the  truth  of  the  story,  wliich,  though  well  told,  is 
probably  invented  or  embellished,  like  so  many  legends  about  Gregory.  "Se 
non  vero,  e  ben  trovato." 


32  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

kings  and  several  bishops  of  Gaul,  and  a  few  books,  to  England.* 
The  missionaries,  accompanied  by  some  interpreters  from  France, 
landed  on  the  isle  of  Thanet  in  Kent,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Thames.'  King  Ethelbcrt,  by  his  marriage  to  Bertha,  a  Christian 
princess  from  Paris,  who  had  brought  a  bishop  with  her,  was 
already  prepared  for  a  change  of  religion.  He  went  to  meet  the 
strangers  and  received  them  in  the  open  air;  being  afraid  of 
some  magic  if  he  were  to  see  them  under  roof.  They  bore  a 
silver  cross  for  their  banner,  and  the  image  of  Christ  painted 
on  a  board;  and  after  singing  the  litany  and  offering  prayers 
for  themselves  and  the  people  whom  they  had  come  to  convert, 
they  preached  the  gospel  through  their  Frank  interpreters.  The 
king  was  pleased  witli  tlie  ritualistic  and  oratorical  display  of 
the  new  religion  from  distant,  mighty  Rome,  and  said:  "Your 
words  and  promises  are  very  fair;  but  as  they  are  new  to  us  and 
of  uncertain  import,  I  cannot  forsake  the  religion  I  have  so  long 
followed  with  the  whole  English  nation.  Yet  as  you  are  come 
from  far,  and  are  desirous  to  benefit  us,  I  will  supply  you  with 
the  necessary  sustenance,  and  not  forbid  you  to  preach  and  to 
convert  as  many  as  you  can  to  your  religion.'"  Accordingly, 
he  allowed  them  to  reside  in  the  City  of  Canterbury  (Dorovern, 
Durovernum),  which  was  the  metropolis  of  his  kingdom,  and 
was  soon  to  become  the  metropolis  of  the  Church  of  England. 
They  preached  and  led  a  severe  monastic  life.  Several  believed 
and  were  baptized,  "admiring,"  as  Bede  says,  "the  simplicity  of 
their  innocent  life,  and  the  sweetness  of  their  heavenly  doctrine." 
He  also  mentions  miracles.  Gregory  warned  Augustin  not  to 
be  puffed  up  by  miracles,  but  to  rejoice  with  fear,  and  to  tremble 

^  Amonp;  these  books  were  a  Bible  in  2  vols.,  a  Psalter,  a  book  of  the  Gospels, 
a  Martyrolosy,  Apocryphal  Lives  of  the  Apostles,  and  some  Commentaries. 
"These  are  tlie  foundation  or  beginning  of  the  library  of  the  whole  English 
church." 

^  Tlie  first  journey  of  Augustin,  in  595,  was  a  faihire.  He  started  finally  for 
England  July  23d,  596,  wintered  in  Gaul,  and  landed  in  England  the  following 
year  with  about  forty  persons,  including  Gidlic  priests  and  interpreters.  Had- 
dan  and  Stubl)s,  III.  4. 

«  Bede  I.  23. 


2  10.  THE  MISSION  OF  GEEGORY  AND  AUGUSTIN.         33 

in  rejoicing,  remembering  what  the  Lord  said  to  his  disciples 
when  they  boasted  that  even  the  devils  were  subject  to  them. 
For  not  all  the  elect  work  miracles,  and  yet  the  names  of  all  are 
written  in  heaven.^ 

King  Ethelbeit  was  converted  and  baptized  (probably  June 
2,  597),  and  drew  gradually  his  whole  nation  after  him,  though 
he  was  taught  by  the  missionaries  not  to  use  compulsion,  since 
the  service  of  Christ  ought  to  be  voluntary. 

Augustin,  by  order  of  pope  Gregory,  was  ordained  archbishop 
of  the  English  nation  by  Vergilius,^  archbishop  of  Aries,  ~Noy. 
16,  597,  and  became  the  first  primate  of  England,  with  a  long 
line  of  successors  even  to  this  day.  On  his  return,  at  Christmas, 
he  baptized  more  than  ten  thousand  English.  His  talents  and 
chai'acter  did  not  rise  above  mediocrity,  and  he  bears  no  compa- 
rison whatever  with  his  great  namesake,  the  theologian  and 
bishop  of  Hippo ;  but  he  was,  upon  the  whole,  well  fitted  for  his 
missionary  work,  and  his  permanent  success  lends  to  his  name  the 
halo  of  a  borrowed  greatness.  He  built  a  church  and  monastery 
at  Canterbury,  the  mother-church  of  Anglo-Saxon  Christendom. 
He  sent  the  priest  Laurentius  to  Rome  to  inform  the  pope  of  his 
progress  and  to  ask  an  answer  to  a  number  of  questions  concern- 
ing the  conduct  of  bishojjs  towards  their  clergy,  the  ritualistic 
differences  between  the  Roman  and  the  Gallican  churches,  the 
marriage  of  two  brothers  to  two  sisters,  the  marriage  of  relations, . 
whether  a  bishop  may  be  ordained  without  other  bishops  being, 
present,  whether  a  woman  with  child  ought  to  be  baptized,  how 
long  after  the  birth  of  an  infant  carnal  intercourse  of  married 
people  should  be  delayed,  etc.  Gregory  answered  these  ques- 
tions  very   fully   in    the   legalistic   and    ascetic   spirit   of    the 

^  "  ^on  enim  omnes  eledi  miracula  faciunt,  sed  tamen  eorum  omnium  nomina  in 
ccelo  sunt  ascripta."  Greg.,  Ad  Augustinum  Anglorum  Episcopum,  Epp.  Lib. 
XI.  28,  and  Bede  I.  31. 

'  Not  ^therius,  as  Bede  has  it,  I.  27,  and  in  other  places,     ^therius  was  the ' 
contemporary  archbishop  of  Lyons. 
3 


34  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

age,  yet,  upon  the  whole,  with  much  good  sense  and  pcostoral 
wisdom.' 

It  is  remarkable  that  this  pope,  unlike  his  successors,  did  not 
insist  on  absolute  conformity  to  the  Roman  church,  but  advises 
Augustin,  who  thought  that  the  different  customs  of  the  Gallican 
church  were  inconsistent  Avith  the  unitj^  of  faith,  "to  choose  from 
every  church  those  things  that  are  pious,  religious  and  upright;" 
for  "things  are  not  to  be  loved  for  the  sake  of  places,  but 
places  for  the  sake  of  good  things."^  In  other  respects,  the 
advice  falls  in  with  the  papal  system  and  practice.  He  directs 
the  missionaries  not  to  destroy  the  heathen  temples,  but  to 
convert  them  into  Christian  churches,  to  substitute  the  wor- 
ship of  relics  f(jr  tiie  worship  of  idols,  and  to  allow  the  new 
converts,  on  the  day  of  dedication  and  other  festivities,  to 
kill  cattle  according  to  their  ancient  custom,  yet  no  more  to 
the  devils,  but  to  the  praise  of  God;  for  it  is  impossible,  he 
thought,  to  efface  everything  at  once  from  their  obdurate  minds; 
■and  he  who  endeavors  to  ascend  to  the  highest  place,  must  rise 
by  degrees  or  steps,  and  not  by  leaps.*  This  method  was  faith- 
fully followed  by  his  missionaries.     It  no  doubt  facilitated  the 

'  Bede  I.  27  sqq.  gives  extracts  from  Gregory's  answers.  It  is  curious  how 
the  pope  handles  such  delicate  subjects  as  the  monthly  courses  and  the  carnal 
intercourse  between  married  people.  A  husband,  he  says,  should  not  approach 
his  wife  after  the  birth  of  an  infant,  till  the  infant  be  weaned.  Mothers  should 
not  give  their  children  to  other  women  to  suckle.  A  man  who  has  approached 
Iiis  wife  is  not  to  enter  the  church  unless  washed  with  water  and  till  after  sun- 
set. We  see  liere  the  genius  of  Romanism  which  aims  to  control  by  its  legisla- 
tion all  the  ramifications  of  human  life,  and  to  shackle  the  conscience  by  a 
.  Bubtle  and  minute  casuistry.   Barbarians,  however,  must  be  treated  like  children. 

*  "  Non  enim  pro  locis  res,  sed  pro  bonis  rebtis  loca  amanda  sunt.  Ex  singidis 
.  ergo  quibusdam  ecclesiis,  quce  pia,  qxwe  rdigiosa,  quae,  recta  sunt,  dige,  et  hcec  quasi  in 
fasciculum  coUecta,  apud  Anglorum  mentes  in  consuetudinem  depone."  Gr.  Hespons. 
■  ad  interrogat.  Aug.,  Ep.  XI.  64,  and  Bede  I.  27. 

'  "  Is  qui  locum  suinmum  ascendere  nititur,  gradihus  vel  passibtis,  non  mdem 
saltlbus  devaiur."  Ep.  HI).  Xf.  76  (and  Bede  I.  30).  This  epistle  of  the  year  601 
is  addressed  to  Mcllitus  on  liis  way  to  England,  but  is  intended  for  Augustin  ad 
far.iliorem  Anglorum  conversionem.  In  Sardinia,  where  Christianity  already  pre- 
vailed, Gregory  advised  Bishop  Januarius  to  suppress  the  remaining  heathen- 
.ism  l)y  imprisonment  and  coqioral  punishment. 


g  11.  ANTAGONISM  OF  THE  SAXON  AND  BEITISH  CLEEGY.  35 

nominal  conversion  of  England,  but  swept  a  vast  amount  of 
heathenism  into  the  Christian  church,  which  it  took  centuries  to 
eradicate. 

Gregory  sent  to  Augustin,  June  22,  601,  the  metropolitan 
pall  {pallium),  several  j)riests  (Mellitus,  Justus,  Paulinus,  and 
others),  many  books,  sacred  vessels  and  vestments,  and  relics 
of  apostles  and  martyrs.  He  directed  him  to  ordain  twelve 
bishops  in  the  archiepiscopal  diocese  of  Canterbury,  and  to  ap- 
point an  archbishop  for  York,  who  was  also  to  ordain  twelve 
bishops,  if  the  country  adjoining  should  receive  the  word  of  God. 
Mellitus  was  consecrated  the  first  bishop  of  London ;  Justus, 
bishop  of  Rochester,  both  in  604  by  Augustin  (without  assist- 
ants); Paulinus,  the  first  archbishop  of  York,  625,  after  the 
death  of  Gregory  and  Augustin.^  The  pope  sent  also  letters 
and  presents  to  king  Ethelbert,  "his  most  excellent  son,"  ex- 
horting him  to  persevere  in  the  faith,  to  commend  it  by  good 
works  among  his  subjects,  to  suppress  the  worship  of  idols,  and 
to  follow  the  instructions  of  Augustin. 

§  11.  Antagonism  of  the  Saxon  and  British  Clergy. 

Bede,  II.  2 ;  Had  DAN  and  Stubbs,  III.  38^1. 

Augustin,  with  the  aid  of  king  Ethelbert,  arranged  (in  602  or 
603)  a  conference  with  the  British  bishops,  at  a  jjlace  in  Sussex 
near  the  banks  of  the  Severn  under  an  oak,  called  "Augustin's 
Oak."  ^  He  admonished  them  to  conform  to  the  Roman  ceremo- 
nial in  the  observance  of  Easter  Sunday,  and  the  mode  of  admi- 
nistering baptism,  and  to  unite  with  their  Saxon  brethren  in 
converting  the  Gentiles.  Augustin  had  neither  wisdom  nor 
charity  enough  to  sacrifice  even  the  most  trifling  ceremonies  on 
the  altar  of  peace.  He  was  a  pedantic  and  contracted  churchman. 
He  met  the  Britons,  who  represented  at  all  events  an  older  and 
native  Christianity,  with  the  haughty  spirit  of  Rome,  which  is 

^  York  and  London  had  been  the  first  metropolitan  sees  among  the  Britons. 
London  was  even  then,  as  Bede  (II.  3)  remarks,  a  mart  of  many  nations  resort- 
ing to  it  by  sea  and  land. 

^  On  the  time  and  place  of  the  two  conferences  see  the  notes  in  Haddan  and 
Stubbs,  III.  40  and  41. 


36  FOUKTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

willing  to  compromise  with  heatlien  customs,  but  demands  abso- 
lute submission  from  all  other  forms  of  Christianity,  and  hates 
independence  as  the  worst  of  heresies. 

The  Britons  preferred  theii'  own  traditions.  After  much  use- 
less contention,  Augustin  proposed,  and  the  Britons  reluctantly 
accepted,  an  appeal  to  the  miraculous  interposition  of  God.  A 
blind  man  of  the  Saxon  race  was  brought  forward  and  restored 
to  sight  by  his  prayer.  The  Britons  still  refused  to  give  up 
their  ancient  customs  without  the  consent  of  then*  people,  and 
demanded  a  second  and  larger  synod. 

At  the  second  Conference,  seven  bishops  of  the  Britons,  with 
a  number  of  learned  men  from  the  Convent  of  Bangor,  appeared, 
and  were  advised  by  a  venerated  hermit  to  submit  the  Saxon 
archbishop  to  the  moral  test  of  meekness  and  humility  as  required 
by  Christ  from  his  followers.  If  Augustin,  at  the  meeting, 
shall  rise  before  them,  they  should  hear  him  submissively; 
but  if  he  shall  not  rise,  they  should  despise  him  as  a  proud 
man.  As  they  drew  near,  the  Roman  dignitary  remained 
seated  in  his  chair.  He  demandtxl  of  them  three  things,  viz. 
compliance  with  the  Roman  observance  of  the  time  of  Easter, 
the  Roman  form  of  baptism,  and  aid  in  eiforts  to  convert  the 
English  nation;  and  then  he  would  readily  tolerate  their  other 
peculiarities.  They  refused,  reasoning  among  themselves,  if  he 
will  not  rise  up  before  us  now,  how  much  more  will  he  despise 
us  when  we  shall  be  subject  to  his  authority?  Augustin  in- 
dignantly rebuked  them  and  threatened  the  divine  vengeance 
by  the  arms  of  the  Saxons.  "  All  which,"  adds  Bede,  "  through 
the  dispensation  of  the  divine  judgment,  fell  out  exactly  as  he 
had  predicted."  For,  a  few  years  afterwards  (613),  Ethelfrith 
the  Wild,  the  pagan  King  of  Northumbria,  attacked  the  Britons 
at  Chester,  and  destroyed  not  only  their  army,  but  slaughtered 
several  hundred^  priests  and  monks,  who  accompanied  the  sol- 
diers to  aid  them  with  their  prayers.    The  massacre  was  followed 

'  Bede  mentioDS  twelvie  liuodred,  but  the  Saxon  chronicle  (A.  D.  607)  only 
two  hundred. 


§  12.  CONVEESION  OF  THE  OTHEE  KINGDOMS.  37 

by  the  destruction  of  the  flourishing  monastery  of  Bangor, 
where  more  than  two  thousand  monks  lived  by  the  labor  of 
their  hands. 

This  is  a  sad  picture  of  the  fierce  animosity  of  the  two  races 
and  rival  forms  of  Christianity.  Unhappily,  it  continues  to  the 
present  day,  but  with  a  remarkable  difference :  the  Keltic  Irish 
who,  like  the  Britons,  once  represented  a  more  independent  type 
of  Catholicism,  have,  since  the  Norman  conquest,  and  still  more 
since  the  Reformation,  become  intense  Romanists;  while  the 
English,  once  the  dutiful  subjects  of  Rome,  have  broken  with 
that  foreign  power  altogether,  and  have  vainly  endeavored  to 
force  Protestantism  upon  the  conquered  race.  The  Irish  pro- 
blem will  not  be  solved  until  the  double  curse  of  national  and 
religious  antagonism  is  removed. 

§  12.   Conversion  of  the  Other  Kingdoms  of  the  Heptarchy. 

Augustin,  the  apostle  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  died  A.  D.  604, 
and  lies  buried,  with  many  of  his  successors,  in  the  venerable 
cathedral  of  Canterbury.  On  his  tomb  was  written  this  epitaph : 
"Here  rests  the  Lord  Augustin,  first  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
who  being  formerly  sent  hither  by  the  blessed  Gregory,  bishop 
of  the  city  of  Rome,  and  by  God's  assistance  supported  with 
miracles,  reduced  king  Ethelbert  and  his  nation  from  the  wor- 
ship of  idols  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  having  ended  the  days 
of  his  office  in  peace,  died  on  the  26th  day  of  May,  in  the  reign 
of  the  same  king."  ^ 

He  was  not  a  great  man ;  but  he  did  a  great  work  in  laying 
the  foundations  of  English  Christianity  and  civilization. 

Laurentius  (604-619),  and  afterwards  Mellitus  (619-624)  suc- 
ceeded him  in  his  office. 

Other  priests  and  monks  were  sent  from  Italy,  and  brought 
with  them  books  and  such  culture  as  remained  after  the  irrup- 
tion of  the  barbarians.  The  first  archbishops  of  Canterbury  and 
York,  and  the  bishops  of  most  of  the  Southern  sees  were  foreign- 

1  Bede  II.,  c.  3 ;  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  III.  53. 


38  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

crs,  if  not  consecrated,  at  least  commissioned  by  the  pope,  and 
kept  up  a  constant  correspondence  with  Rome.  Gradually  a 
native  clergy  arose  in  England. 

The  work  of  Christiauization  Avent  on  among  the  other  king- 
doms of  the  heptarchy,  and  was  aided  by  the  marriage  of  kings 
with  Christian  wives,  but  was  more  than  once  interrupted  by 
relapse  into  heathenism.  Northumbria  was  converted  chiefly 
through  the  labors  of  the  sainted  Aidan  (d.  Aug.  31,  651),  a 
monk  from  the  island  loua  or  Hii,  and  the  first  bishop  of  Lin- 
disfarne,  who  is  even  lauded  by  Bede  for  his  zeal,  piety  and 
good  works,  although  he  differed  from  him  on  the  Easter  ques- 
tion.^ Sussex  was  the  last  part  of  the  Heptarchy  which  re- 
nounced paganism.  It  took  nearly  a  himdred  years  before 
England  was   nominally  converted  to  the  Christian    religion.* 

To  this  conversion  England  owes  her  national  unity  and  the 
best  elements  of  her  civilization.' 

The  Anglo-Saxon  Christianity  was  and  continued  to  be  till 
the  Reformation,  the  Christianity  of  Rome,  with  its  excellences 
and  faults.  It  included  the  Latin  mass,  the  worship  of  saints, 
images  and  relics,  monastic  virtues  and  vices,  pilgrimages  to  the 
holy  city,  and  much  credulity  and  superstition.  Even  kings 
abdicated  their  crown  to  show  their  profound  reverence  for  the 
supreme  pontiff  and  to  secure  from  him  a  passport  to  heaven. 
Chapels,  churches  and  cathedrals  were  erected  in  the  towns; 
convents  founded  in  the  country  by  the  bank  of  the  river  or 
under  the  shelter  of  a  hill,  and  became  rich  by  pious  donations 
of  land.     The  lofty  cathedi'als  and  i\y-clad  ruins  of  old  abbeys 

1  Bede  III.,  c.  14-17 ;  V.  24. 

'  See  tlie  details  of  tlie  missionary  labors  in  the  seven  kingdoms  in  Bede ; 
also  in  Milman  /.  c./  and  the  documents  in  Ilatldan  and  Stubbs,  vol.  III. 

'  "The  conversion  of  the  heptarchic  kingdom,"  says  Professor  Stubbs  (Coti- 
stitutional  History  of  England,  Vol.  I.,  p.  217),  "during  the  seventh  century  not 
only  revealed  to  Europe  and  Christendom  the  existence  of  a  new  nation,  but 
may  be  said  to  have  rendered  tlie  new  nation  conscious  of  its  imity  in  a  way  in 
which,  under  the  influence  of  heathenism,  community  of  language  and  custom 
had  failed  to  do." 


§  13.  CONFOKMITY  TO  KOME  ESTABLISHED.  39 

and  cloisters  in  England  and  Scotland  still  remain  to  testify  in 
solemn  silence  to  the  power  of  mediaeval  Catholicism. 

§  13.  Conformity  to  Borne  Established.    Wilfrid,  Theodore,  Bede. 

The  dispute  between  the  Anglo-Saxon  or  Eoman,  and  the 
British  ritual  was  renewed  in  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century, 
but  ended  with  the  triumph  of  the  former  in  England  proper. 
The  spirit  of  independence  had  to  take  refuge  in  Ireland  and 
Scotland  till  the  time  of  the  Norman  conquest,  which  crushed 
it  out  also  in  Ireland. 

\yiLFRiD,  afterwards  bishop  of  York,  the  first  distinguished 
native  prelate  who  combined  clerical  habits  with  haughty  mag- 
nificence, acquired  celebrity  by  expelling  "the  quartodeciman 
heresy  and  schism,"  as  it  w^as  improperly  called,  from  Northum- 
bria,  where  the  Scots  had  introduced  it  through  St.  Aidan.  The 
controversy  was  decided  in  a  Synod  held  at  Whitby  in  664  in 
the  presence  of  King  Oswy  or  Oswio  and  his  son  Alfrid.  Col- 
man,  the  second  successor  of  Aidan,  defended  the  Scottish  obser- 
vance of  Easter  by  the  authority  of  St.  Columba  and  the  apostle 
John.  AVilfrid  rested  the  Roman  observance  on  the  authority 
of  Peter,  who  had  introduced  it  in  Rome,  and  on  the  universal 
custom  of  Christendom.  When  he  mentioned,  that  to  Peter 
were  intrusted  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  the  king  said : 
"  I  will  not  contradict  the  door-keeper,  lest  when  I  come  to  the 
gates  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  there  should  be  none  to  open 
them."  By  this  irresistible  argument  the  opposition  was  broken, 
and  conformity  to  the  Roman  observance  established.  The 
Scottish  semi-circular  tonsure  also,  which  was  ascribed  to  Simon 
Magus,  gave  way  to  the  circular,  which  was  derived  from  St.  Peter. 
Colman,  being  worsted,  returned  with  his  sympathizers  to  Scot- 
land, where  he  built  two  monasteries.  Tuda  was  made  bishop  in 
his  place.^ 

Soon  afterwards,  a  dreadful  pestilence  raged  through  England 

^  See  a  full  account  of  this  controversy  in  Bede,  III.,  c.  25,  26,  and  in  Iladdan 
and  Stubbs,  III.  100-106. 


40  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

and  Ireland,  while  Caledonia  was  saved,  as  the  pious  inhabitants 
believed,  by  the  intercession  of  St.  Columba. 

The  fusion  of  English  Christians  was  completed  in  the  age  of 
Theodoras,  archbishop  of  Canterbury  (669  to  690),  and  Beda 
Venerabilis  (b.  673,  d.  735),  presbyter  and  monk  of  Wearmouth. 
About  the  same  time  Anglo-Saxon  literature  was  born,  and  laid 
the  foimdation  for  the  development  of  the  national  genius  which 
ultimately  broke  loose  from  Rome. 

Theodore  was  a  native  of  Tarsus,  where  Paul  was  born,  edu- 
cated in  Athens,  and,  of  course,  acquainted  with  Greek  and  Latin 
learning.  He  received  his  appointment  and  consecration  to  the 
primacy  of  England  from  Pope  Vitalian.  He  arrived  at  Can- 
tcrbiuy  May  27,  669,  visited  the  whole  of  England,  established 
the  Roman  rule  of  Easter,  and  settled  bishoj)s  in  all  the  sees 
except  London.  He  unjustly  deposed  bishop  Wilfrid  of  York, 
^\■ho  was  equally  devoted  to  Rome,  but  in  his  later  years  be- 
came involved  in  sacerdotal  jealousies  and  strifes.  He  intro- 
duced order  into  the  distracted  church  and  some  degree  of 
education  among  the  clergy.  He  was  a  man  of  autocratic  tem- 
})cr,  great  executive  ability,  and,  having  been  directly  sent  from 
Rome,  he  carried  with  him  double  authorit}^  "He  was  the 
first  archbishop,"  says  Bede,  "to  whom  the  whole  church  of 
England  submitted."  During  his  administration  the  first  Anglo- 
Saxon  mission  to  the  mother-country  of  the  Saxons  and  Friesiaus 
was  attempted  by  Egbert,  Yictberct,  and  Willibrord  (089  to 
692).  His  chief  work  is  a  "Penitential"  with  minute  directions 
for  a  moral  and  religious  life,  and  punishments  for  drunkenness, 
licentiousness,  and  otlicr  prevalent  vices.^ 

The  Venerable  Bede  was  the  first  native  English  scholar, 
the  father  of  English  theology  and  chm-ch  histoiy.  He  spent  his 
humble  and  peaceful  life  in  the  acquisition  and  cultivation  of 

'  Tlie  works  of  Theodore  [PcenitentMe,  etc.)  in  Migne's  Patrol,  Tom.  99,  p. 
902.  Comp.  also  Bode,  IV.  2,  Bright,  p.  223,  and  especially  Haddan  and  Stubbs, 
III.  111-227,  where  his  Penitential  is  given  in  full.  It  was  probably  no  direct 
work  of  Tiieodore,  but  drawn  up  under  his  eye  and  published  by  his  authority. 
It  presupposes  a  very  bad  state  of  morals  among  the  clergy  of  that  age. 


^  13.  CONFORMITY  TO  EOME  ESTABLISHED.  41 

ecclesiastical  and  secular  learning,  ^vrote  Latin  in  prose  and 
verse,  and  translated  portions  of  the  Bible  into  Anglo-Saxon. 
His  chief  work  is  his — the  only  reliable — Church  History  of  old 
England.  He  guides  us  with  a  gentle  hand  and  in  truly  Chris- 
tian spirit,  though  colored  by  Roman  views,  from  com-t  to  court, 
from  monastery  to  monastery,  and  bishopric  to  bishopric,  through 
the  missionary  labyrintli  of  the  miniature  kingdoms  of  his  native 
island.  He  takes  the  Roman  side  in  the  controversies  with  the 
British  churches.^ 

Befoi-e  Bed'e  cultivated  Saxon  prose,  Caedmon  (about  680), 
first  a  swine-herd,  then  a  monk  at  Whitby,  sung,  as  'by  inspira- 
tion, the  wonders  of  creation  and  redemption,  and  became  the 
father  of  Saxon  (and  Christian  German)  poetry.  His  poetry 
brought  the  Bible  history  home  to  the  imagination  of  the  Saxon 
people,  and  was  a  faint  j)rophecy  of  the  "Divina  Comedia"  and 
the  "Paradise  Lost."^  We  have  a  remarkable  parallel  to  this 
association  of  Bede  and  Csedmon  in  the  association  of  Wiclif, 
the  first  translator  of  the  whole  Bible  into  English  (1380),  and 
the  contemporary  of  Chaucer,  the  father  of  English  poetry,  both 
forerunners  of  the  British  Reformation,  and  sustaining  a  relation 
to  Protestant  Eng-land  somewhat  similar  to  the  relation  which 
Bede  and  Caedmon  sustain  to  mediaeval  Catholic  England. 

The  conversion  of  England  was  nominal  and  ritual,  rather 
than  intellectual  and  moral.  Education  was  confined  to  the 
clergy  and  monks,  and  consisted  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Deca- 
logue, the  Creed  and  the  Pater  Noster,  a  little  Latin  without 
any  Greek  or  Hebrew.  The  Anglo-Saxon  clergy  were  only  less 
ignorant  than  the  British.     The  ultimate  triumph  of  the  Roman 

^  See  Karl  Werner  (E.  C),  Bcda  und  seine  Zeit,  1875.  Bright,  I.  c,  pp.  326  sqq. 

^  Beda,  Mist.  Eccl.  Angl.,  IV.  24.  Ccedmonis  monachi  Paraphrasis  poetica  Gene- 
seos  ac  prcscipuarum  sacrre  pagince  Historiarum,  ed.  F.  Junius,  Amst.,  1655 ;  mo- 
dern editions  by  B.  Thorpe,  Lond.,  1832,  and  C.  W.  M.  Grein,  Getting.,  1857. 
Bouterwek,  Ccedmon^s  des  Angelsachen  biblische  Dichtungen,  Elberfeld,  1849-54, 
2  Parts.  F.  Hammerich,  JEUeste  christliche  Epik  der  Angdsachsen,  Deutschcn  wvd 
Nnrdlcinder.  Transl.  from  the  Danish  by  Michelsen,  1874.  Comp.  also  the 
literature  on  the  German  Heliand,  §  27. 


42  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  540  TO  1049. 

church  was  due  chiefly  to  her  superior  organization,  her  direct 
apostolic  descent,  and  the  prestige  of  the  Roman  empu-e.     It  4 
made  the  Christianity  of  England  independent  of  politics  and  j 
court-intrigues,  and  kept  it  in  close  contact  with  the  Christianity  ( 
of  the  Continent.    The  advantages  of  this  connection  were  greater 
than  the  dangers  and  evils  of  insular  isolation.     Among  all  the  ) 
Teutonic  tribes,  the  English  became  the  most  devoted  subjects  of 
the  Pope.     They  sent  more  pilgrims  to  Rome  and  more  money 
into  the  papal  treasury  than  any  other  nation.     They  invented 
the  Peter's  Pence.     At  least  thirty  of  their  kings  and  queens,  and 
an  innumerable  army  of  nobles  ended  their  days  in  cloistral 
retreats.     Nearly  all  of  the  public  lands  were  deeded  to  churches 
and  monasteries.     But  the  exuberance  of  monasticism  weakened 
the  military  and  physical  force  of  the  nation,  and  facilitated  the 
Danish  and  the  Norman  conquests.     The  power  and  riches  of 
the  church  secularized  the  clergy,  and  necessitated  in  due  time  a 
reformation.     Wealth  always  tends  to  vice,  and  vice  to  decay. 
The  Norman  conquest  did  not  change  the  ecclesiastical  relations 
of  England,  but  infused  new  blood  and  vigor  into  the  Saxon 
race,  which  is  all  the  better  for  its  mixed  character. 

We  add  a  list  of  the  early  archbishops  and  bishops  of  the  four 
principal  English  sees,  in  the  order  of  their  foundation ;  ^ 

Canterbury.  London.  Rochester.  York. 

Augustin 597  Mellitus 604  Justus G04  Paulinus 625 

Laurentius 604  [Cedd  in  Essex  654]  Romanus 624  Chad 665 

Mellitas 619  Wini 666  Paulinus 633  Wilfrid,  —  conse- 

Justus 624  Erconwald 675  Ithamar 644      crated    665,    in 

Honorius 627  Waldhere 693  Damian 655      possession 669 

Deusdedit 655  Ingwald 704  Putta 669  Bosa 678 

Theodore 668  Cwichelm 676  Wilfrid  again 686 

Brihtwald 693  Gebmund 678  Bosa  again 691 

Tatwin 731  Tobias 693  John 706 

»  From  Bright,  p.  449,  compared  with  the  dates  in  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  Vol.  III. 


§  14.    THE  CONVEESION  OF  lEELAND.  43 

§  14.  The  Conversion  of  Ireland.     St.  Patrick  and  St.  Bridget. 

LITERATURE. 

L  The  writings  of  St.  Patrick  are  printed  in  the  Vdce  Sanctorum  of 
the  Bollandists,  sub  March  17th ;  in  Patricii  Ojmscula,  ed.  Waraeus 
(Sir  James  Ware,  Lond.,  1656);  in  Migue's  Paitro/o^'.,  Tom.  LIII. 
790-839,  and  with  critical  notes  in  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  Councils, 
etc.,  Vol.  II,  Part  II,  (1878),  pp.  296-323. 

II.  The  Life  of  St.  Patrick  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  Mart.,  Tom.  II. 
517  sqq. 

TiLLEMONT :  Blemoires,  Tom.  XVI.  452,  781. 

UssHER :  Brit.  Eccl.  Antiqu. 

J.  H.  Todd  :  St.  Patrick,  Apostle  of  Ireland.    Dublin,  1864.  ^ 

C.  JoH.  Greith  (R.  C.)  :  Oeschichte  der  altirischen  Kirche  und  ihrer  Ver- 
bindung  mit  Horn.,  Gallien  und  Alemannien,  als  Einleitung  in  die  Oe- 
schichte des  Stiffs  St.  Gallen.     Freiburg  i.  B.  1867. 

Daniel  de  Vinne:  History  of  the  Irish  Primitive  Church,  together  with 
the  Life  of  St.  Patrick.    N.  York,  1870. 

J.  Francis  Sherman  (R.  C):  Loca  Patriciana:  an  Identification  of 
Localities,  chiefly  in  Leinster,  visited  by  St.  Patrick.     Dublin,  1879. 

F.  E.  Warren  (Episc):   The  Manuscript  Irish  Missal  at  Corpus  Christi 

College,  Oxford.     Liondon,  187 9.  Ritual  of  the  Celtic  Church.  Oxf.  1881. 

Comp.  also  the  works  of  Todd,  McLauchlan,  Ebrard,  Killen, 

and  Skene,  quoted  in  ^  7,  and  Forbes,  Kalendars  of  Scottish  Saints, 

p.  431. 

The  church-history  of  Ireland  is  peculiar.  It  began  with  an 
independent  catholicity  (or  a  sort  of  semi-Protestantism),  and 
ended  with  Romanism,  while  other  Western  countries  passed 
through  the  reverse  order.  Lying  outside  of  the  bounds  of  the 
Roman  empire,  and  never  invaded  by  Roman  legions,^  that  vir- 
gin island  was  Christianized  without  bloodshed  and  independently 
of  Rome  and  of  the  canons  of  the  oecumenical  synods.  The  early 
Irish  church  differed  from  the  Continental  churches  in  minor 
points  of  polity  and  worship,  and  yet  excelled  them  all  dm-ing 
the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  in  spiritual  purity  and  missionary 
zeal.  After  the  Norman  conquest,  it  became  closely  allied  to 
Rome.     In  the  sixteenth  century  the  light  of  the  Reformation 

^  Agricola  thought  cf  invading  Ireland,  and  holding  it  by  a  single  legion,  in 
order  to  remove  from  Britain  the  dangerous  sight  of  freedom.  Tacitus,  Agric., 
c.  24. 


44  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

did  not  penetrate  into  the  native  population;  but  Queen  Eliza- 
beth and  the  Stuarts  set  up  by  force  a  Protestant  state-religion 
in  antagouLsm  to  the  prevailing  faith  of  the  people.  Hence,  by 
the  law  of  re-action,  the  Keltic  portion  of  Ireland  became  more 
intensely  Roman  Catholic,  being  filled  with  double  hatred  of 
England  on  the  ground  of  difference  of  race  and  religion.  This 
glaring  anomaly  of  a  Protestant  state  church  in  a  Roman  Catholic 
country  has  been  removed  at  last  after  three  centuries  of  oppres- 
sion and  misrule,  by  the  Irish  Church  Disestablishment  Act  in 
1869  under  the  ministry  of  Gladstone. 

The  early  history  of  Ireland  (Hibernia)  is  buried  in  obscurity. 
The  ancient  Hibernians  were  a  mixed  race,  but  prevailingly 
Keltic.  They  were  ruled  by  petty  tyrants,  jjroud,  rapacious 
and  warlike,  who  kept  the  country  in  perpetual  strife.  They 
were  devoted  to  their  religion  of  Druidism.  Their  island,  even 
before  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  was  called  the  Sacred 
Island.  It  was  also  called  Scotia  or  Scotland  down  to  the  elev- 
enth ccntm-y.^  The  Romans  made  no  attempt  at  subjugation,  as 
they  did  not  succeed  in  establishing  their  authority  in  Caledonia. 

The  first  traces  of  Irish  Christianity  are  found  at  the  end  of 
the  fourth  or  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century. 

As  Pelagius,  the  father  of  the  famous  heresy,  which  bears  his 
name,  was  a  Briton,  so  Cselestius,  his  chief  ally  and  champion, 
was  a  Hibernian ;  but  we  do  not  know  whether  he  was  a  Chris- 
tian before  he  left  Ireland.  Mansuetus,  first  bishop  of  Toul, 
was  an  Irish  Scot  (A.D.  350).  Pope  Caelestine,  in  431,  ordained 
and  sent  Palladius,  a  Roman  deacon,  and  probably  a  native 
Briton,  "to  the  Scots  believing  in  Christ,"  as  their  first  bishop.' 
This  notice  by  Prosper  of  France  implies  the  previous  existence 
of  Christianity  in  Ireland.     But  Palladius  was  so  discouraged 

>  Isidore  of  Seville  in  580  {Origines  XIV,  6)  was  tlie  first  to  call  Hibernia  by 
the  name  of  Scotia:  "Scotia  endem  et  Ibernia,  proxima  Britannios  insula." 

=>  Prosper  Aquitan.  (A.  D.  4r)5-463),  Chron.  ad  an.  431 :  "Ad  Scofos  in  Christum 
crcdcntcs  ordinatus  a  Papa  Ccdesfino  Palladius  primus  Episcopus  mittitur."  Comp. 
Vita  S.  Palladii  in  the  Book  of  Armagh,  and  the  notes  by  Haddan  and  Stubbs, 
Vol.  II.,  Part  II.,  pp.  290,  291. 


I  14.  THE  CONVEESION  OF  lEELAND.  45 

that  he  soon  abandoned  the  field,  with  his  assistants,  for  North 
Britain,  where  he  died  among  the  Picts.^  For  nearly  two  cen- 
turies after  this  date,  we  have  no  authentic  record  of  papal  inter- 
course with  Ireland ;  and  yet  during  that  period  it  took  its  place 
among  the  Christian  countries.  It  was  converted  by  two  humble 
individuals,  who  probably  never  saw  Rome,  St.  Patrick,  once  a 
slave,  and  St.  Bridget,  the  daughter  of  a  slave-mother.^  The 
Roman  tradition  that  St.  Patrick  was  sent  by  Pope  Cselestine  is 
too  late  to  have  any  claim  upon  our  acceptance,  and  is  set  aside 
by  the  entire  silence  of  St.  Patrick  himself  in  his  genuine  works. 
It  arose  from  confounding  Patrick  with  Palladius.  The  Roman 
mission  of  Palladius  failed;  the  independent  mission  of  Patrick 
succeeded.  He  is  the  true  Apostle  of  Ireland,  and  has  impressed 
his  memory  in  indelible  characters  upon  the  Irish  race  at  home 
and  abroad. 

St.  Patrick  or  Patricius  (died  March  17,  465  or  493)  was  the 
son  of  a  deacon,  and  grandson  of  a  priest,  as  he  confesses  him- 
self without  an  intimation  of  the  unlawfulness  of  clerical  mar- 
riages.* He  was  in  his  youth  carried  captive  into  Ireland,  with 
many  others,  and  served  his  master  six  years  as  a  shepherd. 
While  tending  his  flock  in  the  lonesome  fields,  the  teachings  of 
his  childhood  awakened  to  new  life  in  his  heart  without  any 
particular  external  agency.  He  escaped  to  France  or  Britain, 
was  again  enslaved  for  a  short  period,  and  had  a  remarkable 

^  He  is  said  to  liave  left  in  Ireland,  when  he  withdrew,  some  relics  of  St. 
Peter  and  Paul,  and  a  copy  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  which  the  Pope 
had  given  him,  together  with  the  tablets  on  which  he  himself  used  to  write. 
Haddan  &  Stubbs,  p.  291. 

^  Hence  Montalembert  says  (11.  393):  "The  Christian  faith  dawned  upon 
Ireland  by  means  of  two  slaves."  The  slave-trade  between  Ireland  and  Eng- 
land flourished  for  many  centuries. 

^  This  fact  is  usually  omitted  by  Roman  Catholic  writers.  Butler  says  sim- 
ply :  "  His  father  was  of  a  good  family."  Even  Montalembert  conceals  it  by 
calling  "  the  Gallo-Roman  ( ? )  Patrick,  son  of  a  relative  of  the  great  St.  Mar- 
tin of  Tours"  (II.  390).  He  also  repeats,  without  a  shadow  of  proof,  the  legend 
that  St.  Patrick  was  consecrated  and  commissioned  by  Pope  St.  Celestine  (p. 
391 ),  though  he  admits  that  "  legend  and  history  have  vied  in  taking  possession 
of  the  life  of  St.  Patrick." 


46  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

dream,  M'liieh  clecitled  his  calling.  He  saw  a  man,  Yictoricius. 
who  handed  him  innumerable  letters  from  Ireland,  begging  him 
to  come  over  and  help  them.  He  obeyed  the  divine  monition, 
and  devoted  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  the  conversion  of  Ire- 
land (from  A.D.  440  to  493).^ 

"  I  am,"  he  says,  "  greatly  a  debtor  to  God,  who  has  bestowed 
his  grace  so  largely  upon  me,  that  multitudes  were  born  again 
to  God  througli  me.  The  Irish,  who  never  had  the  knowledge 
of  God  and  Avorshipped  only  idols  and  unclean  things,  have 
lately  become  the  people  of  the  Lord,  and  are  called  sons  of 
God."  He  speaks  of  having  baptized  many  thousands  of  men. 
Armagh  seems  to  have  been  for  some  time  the  centre  of  his  mis- 
sionary operations,  and  is  to  this  day  the  seat  of  the  primacy  of 
Ireland,  both  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant.  He  died  in 
peace,  and  was  buried  in  Downpatrick  (or  Gabhul),  where  he 
began  his  mission,  gained  his  first  converts  and  spent  his  de- 
clining ycars.^ 

His  Roman  Catholic  biographers  have  surrounded  his  life 
with  marvelous  achievements,  while  some  modern  Protestant 
hypercritics  have  questioned  even  his  existence,  as  there  is  no 
certain  mention  of  his  name  before  634 ;  unless  it  be  "  the 
Hymn  of  St.  Sechnall  (Sccimdinus)  in  praise  of  St.  Patrick," 
which  is  assigned  to  448.  But  if  we  accept  his  own  writings, 
"there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt"  (we  say  with  a  Pres- 
b}i;crian  historian  of  Ireland)  "that  he  preached  the  gospel  in 
Hibernia  in  the  fifth  century;  that  he  was  a  most  zealous  and 
efficient  evangelist,  and  that  he  is  eminently  entitled  to  the 
honorable  designation  of  the  Apostle  of  Ireland."  ^ 

^  The  dates  are  merely  conjectural.  Haddan  &  Stubbs  (p.  295)  select  A.  D. 
440  for  St.  Patrick's  mission  (as  did  Tillemont  &  Todd),  and  493  as  the  year  of 
his  death.  According  to  other  accounts,  his  mission  began  much  earlier  and 
Ixsted  sixty  years.     The  alleged  date  of  the  foundation  of  Armagh  Ls  A.  D.  445. 

^  Afterwards  Armagh  disputed  the  claims  of  Downpatrick.   See  Killen  1. 71-73. 

'  Killen,  Vol.  1. 12.  Patrick  describes  himself  as  "  Jliherione  constitutus  episcopus." 
Afterwards  he  was  called  "  Episcopus  Scoforum,"  tlien  "  Archiaposlolus  Scotorum" 
then  "Abbat  of  all  Ireland,"  and  "Archbishop,  First  Primate,  and  Chief  Apos- 
tle of  Ireland."     See  Haddan  &  Stubbs,  p.  295. 


§  14.  THE  CONVEESION  OF  IRELAND.  47 

The  Christianity  of  Patrick  was  substantially  that  of  Gaul 
and  old  Britain,  i.  e.  Catholic,  orthodox,  monastic,  ascetic,  but 
independent  of  the  Pope,  and  differing  from  Kome  in  the  age  of 
Greo-ory  I.  in  minor  matters  of  polity  and  ritual.  In  his  Con- 
fession he  never  mentions  Rome  or  the  Pope;  he  never  appeals 
to  tradition,  and  seems  to  recognize  the  Scriptures  (including  the 
Apocrypha)  as  the  only  authority  in  matters  of  faith.  He  quotes 
from  the  canonical  Scriptures  twenty-five  times;  three  times 
from  the  Apocrypha.  It  has  been  conjectured  that  the  failure 
and  withdrawal  of  Palladius  was  due  to  Patrick,  who  had 
already  monopolized  this  mission-field ;  but,  according  to  the 
more  probable  chronology,  the  mission  of  Patrick  began  about 
nine  years  after  that  of  Palladius.  From  the  end  of  the 
seventh  century,  the  two  persons  were  confounded,  and  a  part 
of  the  history  of  Palladius,  especially  his  connection  with  Pope 
Cselestine,  was  transferred  to  Patrick.^ 

With  St.  Patrick  there  is  inseparably  connected  the  most 
renowned  female  saint  of  Ireland,  St.  Bridget  (or  Brigid,  Bri- 
gida.  Bride),  who  prepared  his  winding  sheet  and  survived  him 
many  years.  She  died  Feb.  1,  523  (or  525).  She  is  "the  Mary 
of  Ireland,"  and  gave  her  name  to  innumerable  Irish  daughters, 
churches,  and  convents.  She  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  her 
name-sake,  the  widow-saint  of  Sweden.  Her  life  is  surrounded 
even  by  a  still  thicker  cloud  of  legendary  fiction  than  that  of  St. 
Patrick,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  separate  the  facts  from  the  ac- 
cretions of  a  credulous  posterity.  She  was  an  illegitimate  child  of 
a  chieftain  or  bard,  and  a  slave-mother,  received  holy  orders,  be- 
came deformed  in  answer  to  her  own  prayer,  founded  the  famous 
nunnery  of  Kildare  (i.  e.  the  Church  of  the  Oak),'  foretold  the 
birth  of  Columba,  and  performed  all  sorts  of  signs  and  wonders. 

1  Haddan  &  Stubbs,  p.  294,  note :  "The  language  of  the  Hymns  of  S.  Sechnall 
and  of  S.  Fiacc,  and  of  S.  Patrick's  own  Confessio,  and  the  silence  of  Prosper, 
besides  chronological  difficulties,  disprove,  upon  purely  historical  grounds,  the 
supposed  mission  from  Eome  of  S.  Patrick  himself;  which  first  appears  in  the 
Scholia  on  S.  Fiacc's  Hymn." 

2  The  probable  date  of  foundation  is  A.  D.  480.     Haddan  &  Stubbs,  p.  295. 


48  FOUKTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

Upon  her  tomb  in  Kildare  arose  the  inextinguishable  flame 
called  "the  Light  of  St.  Bridget,"  which  her  nuns  (like  the 
Vestal  Virgins  of  Rome)  kept 

"Through  long  ages  of  darkness  and  storm"  (Moore). 

Six  lives  of  licr  were  published  by  Colgan  in  his  Trias  Thau- 
maturgihs,  and  five  by  the  Bollandists  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum. 

Critical  Note  on  St.  Patrich. 

We  have  only  one  or  two  genuine  documents  from  Patrick,  both  writ- 
ten in  semi-barbarous  (early  Irish)  Latin,  but  breathing  an  humble,  devout 
and  fervent  missionary  spirit  without  anything  specifically  Koman,  viz. 
his  autobiograpliical  Confession  (in  25  chapters),  written  shortly  before 
his  death  (493?),  and  his  Letter  of  remonstrance  to  Coroticus  (or  Ceredig), 
a  British  chieftain  (nominally  Christian),  probably  of  Ceredigion  or 
Cardigan,  who  had  made  a  raid  into  Ireland,  and  sold  several  of 
Patrick's  converts  into  slavery  (10  chapters).  The  Confession,  as  con- 
tained in  the  "Book  of  Armagh,"  is  alleged  to  have  been  transcribed 
before  A.  D.  807  from  Patrick's  original  autograph,  which  was  then 
partly  illegible.  There  are  four  other  MSS.  of  the  eleventh  century, 
with  sundry  additions  towards  the  close,  which  seem  to  be  indei^endent 
copies  of  the  same  original.  See  Haddan  &  Stubbs,  note  on  p.  296. 
The  Epistle  to  Coroticus  is  much  shorter,  and  not  so  generally  accepted. 
Both  documents  were  first  printed  in  1656,  then  in  1668  in  the  Acta 
Sanctorum,  also  in  Migne's  Patrologia  (Vol.  53),  in  Misa  Cusack's  Life 
of  St.  Patrick,  in  the  work  of  Ebrard  [I.  c.  482  sqq.),  and  in  Haddan 
&  Stubbs,  Councils  (Vol.  II.,  P.  II.,  296  sqq.). 

There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  about  Patrick's  nationality,  whether  he 
was  of  Scotch,  or  British,  or  French  extraction.  He  begins  his  Confession : 
"  I,  Patrick,  a  sinner,  the  rudest  and  the  least  of  all  the  faithful,  and  the 
most  contemptible  with  the  multitude  [Ego  Patricius,  peccator,  riisiicissi- 
mus  et  minimus  omnium  fidelium  et  contemptibilissimus  apiid  plurimos,  or, 
according  to  another  reading,  contemptibilis  sum  apud  plurimos),  had  for 
my  father  Calpornus  (or  Calphurnius),  a  deacon  {diaconum,  or  diaconem), 
the  son  of  Potitus  [al.  Photius),  a  presbyter  {flium  quondam  Potiti  pj-es- 
brjteri),  who  lived  in  the  village  of  Bannavem  (or  Banaven)  of  Tabernia; 
for  he  had  a  cottage  in  the  neighborhood  where  I  was  captured.  I  was 
then  about  sixteen  years  old ;  but  I  was  ignorant  of  the  true  God,  and 
was  led  away  into  captivity  to  Hibcrnia."  Bannavem  of  Tabernia  is 
perhaps  Banavie  in  Lochaber  in  Scotland  (McLauchlan) ;  others  fix  the 


§  14.  THE  CONVERSION  OF  IRELAND.  49 

place  of  liis  birth  in  Kilpatrick  {i.  e.  the  cell  or  church  of  Patrick),  near 
Dunbarton  on  the  Clyde  (Ussher,  Butler,  Maclear) ;  others,  somewhere 
in  Britain,  and  thus  explain  his  epithet  "Brito"  or  "Briton"  (Joceline 
and  Skene);  still  others  seek  it  in  Armoric  Gaul,  in  Boulogne  (from 
Bononia),  and  derive  Brito  from  Brittany  (Lanigan,  Moore,  Killen,  De 

Vinne). 

He  does  not  state  the  instrumentality  of  his  conversion.  Being 
the  son  of  a  clergyman,  he  must  have  received  some  Christian  instruc- 
tion; but  he  neglected  it  till  he  was  made  to  feel  the  power  of  reli- 
gion in  communion  with  God  while  in  slavery.  "After  I  arrived  in 
Ireland,"  he  says  (ch.  6),  "every  day  I  fed  cattle,  and  frequently  during 
the  day  I  prayed ;  more  and  more  the  love  and  fear  of  God  burned,  and 
my  faith  and  my  spirit  were  strengthened,  so  that  in  one  day  I  said  as 
many  as  a  hundred  prayers,  and  nearly  as  many  in  the  night."  He  rep- 
resents his  call  and  commission  as  coming  directly  from  God  through  a 
vision,  and  alludes  to  no  intervening  ecclesiastical  authority  or  episcopal 
consecration.  In  one  of  the  oldest  Irish  MSS.,  the  Book  of  Durrow,  he 
is  styled  a  presbyter.  In  the  Epistle  to  Coroticus,  he  appears  more 
churchly  and  invested  with  episcopal  power  and  jurisdiction.  It  begins : 
"  Fatricius,  peccator  indoctus,  Hiberione  (or  Hyberione)  constitutus  episcopus, 
certissime  reor,  a  Deo  accept  id  quod  sum :  inter  barbaras  utique  gentes  pro- 
selytus  etprofuga,  ob  amorem  Dei."  (So  according  to  the  text  of  Haddan 
&  Stubbs,  p.  314;  somewhat  different  in  Migne,  Patrol.  LIII.  814;  and 
in  Ebrard,  p.  505.)  But  the  letter  does  not  state  where  or  by  whom  he 
was  consecrated. 

The  "  Book  of  Armagh  "  contains  also  an  Irish  hymn  (the  oldest  monu- 
ment of  the  Irish  Keltic  language),  called  8.  Patricii  Canticum  jScottieum, . 
which  Patrick  is  said  to  have  written  when  he  was  about  to  convert  the 
chief  monarch  of  the  island  (Laoghaire  or  Loegaire).^  The  hymn  is  a 
prayer  for  the  special  aid  of  Almighty  God  for  so  important  a  work ;  it 
contains  the  principal  doctrines  of  orthodox  Christianity,  with  a  dread 
of  magical  influences  of  aged  women  and  blacksmiths,  such  as  still 
prevails  in  some  parts  of  Ireland,  but  without  an  invocation  of  Mary 
and  the  saints,  such  as  we  might  expect  from  the  Patrick  of  tradition 
and  in  a  composition  intended  as  a  breast-plate  or  corselet  against  spirit- 
ual foes.     The  following  is  the  principal  portion : 

^  The  Irish  was  first  published  by  Dr.  Petrie,  and  translated  by  Dr.  Todd. . 
Haddan  &  Stubbs  (320-323)  give  the  Irish  and  English  in  parallel  columns. 
Some  parts  of  tliis  hymn  are  said  to  be  still  remembered  by  the  Irish  peasantry 
and  repeated  at  bed-time  as  a  protection  from  evil,  or  "  as  a  religious  armor  to  > 
protect  body  and  soul  against  demons  and  men  and  vices." 
4 


50  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

"  5.  I  bind  to  myself  to-day, — 

The  Power  of  God  to  guide  me, 
The  Miglit  of  God  to  uphold  me, 
The  Wisdom  of  God  to  teach  me, 
The  Eye  of  God  to  watch  over  me, 
The  Ear  of  God  to  hear  me, 
The  Word  of  God  to  give  me  speech. 
The  Hand  of  God  to  protect  me. 
The  Way  of  God  to  go  before  me. 
The  Shield  of  God  to  shelter  me. 
The  Host  of  God  to  defend  me, 

Against  the  snares  of  demons, 

Against  the  temptations  of  vices, 

Against  the  lusts  of  nature, 

Against  every  man  who  meditates  injury  to  me, 
Whether  far  or  near, 
With  few  or  with  many.         ' 

6,  I  have  set  around  me  all  these  powers. 
Against  every  hostile  savage  power, 
Directed  against  my  body  and  my  soul, 
Against  the  incantations  of  false  prophets, 
Against  the  black  laws  of  heathenism. 
Against  the  false  laws  of  heresy, 
Against  the  deceits  of  idolatry, 

Against  the  spells  of  women,  and  smiths,  and  druids, 
Against  all  knowledge  which  blinds  the  soul  of  man. 

'.7.  Christ  protect  me  to-day 

Against  poison,  against  burning, 
Against  drowning,  against  wound. 
That  I  may  receive  abundant  reward. 

'8.  Christ  with  me,  Christ  before  me, 
Christ  behind  me,  Christ  within  me, 
Christ  beneath  me,  Christ  above  me, 
Christ  at  my  right,  Christ  at  my  left, 
Christ  in  the  fort  [?.  e.  at  home], 
Christ  in  the  chariot-seat  [travelling  by  land], 
Christ  in  the  poop  [travelling  by  Avater] . 

:9.  Christ  in  the  heart  of  every  man  who  thinks  of  me, 
Christ  in  tlie  mouth  of  every  man  who  speaks  to  me, 
Christ  in  every  eye  that  sees  me, 
vChrist  in  every  ear  that  hears  me. 


§  14.  THE  CONVERSION  OF  IRELAND.  51 

10.  I  bind  to  myself  to-day 

The  strong  power  of  an  invocation  of  the  Trinity, 
The  faith  of  the  Trinity  in  Unity, 
The  Creator  of  [the  elements]. 

11.  Salvation  is  of  the  Lord, 
Salvation  is  of  the  Lord, 
Salvation  is  of  Christ ; 

May  thy  salvation,  O  Lord,  be  ever  with  us." 

The  fourth  and  last  document  which  has  been  claimed  as  authentic 
and  contemporary,  is  a  Latin  "  Hymn  in  praise  of  St.  Patrick  "  [Hymnus 
Sancti  Patricii,  Episcopi  Scotorum)  by  St.  Sechnall  (Secundinus)  which, 
begins  thus : 

"Audite,  omnes  amantes  Deum,  sancta  merita 
Viri  in  Christo  beati  Patricii  Episcopi: 
Quomodo  bonum  ob  actum  simulatur  angeli-?, 
Perfectamque  propter  uitam  cequatur  Apostolis." 

The  poem  is  given  in  full  by  Haddan  &  Stubbs,  324-327,  and  assigned 
to  "before  A. D.  448  (?),"  in  which  year  Sechnall  died.  But  how  could 
he  anticipate  the  work  of  Patrick,  when  his  mission,  according  to  the 
same  writers,  began  only  eight  years  earlier  (440),  and  lasted  till  493? 
The  hymn  is  first  mentioned  by  Tyrechanus  in  the  "  Book  of  Armagh." 

The  next  oldest  document  is  the  Irish  hymn  of  St.  Fiacc  on  St.  Patrick, 
which  is  assigned  to  the  latter  part  of  the  sixth  century,  {I.  c.  356-361). 
The  Senchus  Mar  is  attributed  to  the  age  of  St.  Patrick ;  but  it  is  a  code 
of  Irish  laws,  derived  from  Pagan  times,  and  gradually  modified  by 
Christian  ecclesiastics  in  favor  of  the  church.  The  Canons  attributed  to 
St.  Patrick  are  of  later  date  (Haddan  &  Stubbs,  328  sqq.). 

It  is  strange  that  St.  Patrick  is  not  mentioned  by  Bede  in  his  Church 
History,  although  he  often  refers  to  Hibernia  and  its  church,  and  is  barely 
named  as  a  presbyter  in  his  Martyrology.  He  is  also  ignored  by  Columba 
and  by  the  Roman  Catholic  writers,  until  his  mediaeval  biographers  firom 
the  eighth  to  the  twelfth  century  Romanized  him,  appealing  not  to  his 
genuine  Confession,  but  to  spurious  documents  and  vague  traditions. 
He  is  said  to  have  converted  all  the  Irish  chieftains  and  bards,  even 
Ossian,  the  blind  Homer  of  Scotland,  who  sang  to  him  his  long  epic  of 
Keltic  heroes  and  battles.  He  founded  365  or,  according  to  others,  700 
churches,  and  consecrated  as  many  bishops,  and  3,000  priests  (when  the 
whole  island  had  probably  not  more  than  two  or  three  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants ;  for  even  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  it  did  not  exceed  600,000).* 

'  See  Killen,  I.  76,  note.  Montalembert  says,  III.  118,  note:  "Irisli  narra- 
tives know  scarcely  any  numerals  but  those  of  three  hundred  and  three  thousand." 


52  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

He  changed  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  healed  the  blind,  raised  nine  per- 
sons from  death  to  life,  and  expelled  all  the  snakes  and  frogs  from  Ire- 
land.* His  memory  is  celebrated  March  17,  and  is  a  day  of  great  public 
processions  with  the  Irish  Catholics  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  His  death 
is  varioasly  put  in  the  year  455  (Tillemont),  464  or  465  (Butler,  Killen), 
493  (Ussher,  Skene,  Forbes,  Haddan  &  Stubbs).  Forbes  [Kalendars,  p. 
433)  and  Skene  [Keltic  Scotland,  11.  427  sqq.)  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  legend  of  St.  Patrick  in  its  present  shape  is  not  older  than  the  ninth 
century,  and  dissolves  into  three  personages :  Sen-Patrick,  whose  day 
in  the  Kalendar  is  the  24th  of  August ;  Palladius,  "  qui  est  Patricius," 
to  whom  the  mission  in  431  properly  belongs,  and  Patricius,  whose 
day  is  the  17th  of  March,  and  who  died  in  493.  "  From  the  acts  of  these 
three  saints,  the  subsequent  legend  of  the  great  Apostle  of  Ireland  was 
compiled,  and  an  arbitrary  chronology  applied  to  it." 

§  15.   The  Irish  Church  after  St.  Patrick. 

THE   MISSIONARY   PERIOD. 

The  labors  of  St.  Patrick  were  carried  on  by  his  pupils  and 
by  many  British  priests  and  monks  who  were  driven  from  Eng- 
land by  the  Anglo-Saxon  invasion  in  the  5th  and  6th  centuries.^ 
There  was  an  intimate  intercourse  between  Ireland  and  Wales, 
where  British  Christianity  sought  refuge,  and  between  Ireland 
and  Scotland,  where  the  seed  of  Christianity  had  been  planted 
by  Ninian  and  Kentigern.  In  less  than  a  century  after  St. 
Patrick's  death  Ireland  was  covered  with  churches  and  convents 
for  men  and  Avomcn.  The  monastic  institutions  were  training 
schools  of  clergymen  and  missionaries,  and  workshops  for  trans- 
scribing  sacred  books.     Prominent  among  these  are  the  monas- 

'  A  witty  Irishman,  who  rowed  me  (in  1875)  over  Lake  Killamey,  told  me 
that  St.  Patrick  put  tlie  last  snake  into  an  iron  box,  and  snnk  it  to  the  bottom 
of  the  lake,  althoun^h  he  had  solemnly  promised  to  let  the  creature  out.  I 
asked  him  whether  it  was  not  a  sin  to  cheat  a  snake  ?  "  Not  at  all,"  was  his 
quick  reply,  "  he  only  paid  him  in  the  same  coin ;  for  the  first  snake  cheated 
the  whole  world."  The  same  guide  told  me  that  Cromwell  killed  all  the  good 
people  in  Ireland,  and  let  the  bad  ones  live ;  and  when  I  objected  tliat  he  must 
have  made  an  exception  with  his  ancestors,  he  politely  replied:  "No,  my 
parents  came  from  America." 

'  Petrie  (Round  Towers,  p.  137,  quoted  by  Killen  T.  26)  speaks  of  crowds  of 
foreign  ecclesiastics — Roman,  Egyptian,  Frencli,  British,  Saxon — who  flocked 
into  Ireland  as  a  place  of  refuge  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries. 


g  15.  THE  lEISH  CHUECH  AFTER  ST.  PATEICK.  53 

teries  of  Armagh,   Banchor   or   Bangor   (558),  Clonard  (500), 
Clonmacnois  (528),  Derry  (555),  Glendolough  (618). 

During:  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  Ireland  excelled  all 
other  countries  in  Christian  piety,  and  acquired  the  name  of 
^'  the  Island  of  Saints."  We  must  understand  this  in  a  compa- 
rative sense,  and  remember  that  at  that  time  England  was  just 
beginning  to  emerge  from  Anglo-Saxon  heathenism,  Germany 
was  nearly  all  heathen,  and  the  French  kings — the  eldest  sons 
of  the  Church — were  "monsters  of  iniquity."  Ireland  itself 
was  distractecl  by  civil  wars  between  the  petty  kings  and  chief- 
tains ;  and  the  monks  and  clergy,  even  the  women,,  marched  to 
the  conflict.  Adamnan  with  difficulty  secured  a  law  exempting 
women  from  warfare,  and  it  was  not  till  the  ninth  century  that 
the  clergy  in  Ireland  were  exempted  from  "expeditions  and 
hostings  "  (battles).  The  slave-trade  was  in  full  vigor  between 
Ireland  and  England  in  the  tenth  century,  with  the  port  of 
Bristol  for  its  centre.  The  Irish  piety  was  largely  based  on 
childish  superstition.  But  the  missionary  zeal  of  that  country 
is  nevertheless  most  praiseworthy.  Ireland  dreamed  the  dream 
of  converting  heathen  Europe.  Its  apostles  went  forth  to  Scot- 
land, North  Britain,  France,  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  North 
Italy.  "  They  covered  the  land  and  seas  of  the  West.  Unwea- 
ried navigators,  they  landed  on  the  most  desert  islands;  they 
overflowed  the  Continent  with  their  successive  immigrations. 
They  saw  in  incessant  visions  a  world  known  and  unknown  to 
be  conquered  for  Christ.  The  poem  of  the  Pilgrimage  of  St. 
Brandan^  that  monkish  Odyssey  so  celebrated  in  the  middle 
ages,  that  popular  prelude  of  the  Divina  Commedia,  shows  us 
the  Irish  monks  in  close  contact  with  all  the  dreams  and  won- 
ders of  the  Keltic  ideal."  ^ 

The  missionaries  left  Ireland  usually  in  companies  of  twelve, 
witli  a  thu'teenth  as  their  leader.  This  duodecimal  economy 
was  to  represent  Christ  and  the  twelve  apostles.  The  following 
are  the  most  prominent  of  these  missionary  bands  :  * 

*  Moatalembert,  II.  397.  *  See  Eeeves,  S.  Columba,  latrod.,  p.  Ixxi. 


54  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

St.  Coliimba,  with  twelve  brethren,  to  Hy  in  Scotland, 
A.D.  563. 

St.  Mohonna  (or  Macarius,  Maurlcius),  sent  by  Columba,  with 
twelve  companions,  to  the  Picts. 

St.  Columbanus,  with  twelve  brethren,  whose  names  are  on 
record,  to  France  and  Germany,  A.D.  612. 

St.  Kilian,  with  twelve,  to  Franconia  and  Wiii'zburg, 
A.  D.  680. 

St.  Eloquius,  with  twelve,  to  Belgium,  A.  D.  680. 

St.  lludbert  or  Rupert,  with  twelve,  to  Bavaria,  A.  D.  700. 

St.  Willibrord  (who  studied  twelve  years  in  Ireland),  with 
twelve,  to  Friesland,  A.D.  692. 

St.  Forannan,  with  twelve,  to  the  Belgian^ frontier,  A.D.  970. 

It  is  remarkable  that  this  missionary  activity  of  the  Irish 
Church  is  confined  to  the  period  of  her  independence  of  the 
Church  of  Home.  "We  hear  no  more  of  it  after  the  Norman 
conquest. 

The  Irish  Church  during  this  missionary  period  of  the  sixth 
and  seventh  centui'ies  had  a  peculiar  character,  which  we  learn 
chiefly  from  two  documents  of  the  eighth  century,  namely,  the 
Catalogue  of  the  Saints  of  Ireland,^  and  the  Litany  of  Angus 
the  Culdee.' 

The  Catalogue  distinguishes  three  periods  and  three  orders  of 
saints:  secular,  monastic,  and  eremitical. 

The  saints  of  the  time  of  St.  Patrick  were  all  bishops  full  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  three  hundral  and  fifty  in  number,  founders 
of  chm-ches ;  they  had  one  head,  Christ,  and  one  leader,  Patrick, 
observed  one  mass  and  one  tonsm-e  from  ear  to  ear,  and  kept 
Easter  on  the  fourteenth  moon  after  the  vernal  equinox ;  they 
excluded  neither  laymen  nor  women ;  because,  founded  on  the 
Rock  of  Christ,  they  feared  not  the  blast  of  temptation.  They 
sprung  from  the  Romans,  Franks,  Britons   and  Scots.     This 

*  Catalogus  Sanctorum  Hibernice,  first  published  by  Ussher  from  two  ]MSS., 
and  in  Haddan  &  Stubbs,  292-294. 

'  Contained  in  the  Leabliar  Breac,  and  in  the  Book  of  Leinster. 


§  15.  THE  IRISH  CHURCH  AFTER  ST.  PATRICK.  55 

order  of  saints  continued  for  four  reigns,  from  about  A.  D.  440 
till  543. 

The  second  order,  likewise  of  four  reigns,  till  A.  D.  599,  was 
of  Catholic  Presbyters,  three  hundred  in  number,  with  few 
bishops ;  they  had  one  head,  Christ,  one  Easter,  one  tonsure,  as 
before ;  but  different  masses  and  different  rules,  and  they  refused 
the  services  of  women,  separating  them  from  the  monasteries. 

The  third  order  of  saints  consisted  of  one  hundred  holy  pres- 
byters and  a  few  bishops,  living  in  desert  places  on  herbs  and 
water  and  the-  alms  of  the  faithful ;  they  had  different  tonsures 
and  Easters,  some  celebrating  the  resurrection  on  the  14th, 
some  on  the  16th  moon ;  they  continued  through  four  reigns 
till  665. 

The  first  period  may  be  called  episcopal,  though  in  a  rather 
non-episcopal  or  undiocesan  sense.  Angus,  in  his  Litany,  in- 
vokes "seven  times  fifty  [350]  holy  cleric  bishops,"  whom  "the 
saint  [Patrick]  ordained,"  and  "  three  hundred  pure  presbyters, 
upon  whom  he  conferred  orders."  In  Nennius  the  number  of 
presbyters  is  increased  to  three  thousand,  and  in  the  tripartite 
Life  of  Patrick  to  five  thousand.  These  bishops,  even  if  we 
greatly  reduce  the  number  as  we  must,  had  no  higher  rank 
than  the  ancient  chorepiscopi  or  country-bishops  in  the  Eastern 
Church,  of  whom  there  were  once  in  Asia  Minor  alone  upwards 
of  four  hundred.  Angus  the  Culdee  gives  us  even  one  hundred 
and  fifty-three  groups  of  seven  bishops,  each  group  serving  in 
the  same  church.  Patrick,  regarding  himself  as  the  chief  bishop 
of  the  whole  Irish  people,  planted  a  church  wherever  he  made  a 
few  converts  and  could  obtain  a  grant  from  the  chief  of  a  clan, 
and  placed  a  bishop  ordained  by  himself  over  it.  "  It  was  a 
congregational  and  tribal  episcopacy,  united  by  a  federal  rather 
than  a  territorial  tie  under  regular  jurisdiction.  During  Patrick's 
life,  he  no  doubt  exercised  a  superintendence  over  the  whole; 
but  we  do  not  see  any  trace  of  the  metropolitan  jurisdiction  of 
the  church  of  Armagh  over  the  rest." ' 

1  Skene  11.  22. 


5G  FOUETH  PEKIOD.    A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

The  second  period  was  monastic  and  missionary.  All  the 
presbyters  and  deacons  were  monks.  Monastic  life  was  conge- 
nial to  the  soil,  and  had  its  antecedents  in  the  brotherhoods  and 
sisterhoods  of  the  Druids.^  It  was  imported  into  Ireland  pro- 
bably from  France,  either  directly  through  Patrick,  or  from 
the  monastery  of  St.  Ninian  at  Galloway,  who  himself  derives  it 
from  St.  Martin  of  Tours.^  Prominent  among  these  presbyter- 
monks  arc  the  twelve  apostles  of  Ireland  headed  by  St.  Colmnba, 
who  carried  Christianity  to  Scotland  in  563,  and  the  twelve 
companions  of  Columbanus,  who  departed  from  Ireland  to  the 
Continent  about  612.  The  most  famous  monastery  was  that  of 
Bennchar,  or  Bangor,  founded  A.  D.  558  by  Comgall  in  the 
county  of  Down,  on  the  south  side  of  Belfast  Lough.  Comgall 
had  four  thousand  monks  under  his  care.*  From  Bangor  pro- 
ceeded Columbanus  and  other  evangelists. 

By  a  primitive  Keltic  monastery  we  must  not  understand  an 
elaborate  stone  structure,  but  a  rude  village  of  wooden  huts  or 
bothies  (botha)  on  a  river,  with  a  church  (ecclcm),  a  common 
eating-hall,  a  mill,  a  hospice,  the  whole  surrounded  by  a  wall 
of  earth  or  stone.  The  senior  monks  gave  themselves  entirely 
to  devotion  and  the  transcribing  of  the  Scriptures.  The  younger 
were  occupied  in  the  field  and  in  mechanical  labor,  or  the  train- 
ing of  the  rising  generation.  These  monastic  communities 
formed  a  federal  union,  with  Clu'ist  as  their  invisible  head. 
They  were  training  schools  of  the  clergy.  They  attracted  con- 
verts from  the  surrounding  heathen  population,  and  offered 
them  a  refuge  from  danger  and  violence.     They  were  resorted 

^  Ammianns  Marcellinus  (XV.  9)  describes  tlie  Druids  as  "bound  together 
in  brotherhoods  and  corporations,  according  to  the  precepts  of  Pythagoras." 
See  KiUen,  I.  29. 

*  See  next  section.  St.  Patrick  also  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  St.  Martin's 
disciples ;  but  St.  Martin  lived  nearly  one  hundred  years  earlier. 

^  Angus  the  Culdee,  in  his  Litany,  invokes  "  forty  thousand  monks,  with  the 
l)lessing  of  God,  under  the  rule  of  Comg;ill  of  Bangor."  But  this  is  no  doubt  a 
slip  of  the  pen  for  "four  tliousand."  Skene  II.  56.  Bangor  on  the  north- 
ca.stern  coast  of  Ireland  must  not  be  confounded  with  Bangor  on  the  western 
coa^t  of  Wales. 


§  15.  THE  IRISH  CHURCH  AFTER  ST.  PATRICK.  57 

to  by  English  noblemen,  who,  according  to  Bode,  were  hospita- 
bly received,  furnished  with  books,  and  instructed.  Some  Irish 
clergymen  could  read  the  Greek  Testament  at  a  time  when 
Pope  Gregory  I.  was  ignorant  of  Greek.  There  are  traces  of 
an  original  Latin  version  of  the  Scriptures  differing  from  the 
Itala  and  Vulgate,  esjjecially  in  Patrick's  writings.^  But  "  there 
is  no  trace  anywhere  of  any  Keltic  version  of  the  Bible  or  any 
part  of  it.  St.  Chrysostom's  words  have  been  misunderstood  to 
support  such  a  supposition,  but  without  ground."  ^  If  there  had 
been  such  a  translation,  it  would  have  been  of  little  use,  as  the 
people  could  not  read  it,  and  depended  for  their  scanty  know- 
ledge of  the  word  of  God  on  the  public  lessons  in  the  church. 

The  "Book  of  Armagh,"  compiled  by  Ferdomnach,  a  scribe 
or  learned  monk  of  Armagh,  in  807,  gives  us  some  idea  of  the 
literary  state  of  the  Irish  Church  at  that  time.^  It  contains  the 
oldest  extant  memoirs  of  St.  Patrick,  the  Confession  of  St.  Pat- 
rick, the  Preface  of  Jerome  to  the  New  Testament,  the  Gospels, 
Epistles,  Apocalypse  and  Acts,  with  some  prefaces  chiefly  taken 
from  the  works  of  Pelaglus,  and  the  Life  of  St.  IMartln  of  Tours 
by  Sulpicius  Severiis,  with  a  short  litany  on  behalf  of  the  writer. 

In  the  ninth  century  John  Scotus  Erigena,  who  died  In  France, 
874,  startled  the  Church  with  his  rare,  but  eccentric,  genius  and 
pantheistic  speculations.  He  had  that  power  of  quick  repartee 
for  which  Irishmen  are  distinguished  to  this  day.  When  asked 
by  Charles  the  Bald  at  the  dinner-table,  what  was  the  difference 
between  a  Scot  and  a  Sot  {quid  distat  inter  Scottum  ct  Sottmnf), 
John  replied :  "  Nothing  at  all  but  the  table,  please  your  Majesty." 

^  Haddan  &  Stubbs,  Vol.  I.,  170-198,  give  a  collection  of  Latin  Scripture 
quotations  of  British  or  Irish,  writers  from  the  fifth  to  the  ninth  century  (Fasti- 
dius,  St.  Patrick,  Gildas,  Columbanus,  Adamnanus,  Nennius,  Asser,  etc.),  and 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Vulgate,  though  known  to  Fastidius  in  Britain 
about  A.  D.  420,  was  probably  unknown  to  St.  Patrick,  writing  half  a  century 
later  in  Ireland,  but  that  from  the  seventh  century  on,  the  Vulgate  gradually 
superseded  the  Irish  Latin  version  formerly  in  use. 

*  Haddan  &  Stubbs,  I.  192;  comp.  p.  10.  Ebrard  and  other  writers  state  the 
contrary,  but  without  proof. 

'  First  published  in  the  Swords  Parish  3fagazine,  1861. 


58  FOUETH  PERIOD.     A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

§  16.  Subjection  of  Ireland  to  English  and  Roman  Rule. 

The  success  of  the  Eoman  mission  of  Augustin  among  the 
Anglo-Saxons  encouraged  attempts  to  bring  the  Irish  Church 
under  the  papal  jurisdiction  and  to  force  upon  it  the  ritual 
observances  of  Rome.  England  owes  a  good  deal  of  her  Chris- 
tianity to  independent  Irish  and  Scotch  missionaries  from  Ban- 
gor and  loua;  but  Ireland  (as  well  as  Germany)  owes  her 
llomanism,  in  great  measure,  to  England.  Pope  Honorius  (who 
was  afterwards  condemned  by  the  sixth  oecumenical  council  for 
holding  the  Monothelite  heresy)  addressed  to  the  Irish  clergy  in 
629  an  exliortation — not,  however,  in  the  tone  of  authoritative 
dictation,  but  of  superior  wisdom  and  experience — to  conform 
to  the  lloman  mode  of  keeping  Easter.  This  is  the  first  known 
papal  encyclical  addressed  to  that  country.  A  Synod  was  held 
at  INIagh-Lcne,  and  a  deputation  sent  to  the  Pope  (and  the  three 
Eastern  patriarchs)  to  ascertain  the  foreign  usages  on  Easter.  The 
deputation  was  treated  with  distinguished  consideration  in  Rome, 
and,  after  three  years'  absence,  reported  in  favor  of  the  Roman 
cycle,  which  indeed  rested  on  a  better  system  of  calculation. 
It  was  accordingly  adojited  in  the  South  of  Ireland,  under  the 
influence  of  the  learned  Irish  ecclesiastic  Cummian,  who  devoted 
a  wliole  year  to  the  study  of  the  controversy.  A  few  years 
afterwards,  Thomian,  archbishop  and  abbot  of  Armagh  (from 
623  to  661),  and  the  best  Irish  scholar  of  his  age,  introduced, 
after  correspondence  with  the  Pope,  the  Roman  custom  in  the 
North,  and  thereby  promoted  his  authority  in  opposition  to  the 
power  of  the  abbot  of  lona,  which  extended  over  a  portion  of 
Ireland,  and  strongly  favored  the  old  custom.  But  at  last 
Abbot  Adamnan  likewise  yielded  to  the  Roman  practice  before 
his  death  (704). 

The  Norman  conquest  under  William  I.,  with  the  sanction  of 
the  Pope,  united  the  Irish  Church  still  more  closely  to  Rome 
(1066).  Gregory  YIL,  in  an  encyclical  letter  to  the  king, 
clergy  and  laity  of  Ireland  (1084),  boldly  challenged  their  obe- 


2  16.  SUBJECTION  OF  lEELAND.  59 

dience  to  the  Vicar  of  the  blessed  Peter,  and  invited  them  to 
appeal  to  him  in  all  matters  requiring  arbitration. 

The  archbishops  of  Canterbury,  Lanfranc  and  Anselm,  claimed 
and  exercised  a  sort  of  supervision  over  the  three  most  important 
sea-ports,  Dublin,  Waterford,  and  Limerick,  on  the  ground  that 
the  Norman  settlers  applied  to  them  for  bishops  and  priests. 
Their  influence  was  exerted  in  favor  of  conformity  to  Eome. 
Clerical  celibacy  was  more  generally  introduced,  uniformity  in 
ritual  established,  and  the  large  number  of  bishoprics  reduced  to 
twenty-three  under  two  archbishops,  Armagh  for  the  North  and 
Cashel  for  the  South;  while  the  bishop  of  Dublin  was  permitted 
to  remain  under  the  care  of  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  This 
reorganization  of  the  polity  in  the  interest  of  the  aggrandizement 
of  the  hierarchy  was  effected  about  1112  at  the  synod  of  Rath- 
breasail,  which  was  attended  by  58  bishops,  317  priests,  a  large 
number  of  monks,  and  King  Murtogh  O'Brien  with  his  nobles.' 
At  last  Ireland  was  invaded  and  conquered  by  England  under 
Henry  II.,  with  the  effectual  aid  of  Pope  Adrian  IV. — the 
only  Englishman  that  sat  on  the  papal  throne.  In  a  curious  bull 
of  1155,  he  justified  and  encouraged  the  intended  invasion  in 
the  mterest  of  the  papacy,  and  sent  the  king  the  ring  of  investi- 
ture as  Lord  of  Ireland,  calling  upon  that  licentious  monarch  to 
"extirpate  the  nurseries  of  vice"  in  Ireland,  to  "enlarge  the 
borders  of  the  (Roman)  Church,"  and  to  secure  to  St.  Peter 
from  each  house  "the  annual  pension  of  one  penny"  (equal  in 
value  in  the  twelfth  century  to  at  least  two  or  three  shillings  of 
our  present  currency).*     Henry  carried  out  his  design  in  1171, 

^  See  details  in  Lanigan  and  Killen  (ch.  yii.). 

*  This  papal-Irish  bull  is  not  found  in  the  Bullarium  Bomanum,  the  editors  of 
which  were  ashamed  of  it,  and  is  denounced  by  some  Irish  Komanists  as  a  mon- 
strous and  outrageous  forgery,  but  it  is  given  by  Matthew  Paris  (1155),  was  con- 
firmed by  Pope  Alexander  III.  in  a  letter  to  Henry  II.  (A.D.  1172),  published 
in  Ireland  in  1175,  printed  in  Baronius,  Annales  ad  A.D.  1159,  who  took  his 
copy  from  a  Codex  Vaticanus,  and  is  acknowledged  as  undoubtedly  genuine  by 
Dr.  Lanigan,  the  Eoman  Catholic  historian  of  Ireland  (IV.  64),  and  other  au- 
thorities; comp.  Killen  I.  211  sqq.     It  is  as  follows: 

"Adrian,  Bishop,  Servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  his  dearest  son  in  Christ, 
the  niustrious  King  of  England,  greeting  and  apostolic  benediction. 


GO  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

and  with  a  strong  military  force  easily  subdued  the  whole  Irish 
nation,  weakened  and  distracted  by  civil  wars,  to  British  rule, 
which  has  been  maintained  ever  since.  A  Synod  at  Armagh 
reo-arded  the  subjugation  as  a  righteous  judgment  for  the  sins  of 
the  people,  and  especially  for  the  slave  trade.     The  bishops 

"Full  laudably  and  profitably  hag  your  magnificence  conceived  the  design  of 
propagating  your  glorious  renown  on  earth,  and  of  completing  your  reward  of 
eternal  happiness  in  heaven,  whilst  as  a  Catholic  prince  you  are  intent  on 
enlarging  the  borders  of  the  Church,  teaching  the  truth  of  the  Christian  faith 
to  the  ignorant  and  rude,  extirpating  the  nurseries  of  iniquity  from  the  field  of 
the  Lord,  and  for  the  more  convenient  execution  of  tliis  purpose,  requiring  the 
counsel  and  favor  of  the  Apostolic  See.  In  which  the  maturer  your  deliberation 
and  the  greater  the  discretion  of  your  procedure,  by  so  much  the  happier,  we 
trust,  will  be  your  progress,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Lord ;  because  whatever 
has  its  origin  in  ardent  faith  Smd  in  love  of  religioij  always  has  a  prosperous 
end  and  issue. 

"  There  is  indeed  no  doubt  but  that  Ireland  and  all  the  islands  on  which 
Christ  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  has  shone,  and  which  have  received  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Christian  faith,  belong  to  the  jurisdiction  of  St.  Peter  and  of  the 
holy  Roman  Church,  as  your  Excellency  also  acknowledges.  And  therefore 
we  are  the  more  solicitous  to  propagate  a  faithful  plantation  among  them,  and 
a  seed  pleasing  to  the  Lord,  as  we  have  the  secret  conviction  of  conscience  that 
a  very  rigorous  account  must  be  rendered  of  them. 

"You  then,  most  dear  son  in  Christ,  have  signified  to  us  your  desire  to  enter 
into  the  island  of  Ireland  that  you  may  reduce  the  people  to  obedience  to  laws, 
and  extirpate  the  nurseries  of  vice,  and  that  you  are  willing  to  pay  from  each 
house  a  yearly  pension  of  one  penny  to  St.  Peter,  and  that  you  will  preserve 
the  rights  of  the  cliurches  of  this  land  whole  and  inviolate.  We,  therefore, 
with  that  grace  and  acceptance  suited  to  your  pious  and  laudable  design,  and 
favorably  assenting  to  your  petition,  hold  it  good  and  acceptable  that,  for  ex- 
tending the  bordei-s  of  the  cliurch,  restraining  the  progress  of  vice,  for  the  cor- 
rection of  manners,  the  planting  of  virtue,  and  the  increase  of  the  Christian 
religion,  you  enter  that  island,  and  execute  therein  whatever  shall  pertain  to 
the  honor  of  God  and  welfare  of  the  land ;  and  that  the  people  of  that  land 
receive  you  honorably,  and  reverence  you  as  their  lord — the  rights  of  their 
clmrches  still  remaining  sacred  and  inviolate,  and  saving  to  St.  Peter  the  annual 
pension  of  one  penny  from  every  liouse. 

"If  then  you  are  resolved  to  carry  the  design  you  have  conceived  into  effect- 
ual execution,  study  to  train  that  nation  to  virtuous  manners,  and  labor  by 
yourself  and  otiiers  whom  you  shall  judge  meet  for  this  work,  in  faith,  word, 
and  life,  that  the  church  may  be  there  adorned;  that  the  religion  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  may  be  planted  and  grow  up,  and  that  all  things  pertaining  to  the 
lionor  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls  be  so  ordered  that  j'ou  may  be  entitled 
U>  the  fulness  of  eternal  reward  in  God,  and  obtain  a  glorious  renown  on  earth 
throughout  all  ages." 


§  17.  THE  CONVERSION  OF  SCOTLAND.  61 

were  the  first  to  acknowledge  Henry,  hoping  to  derive  benefit 
from  a  foreign  regime,  which  freed  them  from  petty  tyrants  at 
home.  A  Synod  of  Cashel  in  1172,  among  other  regulations, 
ordered  that  all  offices  of  the  chm'ch  should  hereafter  in  all  parts 
of  Ireland  be  conformed  to  the  observances  of  the  Church  of 
England.  A  j^apal  legate  henceforward  was  constantly  residing 
in  Ireland.  Pope  Alexander  III.  was  extremely  gratified  with 
this  extension  of  his  dominion,  and  in  September,  1172,  in  the 
same  tone  of  sanctimonious  arrogance,  issued  a  brief  confirming 
the  bull  of  Adrian,  and  expressing  a  hoj)e  that  "  the  barbarous 
nation"  would  attain  under  the  government  of  Henry  ",to  some 
decency  of  manners ;"  he  also  wrote  three  epistles — one  to  Henry 
II.,  one  to  the  kings  and  nobles  of  Ireland,  and  one  to  its  hier- 
archy— enjoining  obedience  of  Ireland  to  England,  and  of  both 
to  the  see  of  St.  Peter/ 

§  17.  The  Conversion  of  Scotland.    St.  Ninian  and  St.  Kentigern. 

See  tlie  works  of  Skeiste  (tlie  second  vol.),  Reeves,  McLauchlan, 

Ebrard,   CuxxiNGHAjr,   mentioned   in   |  7. 

Also  De.  Reeves  :   The  Cuklees  of  the  British  Islands  as  they  appear 

in  History,  18G4. 
Dr.   Jos.   Robertson:    Statuta  Ecclesice  iScoticance,   1866,   2   vols. 
Bishop  Forbes  :   The  Kalendars  of  Scottish  Saints,  Edinb.,  1872 ;  Lives 

of  S.  Ninian  and  S.  Kentigern,  compiled  in  the  12th  century,  Edinb., 

1874. 
Haddax  &  Stubbs:   Councils  and  Ecclesiast.  Docum.,  Vol.  II.,  Part  I. 

(Oxf.,  1873),  pp.  103  sqq. 

Scotland  (Scotia)  before  the  tenth  century  was  comprised  in 
the  general  appellation  of  Britain  (Britannia),  as  distinct  from 
Ireland  (Hibernia).  It  was  known  to  the  Romans  as  Caledo- 
nia,^ to  the  Kelts  as  Alban ;  but  the  name  of  Scotia  was  exclu- 
sively appropriated  to  Ireland  till  the  tenth  century.  The  inde- 
pendent history  of  Scotland  begins  with  the  establishment  of 
the  Scottish  monarchy  in  the  ninth  century.  At  first  it  was  a 
purely  Keltic  kingdom;  but  in  the  course  of  time  the  Saxon 

1  KiUen,  I.  226  sq. 

*  In  Gaelic,  Calyddom,  land  of  forests,  or,  according  to  others,  from  Kcded, 
i.  e.  hard  and  wild. 


62  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

race  and  feudal  institutions  spread  over  the  country,  and  the 
Keltic  tribes  retreated  to  the  mountains  and  western  islands. 
The  names  of  Scot  and  Scotch  passed  over  to  the  English-speak- 
ing people  and  their  language ;  while  the  Keltic  language,  for- 
merly Icnown  as  Scotch,  became  known  as  Irish. 

The  Keltic  history  of  Scotland  is  full  of  fable,  and  a  battle- 
field of  llomauists  and  Protestants,  Episcopalians  and  Presby- 
terians, who  have  claimed  it  for  their  respective  systems  of  doc- 
trine and  church-polity.  It  must  be  disentangled  from  the 
sectarian  issues  of  the  Culdean  controversy.  The  historian  is 
neither  a  polemic  nor  an  apologist,  and  should  aim  at  nothing 
but  the  truth. 

Tertullian  says,  that  certain  places  in  Britain  which  the  Ro- 
mans could  not  conquer  were  made  subject  to  Christ.  It  is 
quite  likely  that  the  first  knowledge  of  Christianity  reached  the 
Scots  and  Picts  from  England ;  but  the  constant  wars  between 
them  and  the  Britons  and  the  decline  of  the  Roman  power  were 
unfavorable  to  any  mission  work. 

The  mission  of  Palladius  to  Scotland  by  Pope  Ctelestius  is  as 
vague  and  uncertain  as  his  mission  to  Ireland  by  the  same  Pope, 
and  is  strongly  mixed  up  with  the  mission  of  Patrick.  An  Irish 
colony  from  the  North-Eastern  part  of  Ulster,  which  had  been 
Christianized  by  Patrick,  settled  in  Scotland  towards  the  close 
of  the  fifth  century,  and  continued  to  spread  along  the  coasts  of 
Argyle  and  as  far  as  the  islands  of  INIull  and  lona,  until  its 
progress  was  checked  by  the  Northern  Picts. 

The  first  distinct  fact  in  the  church  history  of  Scotland  is  the 
apostolate  of  St.  Nixiax  at  the  close  of  the  fourth  century, 
during  the  reign  of  Theodosius  in  the  East.  We  have  little 
reliable  information  of  him.  The  son  of  a  British  king,  he 
devoted  himself  early  to  the  ministry  of  Christ.  He  spent  some 
time  in  Rome,  where  the  Pope  commissioned  him  to  the  aposto- 
late among  the  heathen  in  Caledonia,  and  in  Gaul  with  Bishop 
Martin  of  Tours,  who  deserves  special  praise  for  his  protest 
against  the  capital  punishment  of  heretics  in  the  case  of  the 


§  17.  THE  CONVERSION  OF  SCOTLAND.  63 

Priscillianists.  He  began  the  evangelization  of  the  Southern 
Plots  in  the  Eastern  districts  of  modern  Scotland.  He  built 
a  white  stone  church  called  "  Candida  Casa,"  at  Whittern  (Qu- 
hithern,  Witerna)  in  Galloway,  on  the  South- Western  border 
of  Scotland  by  the  sea  side,  and  dedicated  it  to  the  memory  of 
St.  Martin,  who  had  died  in  that  year  (397).^  This  was  the 
beginning  of  "  the  Great  Monastery  "  ("  Magnum  Monasterium  ") 
or  monastery  of  E,osnat,  which  exerted  a  civilizing  and  human- 
izing influence  on  the  surrounding  country,  and  annually  at- 
tracted pilgrims  from  England  and  Scotland  to  the  shrine  of 
St.  Niniari.  His  life  has  been  romanized  and  embellished  with 
legends.  He  made  a  new-born  infant  indicate  its  true  father, 
and  vindicate  the  innocence  of  a  presbyter  who  had  been  charged 
by  the  mother  with  the  crime  of  violation;  he  caused  leeks  and 
herbs  to  grow  in  the  garden  before  their  season;  he  subdued 
with  his  staff  the  winds  and  the  waves  of  the  sea;  and  even  his 
relics  cured  the  sick,  cleansed  the  lepers,  and  terrified  the  wicked, 
"by  all  which  things,"  says  Ailred,  his  biographer,  "the  faith 
of  believers  is  confirmed  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  Christ." 

St.  Kentigern  (d.  Nov.  13,  603),  also  called  St.  Mungo 
(the  gracious  one),^  the  first  bishop  of  Glasgow,  labored  in  the 
sixth  century  for  the  conversion  of  the  people  in  Cumberland, 
Wales,  and  on  the  Clyde,  and  re-converted  the  Picts,  who  had 
apostatized  from  the  faith.  He  was  the  grandson  of  a  heathen 
king  in  Cumbria  or  Strathclyde,  the  son  of  a  Christian,  though 
imbaptized  mother.  He  founded  a  college  of  Culdees  or  secular 
monks,  and  several  churches.  He  wore  a  hair  shirt  and  garment 
of  goat-skin,  lived  on  bread  and  vegetables,  slept  on  a  rocky 
couch  and  a  stony  pillow,  like  Jacob,  rose  in  the  night  to  sing 
psalms,  recited  in  the  morning  the  whole  psalter  in  a  cold 
stream,  retired  to  desert  places  during  Lent,  living  on  roots, 
was  con-crucified  with  Christ  on  Good  Friday,  watched  before 

^  On  Whittern  and  the  Candida  Casa,  see  Nicholson,  History  of  Galloway,  I. 
115;  Forbes,  S.  Ninian  and  S.  Kentigern,  268,  and  Skene,  II.  46. 

*  In  Welsh,  Cyndcyrn  means  chief,  Munghu  dear,  amiable.   See  Skene,  II.  183. 


61  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

the  tomb,  and  spent  Easter  in  hilarity  and  joy.  He  converted 
more  by  his  silence  than  his  speech,  caused  a  wolf  and  a  stag  to 
drag  the  plough,  raised  grain  from  a  field  sown  with  sand,  kept 
the  rain  from  wetting  his  garments,  and  performed  other  marvels 
which  prove  the  faith  or  superstition  of  his  biographers  in  the 
twelfth  century.  Jocelyn  relates  also,  that  Kentigern  went 
seven  times  to  Rome,  and  received  sundry  privileges  and  copies 
of  the  Bible  from  the  Pope.  There  is,  however,  no  trace  of 
such  visits  in  the  works  of  Gregory  I.,  who  was  more  interested 
in  the  Saxon  mission  than  the  Scotch.  Kentigern  first  estab- 
lished his  episcopal  chair  in  Holdelni  (now  Hoddam),  afterwards 
in  Glasghu  (Glasgow).  He  met  St.  Columba,  and  exchanged 
with  him  his  pastoral  stave.^  He  attained  to  the  age  of  one 
Imndrcd  and  eighty-five  years,  and  died  between  A.  D.  601  and 
012  (probably  603).*  He  is  buried  in  the  crypt  of  the  cathedral 
of  St.  Mungo  in  Glasgow,  the  best  preserved  of  mediaeval  cathe- 
drals in  Scotland. 

St.  Cuthbeet  (d.  March  20,  687),  whose  life  has  been  ^vrit- 
ten  by  Bedc,  prior  of  the  famous  monasteiy  of  Mailros  (Mel- 
rose), afterwards  bishop  of  Lindisfarne,  and  last  a  hermit,  is 
another  legendary  saint  of  Scotland,  and  a  number  of  churches 
are  traced  to  him  or  bear  his  name.^ 

§  18.  St.  Columba  and  the  Monastery  of  lona. 

John  Jamieson  (D.  D.)  :  Aji  Historical  Account  of  the  Ancient  Culdecs  of 
lona,  and  of  their  Settlements  in  Scotland,  England  and  Ireland. 
Edinb.,  1811  (p.  417). 

MoNTALEMBERT :  Les  Moines  d'  Occident,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  99-332  (Paris, 
1868). 

The  DtTKE  OF  Argyll:  lona.    Second  ed.,  London,  1871  (149  pp.). 

*Adamnan-:  Life  of  St.  Columba,  Foiindcr  of  Hij,  ed.  by  William  Reeves 
(Canon  of  Armagh),  Edinburgh.,  1874.  (Originally  printed  for  the 
Irish  Archseolog.  Society  and  for  the  Bannatyne  Club,  Dublin,  1856). 

'  The  meeting  of  the  two  -^r-ints,  as  recorded  by  Jocelyn,  reminds  one  of  the 
meeting  of  St.  Antony  with  the  fabulous  Paul  of  Thebes. 
'  See  Forbes,  Kalendars,  p.  372,  and  Skene,  II.  197. 
'  Forbes  (p.  319)  gives  a  list  of  26. 


I  18.  ST.  COLUMBA  AND  THE  MONASTEEY  OF  lONA.      65 

*  Skene:   Celtio  Scotland,  II.  52  sqq.  (Edinb.,  1877). 
Comp.  the  Lit.  in  I  7. 

Saint  Columba  or  Columbcille  (died  June  9,  597)  Is  the 
real  apostle  of  Scotland.  He  is  better  known  to  us  than  Ninian 
and  Kentigern.  The  account  of  Adamnan  (624-704),  the  ninth 
abbot  of  Hy,  was  written  a  century  after  Columba's  death  from 
authentic  records  and  oral  traditions,  although  it  is  a  panegyric 
rather  than  a  history.  Later  biographers  have  romanized  him 
like  St.  Patrick.  He  was  descended  from  one  of  the  reigning 
families  of  Ireland  and  British  Dalriada,  and  was  born  at  Gar- 
tan  in  the  county  of  Donegal  about  A.D.  521.  He  received  in 
baptism  the  symbolical  name  Colum,  or  in  Latin  Columba  (Dove, 
as  the  symbol  of  the  Holy  Ghost),  to  which  was  afterwards 
added  cille  (or  kill),  i.  e.  "of  the  church,"  or  "the  dove  of  the 
cells,"  on  account  of  his  frequent  attendance  at  public  worship, 
or,  more  probably,  for  his  being  the  founder  of  many  churches.^ 
He  entered  the  monastic  seminaiy  of  Clonard,  founded  by  St. 
Finnian,  and  afterwards  another  monastery  near  Dublin,  and 
was  ordained  a  priest.  He  planted  the  church  at  Derry  in  545, 
the  monastery  of  Durrow  in  553,  and  other  churches.  He 
seems  to  have  fondly  clung  all  his  life  to  his  native  Ireland, 
and  to  the  convent  of  Derry.  In  one  of  his  elegies,  which  were 
probably  retouched  by  the  patriotism  of  some  later  Irish  bard, 
he  sings : 

"  Were  all  the  tributes  of  Scotia  [i.  e.  Ireland]  mine, 
From  its  midland  to  its  borders, 
I  would  give  all  for  one  little  cell 
In  my  beautiful  Derry. 
For  its  peace  and  for  its  purity, 
For  the  white  angels  that  go 
In  crowds  from  one  end  to  the  other, 
I  love  my  beautiful  Derry. 

^  In  the  Irish  calendar  there  are  twenty  saints  of  the  name  Columba,  or 
Columbanus,  Columbus,  Columb.  The  most  distinguished  next  to  Cohmibcille 
is  Columbanus,  the  Continental  missionary,  who  has  often  been  confounded 
with  Columba.  In  the  Continental  hagiology,  the  name  is  used  for  female: 
saints.     See  Reeves,  p.  248. 

5 


6G  FOUETH  PEKIOD.     A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

For  its  quietness  and  purity, 

For  heaven's  angels  that  come  and  go 

Under  every  leaf  of  the  oaks, 

I  love  my  beautiful  Derry. 

My  Derry,  my  fair  oat  grove, 
My  dear  little  cell  and  dwelling, 
O  God,  in  the  heavens  above  I 
Let  him  who  profanes  it  be  cursed. 
Beloved  are  Durrow  and  Derry, 
Beloved  is  Eaphoe  the  pure, 
Beloved  the  fertile  Drumhome, 
Beloved  are  Sords  and  Kells ! 
But  sweeter  and  fairer  to  me 
The  salt  sea  where  the  sea-gulls  cry 
When  I  come  to  Derry  from  far, 
It  is  sweeter  and  dearer  to  me — 
Sweeter  to  me."  ^ 

In  563,  the  forty-second  year  of  his  age,  Columba,  prompted 
by  a  passion  for  travelling  and  a  zeal  for  the  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity/ sailed  with  twelve  fellow-apostles  to  the  West  of  Scot- 
land, possibly  on  invitation  of  the  provincial  king,  to  wdiom  he 
was  related  by  blood.  He  was  presented  with  the  island  of 
Hijy  commonly  called  lona^  near  the  Western  coast  of  Scotland, 
about  fifty  miles  West  from  Oban.  It  is  an  inhospitable  island, 
three  miles  and  a  half  long  and  a  mile  and  a  half  broad,  partly 
cultivated,  partly  covered  with  hill  pasture,  retired  dells,  morass 

^  Montalembert,  III.  112.  This  poem  strikes  the  key-note  of  father  Prout's 
more  musical  "Bells  of  Shandon  which  sound  so  grand  on  the  river  Lee." 

*  "Pro  Christo  peregi-inare  volens,"  says  Adamnan  (p.  108),  who  knows  nothing 
of  his  excommunication  and  exile  from  Ireland  in  consequence  of  a  great  bat- 
tle. And  yet  it  is  difficult  to  account  for  this  tradition.  In  one  of  the  Irish 
Keltic  poems  ascribed  to  Columba,  he  laments  to  have  been  driven  from  Erin 
by  his  own  fault  and  in  consequence  of  the  blood  shed  in  his  battles.  See 
Montalembert,  III.  145. 

^  This  is  not  an  adaptation  to  Columba's  Hebrew  name  (Neander),  but  a 
corruption  of  li-shona,  i.  e.  the  Holy  Island  (from  Ti,  the  Keltic  name  for  island, 
and  hona  or  shona,  sacred).  So  Dr.  Lindsay  Alexander  and  Cunningham. 
But  Reeves  (I.  c.  Introd.,  p.  cxxx.)  regards  loua  as  tlie  genuine  form,  wliich  is 
the  feminine  adjective  of  lorn  (to  be  pronounced  like  the  English  Yeo).  The 
island  has  borne  no  fewer  tliun  thirty  names. 


g  18.  ST.  COLUMBA  AND  THE  MOXASTEEY  OF  lONA.       67 

and  rocks,  now  In  possession  of  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  numbering 
about  three  hundred  Protestant  inhabitants,  an  Established 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  a  Free  Church.  The  neighboring 
island  of  Staffa,  though  smaller  and  uninhabited,  is  more  inter- 
esting to  the  ordinary  tourist,  and  its  Fingal's  Cave  is  one  of 
the  most  wonderful  specimens  of  the  architectural  skill  of  na- 
ture; it  looks  like  a  Gothic  cathedral,  66  feet  high,  42  feet 
broad,  and  227  feet  long,  consisting  of  majestic  basalt  columns, 
an  arched  roof,  and  an  open  portal  towards  the  ocean,  which 
dashes  in  and  out  in  a  constant  succession  of  waves,  sounding 
solemn  anthems  in  this  unique  temple  of  nature.  .Columba 
and  his  fellow-monks  must  have  passed  it  on  their  missionary 
wanderings;  but  they  were  too  much  taken  up  with  heaven  to 
look  upon  the  wonders  of  the  earth,  and  the  cave  remained 
comparatively  unknown  to  the  world  till  1772.  Those  islands 
wore  the  same  aspect  in  the  sixth  century  as  now,  with  the 
exception  of  the  woods,  which  have  disappeared.  Walter  Scott 
(in  the  "  Lord  of  the  Isles ")  has  thrown  the  charm  of  his  poetry 
over  the  Hebridean  archipelago,  from  which  proceeded  the 
Christianization  of  Scotland.^ 

By  the  labors  of  Columba  and  his  successors,  lona  has  become 
one  of  the  most  venerable  and  interesting  spots  in  the  history  of 
Christian  missions.  It  was  a  light-house  in  the  darkness  of 
heathenism.  We  can  form  no  adequate  conception  of  the  self- 
denying  zeal  of  those  heroic  missionaries  of  the  extreme  North, 
who,  in  a  forbidding  climate  and  exposed  to  robbers  and  wild 
beasts,  devoted  their  lives  to  the  conversion  of  savages.  Columba 
and  his  friends  left  no  monuments  of  stone  and  wood  ;  nothing 
is  shown  but  the  spot  on  the  South  of  the  island  where  he  landed, 

^  "No  two  objects  of  interest,"  says  the  Duke  of  Argyll  {Tona,  p.  1)  "could 
be  more  absolutely  dissimilar  in  kind  than  the  two  neighboring  islands,  Staflfa 
and  lona: — lona  dear  to  Christendom  for  more  than  a  thousand  years; — Staffa 
known  to  the  scientific  and  the  curious  only  since  the  close  of  the  last  century. 
Nothing  but  an  accident  of  geography  could  unite  their  names.  The  nvimber 
of  those  who  can  thoroughly  understand  and  enjoy  them  both  is  probably  very 
small." 


C8  FOUKTH  TERIOD.     A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

and  the  empty  stone  coffin  where  his  body  was  laid  together  with 
that  of  his  servant;  his  bones  were  removed  afterwards  to  Dun- 
keld.  The  old  convent  was  destroyed  and  the  monks  were 
killed  by  the  wild  Danes  and  Norsemen  in  the  tenth  century.  The 
remaining  ruins  of  lona — a  cathedral,  a  chapel,  a  nunner}^,  a 
graveyard  witli  the  tombstones  of  a  number  of  Scottish  and  Nor- 
weo-ian  and  Irish  kings,  and  three  remarkable  carved  crosses, 
which  were  left  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  that  (according  to  a 
vao-ue  tradition)  were  thrown  into  the  sea  by  the  iconoclastic 
zeal  of  the  Keformation — are  all  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  period 
which  succeeded  the  original  Keltic  Christianity,  and  which 
lived  on  its  fame.  During  the  middle  ages  lona  was  a  sort  of 
Jerusalem  of  the  North,  where  pilgrims  loved  to  worship,  and 
kino-s  and  noblemen  desired  to  be  bmned.  When  the  celebrated 
Dr.  Johnson,  in  his  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  approached  lona,  he 
felt  his  piety  grow  warmer.  No  friend  of  missions  can  visit 
that  lonely  spot,  shrouded  in  almost  perpetual  fog,  without 
catching  new  inspiration  and  hope  for  the  ultimate  triumph  of 
the  gospel  over  all  obstacles.' 

*  "  nitlier  came  holy  men  from  Erin  to  take  counsel  -with  the  Saint  on  the 
troubles  of  clans  and  monasteries  which  were  still  dear  to  him.  Hither  came 
also  bad  men  red-handed  from  blood  and  sacrilege  to  make  confession  and  do 
penance  at  Columba's  feet.  Hither,  too,  came  chieftains  to  be  blessed,  and  even 
kings  to  be  ordained — for  it  is  curious  that  on  this  lonely  spot,  so  far  distant 
from  the  ancient  centres  of  Christendom,  took  place  the  first  recorded  case  of  a 
temporal  sovereign  seeking  from  a  minister  of  the  Church  what  appeare  to  have 
been  very  like  formal  consecration.  Adamnan,  as  usual,  connects  his  narrative 
of  this  event,  which  took  place  in  547,  with  miraculous  circumstances,  and  with 
Divine  direction  to  Columba,  in  his  selection  of  Aidan,  one  of  the  early  kings 
of  the  Irish  Dalrladic  colony  in  Scotland. 

"The  fame  of  Columba's  supernatural  powers  attracted  many  and  strange  visi- 
tors to  the  shores  on  wliich  we  are  now  looking.  Nor  can  we  fail  to  remember, 
tvith  the  Reilig  Odhrain  at  our  feet,  how  often  the  beautiftil  galleys  of  that 
olden  time  came  up  the  sound  laden  with  the  dead, — '  tlieir  dark  freight  a  van- 
islied  life.'  A  grassy  mound  not  l:ir  from  the  present  landing-place  is  known  as 
the  spot  on  which  bodies  were  laid  when  they  were  first  carried  to  the  shore. 
AVc  know  from  the  account  of  Columl)a's  own  burial  that  the  custom  was  to 
wake  the  body  with  the  singing  of  psalms  during  three  days  and  nights  before 
laying  it  to  its  final  rest.     It  was  then  borne  in  solemn  procession  to  the  grave. 


§  18.  ST.  COLUMBA  AND  THE  MONASTERY  OF  lONA.      69 

The  arrival  of  Columba  at  lona  was  the  beginning  of  the 
Keltic  church  in  Scotland.  The  island  was  at  that  time  on  the 
confines  of  the  Pictic  and  Scotic  jurisdiction,  and  formed  a  con- 
venient base  for  missionary  labors  among  the  Scots,  who  were 
already  Christian  in  name,  but  needed  confirmation,  and  among 
the  Picts,  who  were  still  pagan,  and  had  their  name  from  paint- 
ing their  bodies  and  fighting  naked,  Columba  directed  his  zeal 
first  to  the  Picts;  he  visited  King  Brude  in  his  fortress,  and 
won  his  esteem  and  co-operation  in  planting  Christianity  among 
his  people.  "He  converted  them  by  example  as  well  as  by 
word"  (Bede).  He  founded  a  large  number  of  churches  and 
monasteries  in  Ireland  and  Scotland  directly  or  through  his  dis- 
ciples.^ He  was  involved  in  the  wars  so  frequent  in  those  days, 
when  even  women  were  required  to  aid  in  battle,  and  he  availed 
himself  of  military  force  for  the  overthrow  of  paganism.  He 
used  excommunication  very  freely,  and  once  pursued  a  plunderer 
with  maledictions  into  the  sea  until  the  water  reached  to  his 
knees.  But  these  rough  usages  did  not  interfere  with  the  vene- 
ration for  his  name.  He  was  only  a  fair  type  of  his  countrymen. 
"He  had,"  says  Montalembert,  "the  vagabond  inclination,  the 
ardent,  agitated,  even  quarrelsome  character  of  the  race."  He 
had  the  "  perfervidum  ingenium  Scotorum."     He  was  manly,  tall 

How  many  of  such  processions  must  have  wound  along  the  path  that  leads  to 
the  Reilig  Odhrain !  How  many  fleets  of  galleys  must  have  ridden  at  anchor 
on  that  bay  below  us,  with  all  those  expressive  signs  of  mourning  which  belong 
to  ships,  when  kings  and  chiefs  who  had  died  in  distant  lands  were  carried 
Lhher  to  be  buried  in  this  holy  Isle !  From  Ireland,  from  Scotland,  and  from 
distant  Norway,  there  came,  during  many  centuries,  many  royal  funerals  to  its 
shores.  And  at  this  day  by  far  the  most  interesting  remains  upon  the  Island 
are  the  curious  and  beautiful  tomb-stones  and  crosses  which  lie  in  the  Eeilig 
Odhrain.  They  belong,  indeed,  even  the  most  ancient  of  them,  to  an  age 
removed  by  many  hundred  years  from  Columba's  time.  But  they  represent  the 
lasting  reverence  which  his  name  has  inspired  during  so  many  generations,  and 
the  desire  of  a  long  succession  of  chiefs  and  warriors  through  the  Middle  Ages 
and  down  almost  to  our  own  time,  to  be  buried  in  the  soil  he  trod."  The  Duke 
of  Argyll,  I.  c,  pp.  95-98. 

*  See  a  list  of  churches  in  Reeves,  p.  xlix.-lxxi.,  and  Forbes,  Kalendar,  etc., 
p.  306,  307 ;  comp.  also  Skene,  II.  127  sqq. 


70  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

and  handsome,  incessantly  active,  and  had  a  sonorous  and  far- 
reaching  voice,  rolling  forth  the  Psalms  of  David,  every  syllable 
distinctly  uttered.  He  could  discern  the  signs  of  the  weather. 
Adamnan  ascribes  to  him  an  angelic  countenance,  a  prophetic 
fore-knowledge  and  miracles  as  great  as  those  performed  by 
Christ,  such  as  changing  water  into  wine  for  the  celebration  of 
the  eucharist,  when  no  wine  could  be  obtained,  changing  bitter 
fruit  into  sweet,  drawing  water  from  a  rock,  calming  the  storm 
at  sea,  and  curing  many  diseases.  His  biography,  instead  of 
giving  solid  facts,  teems  with  fabulous  legends,  which  are  told 
with  childlike  credulity.  O'Donnell's  biography  goes  still  fur- 
ther. Even  the  pastoral  staif  of  Columba,  left  accidentally  upon 
the  shore  of  lona,  was  transported  across  the  sea  by  his  prayers 
to  meet  its  disconsolate  owner  when  he  landed  somewhere  in 
Ireland.^ 

Columba  died  beside  the  altar  in  the  church  while  engaged  in 
his  midnight  devotions.  Several  poems  are  ascribed  to  him — 
one  in  praise  of  the  natural  beauties  of  his  chosen  island,  and  a 
monastic  rule  similar  to  that  of  St.  Benedict;  but  the  "regula  ac 
p'cecepta"  of  Columba,  of  which  Wilfrid  spoke  at  the  synod  of 
Whitby,  probably  mean  discipline  or  observance  rather  than  a 
written  rule.'* 

The  chm'ch  establishment  of  Columba  at  lona  belongs  to  the 
second  or  monastic  period  of  the  Irish  church,  of  which  it 
formed  an  integral  part.  It  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
persons  under  the  monastic  rule.  At  the  head  of  it  stood  a 
presbyter-abbot,  who  ruled  over  the  whole  province,  and  even 
the  bishops,  although  the  episcopal  function  of  ordination  was 
recognized.^  The  monks  were  a  family  of  brethren  living  in 
roramon.  They  were  divided  into  three  classes:  the  seniors, 
who  attended  to  the  religious  services,  instruction,  and  the  tran- 

*  Montalembert's  delineation  of  Columba's  character  assumes,  apparently,  the 
truth  of  these  biographies,  and  is  more  eloquent  than  true.     See  Skene,  II.  145. 
'  On  the  regula  Columbnni,  see  Ebrard,  147  sqq. 
•Bede,  J/.X  III.  4;  V.  9. 


2  18.  ST.  COLUMBA  AND  THE  MONASTERY  OF  lONA.      71 

scribing  of  the  Scriptures ;  the  middle-aged,  who  were  the  work- 
ing brethren,  devoted  to  agriculture,  the  tending  of  the  cattle, 
and  domestic  labor;  and  the  youth,  who  were  alumni  under  in- 
struction. The  dress  consisted  of  a  white  tunica  or  under  gar- 
ment, and  a  Camilla  or  outer  garment  and  hood  made  of  wool. 
Their  food  was  bread,  milk,  eggs,  fish,  and  on  Sundays  and  fes- 
tivals mutton  or  beef.  The  doctrinal  views  and  ecclesiastical 
customs  as  to  the  observance  of  Easter  and  the  tonsure  were  the 
same  as  amono-  the  Britons  and  the  Irish  in  distinction  from  the 
Roman  system  introduced  by  Augustin  among  the  Saxons.*- 

The  monastery  of  lona,  says  Bede,  held  for  a  long  time  the 
pre-eminence  over  the  monasteries  and  churches  of  the  Picts  and 
Northern  Scots.  Columba's  successors,  he  adds,  were  distin- 
guished for  their  continency,  their  love  of  God,  and  strict  atten- 
tion to  their  rules  of  discipline,  although  they  followed  "  uncer- 
tain cycles  in  their  computation  of  the  great  festival  (Easter), 
because  they  were  so  far  away  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  and 
had  none  to  supply  them  with  the  synodical  decrees  on  the  pas- 
chal observance;  wherefore  they  only  practised  such  works  of 
piety  and  chastity  as  they  could  learn  from  the  prophetical, 
evangelical,  and  apostolical  writings.  This  manner  of  keeping 
Easter  continued  among  them  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  till 
the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  715."  * 

Adamnan  (d.  704),  the  ninth  successor  of  Columba,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  visit  to  the  Saxons,  conformed  his  observance  of 
Easter  to  the  Roman  Church ;  but  his  brethren  refused  to  follow 
him  in  this  change.  After  his  death,  the  community  of  lona 
became  divided  on  the  Easter  question,  until  the  Columban 
monks,  who  adhered  to  the  old  custom,  were  by  royal  command 
expelled  (715).  With  this  expulsion  terminates  the  primacy  of 
lona  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Picts. 

The  monastic  church  was  broken  up  or  subordinated  to  the 

hierarchy  of  the  secular  clergy. 

^  For  a  very  full  account  of  the  economy  and  constitution  of  lona,  see  Beeves, 
Introduction  to  Life  of  Saint  Columba,  pp.  c.-cxxxii.    ^  H.  E.  III.  4. 


72  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

§  19.  The  Culdees. 

After  the  expulsion  of  the  Columban  monks  from  the  king- 
dom of  the  Picts  in  the  eighth  centmy,  the  term  Culdee  or  Ceile 
De,  or  Kaledel,  lii'st  appears  in  history,  and  has  given  rise  to 
much  controversy  and  untenable  theories.^  It  is  of  doubtful 
origin,  but  probably  means  servants  or  worshippers  of  God.''  It 
was  applied  to  anchorites,  who,  in  entire  seclusion  from  society, 
Bouo-ht  the  perfection  of  sanctity.  They  succeeded  the  Columban 
monks.  They  afterwards  associated  themselves  into  communi- 
ties of  hermits,  and  were  finally  brought  under  canonical  rule 
alon<>-  with  the  secular  clergy,  until  at  length  the  name  of  Culdee 
became  almost  synonymous  with  that  of  secular  canon. 

The  term  Culdee  has  been  improperly  applied  to  the  whole 
Keltic  church,  and  a  superior  purity  has  been  claimed  for  it. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Columban  or  the  Keltic  church  of 
Scotland,  as  well  as  the  early  Irish  and  the  early  British  churches, 
differed  in  many  points  from  the  mediseval  and  modern  church 
of  Rome,  and  represent  a  simpler  and  yet  a  very  active  mission- 
ary type  of  Christianity. 

The  leading  peculiarities  of  the  ancient  Keltic  church,  as  dis- 
tinct from  the  Roman,  are : 

*  To  Adamnan  and  to  Bede,  the  name  was  entirely  unknown.  Skene  (II. 
226)  says:  "In  tlie  wliole  range  of  ecclesiastical  history  there  is  nothing  more 
entirely  destitute  of  authority  than  the  application  of  this  name  to  the  Columhan 
monks  of  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries,  or  more  utterly  baseless  than  the 
fabric  -wliich  has  been  raised  upon  that  assumption."  The  most  learned  and 
ingenious  construction  of  an  imaginary  Protestant  Culdee  Church  was  furnished 
by  Ebrard  and  McLauchlan. 

^  The  word  Culdee  is  variously  derived  from  the  Gbelic  Gille  De,  servant  of 
God ;  from  tlie  Keltic  Cuil  or  Cenl,  retreat,  recess,  and  Cuildich,  men  of  the  recess 
( Jamieson,  McLauchlan,  Cunningham) ;  from  the  Irish  Ceile  De,  the  spouse  of 
God  (Ebrard),  or  the  servants  of  God  (Reeves) ;  from  the  Irish  Culla,  cowl,  i.  e. 
the  black  monk;  from  the  Latin  Deicola,  cuUores  Dei  (Colidei),  worshippers  of 
God  the  Fatlier,  in  distinction  from  Christicolce  (Ocdechrisf  in  Irish),  or  ordinary 
Christians  (Skene);  from  the  Greek  Ke\7,euTai,  men  of  the  cells  (Goodall). 
The  earliest  Latin  form  is  Kaledei.  In  Irish  Keile  as  a  substantive  means 
sociiu;  marifnx,  also  sermis.  On  the  name,  seq  Braun,  De  Culdeis,  Bonn,  1840, 
McLauchlan,  pp.  175  sq. ;  Ebrard,  pp.  2  sq.,  and  Skene,  II.  238. 


§  19.  THE  CULDEES.  73 

1.  Independence  of  the  Pope.  lona  was  its  Rome,  and  the 
Abbot  of  lona,  and  afterwards  of  Dunkeld,  though  a  mere  Pres- 
byter, ruled  all  Scotland. 

2.  Monasticism  ruling  supreme,  but  mixed  with  secular  life, 
and  not  bound  by  vows  of  celibacy ;  while  in  the  Roman  church 
the  monastic  system  was  subordinated  to  the  hierarchy  of  the 
secular  clergy. 

3.  Bishops  without  dioceses  and  jurisdiction  and  succession. 

4.  Celebration  of  the  time  of  Easter. 

5.  Form  of  the  tonsure. 

It  has  also  been  asserted,  that  the  Kelts  or  Culdoes  were 
opposed  to  auricular  confession,  the  worship  of  saints  and  images, 
purgatory,  transubstantiation,  the  seven  sacraments,  and  that  for 
this  reason  they  were  the  forerunners  of  Protestantism. 

But  this  inference  is  not  warranted.  Ignorance  is  one  thing, 
and  rejection  of  an  error  from  superior  knowledge  is  quite  ano- 
ther thing.  The  difference  is  one  of  form  rather  than  of  spirit. 
Owins:  to  its  distance  and  isolation  from  the  Continent,  the  Keltic 
church,  while  superior  to  the  churches  in  Gaul  and  Italy — at 
least  during  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries — in  missionary  zeal 
and  success,  was  left  behind  them  in  other  things,  and  adhered 
to  a  previous  stage  of  development  in  truth  and  error.  But  the 
general  character  and  tendency  of  both  during  that  period  were 
essentially  different  from  the  genius  of  Protestant  Christianity. 
We  find  among  the  Kelts  the  same  or  even  greater  love  for  mo- 
nasticism and  asceticism,  the  same  superstitious  belief  in  incredi- 
ble miracles,  the  same  veneration  for  relics  (as  the  bones  of 
Columba  and  Aidan,  which  for  centuries  were  carried  from  place 
to  place),  the  same  scrupulous  and  narrow  zeal  for  outward  forms 
and  ceremonies  (as  the  observance  of  the  mere  time  of  Easter,  and 
the  mode  of  monastic  tonsure),  with  the  only  difference  that  the 
Keltic  church  adhered  to  an  older  and  more  defective  calendar, 
and  to  the  semi-circular  instead  of  the  circular  tonsure.  There 
is  not  the  least  evidence  that  the  Keltic  church  had  a  higher 
conception  of  Christian  freedom,  or  of  any  positive  distinctive 


74  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

principle  of  Protestantism,  such  as  the  absolute  supremacy  of  the 
Bible  in  opposition  to  tradition,  or  justification  by  faith  without 
works,  or  the  universal  priesthood  of  all  believers.  ^ 

Considering,  then,  that  the  peculiarities  of  the  Keltic  church 
arose  simply  from  its  isolation  of  the  main  current  of  Christian 
history,  the  ultimate  triumph  of  Rome,  with  all  its  incidental 
evils,  was  upon  the  whole  a  progress  in  the  onward  direction. 
Moreover,  the  Culdees  degenerated  into  a  state  of  indolence  and 
stagnation  during  the  darkness  of  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries, 
and  the  Danish  invasion,  with  its  devastating  and  disorganizing 
influences.  We  still  find  them  in  the  eleventh  century,  aiid  fre- 
quently at  war  with  the  Roman  clergy  about  landed  property, 
tithes  and  other  matters  of  self-interest^^  but  not  on  matters 
of  doctrine,  or  Christian  life.  The  old  Culdee  convents  of 
St.  Andrews,  Dunkeld,  Dunblane  and  Brechin  were  turned 
into  the  bishop's  chapter  with  the  right  of  electing  the  bishop. 
Married  Culdees  were  gradually  supplanted  by  Canons-Regu- 
lar. They  lingered  longest  in  Brechin,  but  disappeared  in 
the  thirteenth  century.  The  decline  of  the  Culdees  was  the 
opportunity  of  Rome.  The  Saxon  priests  and  monl«,  connected 
with  the  more  civilized  countries,  were  very  active  and  aggres- 
sive, building  cathedrals,  monasteries,  hospitals,  and  getting 
possession  of  the  land. 

'  The  Duke  of  Argyll,  who  is  a  Scotch  Presbyterian,  remarks  (l.  c.  p.  41) : 
"  It  is  vain  to  look,  in  the  peculiarities  of  the  Scoto-Irish  Church,  for  the  model 
either  of  primitive  practice,  or  of  any  particular  system.  As  regards  the  theol- 
ogy of  Columba's  time,  although  it  was  not  what  we  now  understand  as  Roman, 
neitlier  assuredly  was  it  what  we  understand  as  Protestant.  Montalembert 
boasts,  and  I  tliink  with  truth,  that  in  Columba's  Life  we  have  proof  of  the 
practice  of  the  auricular  confession,  of  the  invocation  of  saints,  of  confidence  in 
their  protection,  of  belief  in  transubstantiation  [?],  of  the  practices  of  fasting 
and  of  penance,  of  prayers  for  the  dead,  of  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  familiar — and 
it  must  be  added — in  most  superstitious  use.  On  the  other  hand  there  is  no 
symptom  of  the  worship  or  '  cultus '  of  the  Virgin,  and  not  even  an  allusion  to 
Buch  an  idea  as  the  universal  bishopric  of  Home,  or  to  any  special  authority  as 
seated  there." 


?  20.  EXTINCTION  OF  THE  KELTIC  CHUECH.  75 

§  20.    Extinction  of  the  Keltic   Church,  and  Triumph  of  Rome 
under  King  David  I. 

The  turningrpoint  in  the  history  of  the  Scotch  church  is  the  reign 
of  tlie  devout  Saxon  queen  St.  Margaret,  one  of  the  best  queens  of 
Scotland  (1070-1093).  She  exerted  unbounded  influence  over  her 
illiterate  husband,  Malcolm  III.,  and  her  sons.  She  was  very- 
benevolent,  self-denying,  well  versed  in  the  Scriptures,  zealous 
in  reforming  abuses,  and  given  to  excessive  fasting,  which  under- 
mined her  constitution  and  hastened  her  death.  "  In  St.  ]\Iar- 
garet  we  have  an  embodiment  of  the  spirit  of  her  age.  What 
ostentatious  humility,  what  almsgiving,  what  prayers!  What 
piety,  had  it  only  been  freed  from  the  taint  of  superstition !  The 
Culdees  were  listless  and  lazy,  while  she  was  unwearied  in  doing 
good.  The  Culdees  met  her  in  disputation,  but,  being  ignorant, 
they  were  foiled.  Death  could  not  contend  with  life.  The 
Indian  disappears  before  the  advance  of  the  white  man.  The 
Keltic  Culdee  disappeared  before  the  footsteps  of  the  Saxon 
priest."  ^ 

The  change  was  effected  by  the  same  policy  as  that  of  the 
Norman  kings  towards  Ireland.  The  church  was  placed  upon 
a  territorial  in  the  place  of  a  tribal  basis,  and  a  parochial  system 
and  a  diocesan  episcopacy  was  substituted  for  the  old  tribal 
churches  with  their  monastic  jurisdiction  and  functional  episco- 
pacy. Moreover  the  great  religious  orders  of  the  Roman  Church 
were  introduced  and  founded  great  monasteries  as  centres  of 
counter- influence.  And  lastly,  the  Culdees  were  converted  from 
secular  into  regular  canons  and  thus  absorbed  into  the  Roman 
system.  When  Turgot  was  appointed  bishop  of  St.  Andrews, 
A.  D.  1107,  "the  whole  rights  of  the  Keledei  over  the  whole 
kingdom  of  Scotland  passed  to  the  bishopric  of  St.  Andrews." 

From  the  time  of  Queen  Margaret  a  stream  of  Saxons  and 
Normans  poured  into  Scotland,  not  as  conquerors  but  as  settlers, 
and  acquired  rapidly,  sometimes  by  royal  grant,  sometimes  by 

^  Cunningham,  Church  Hist,  of  Scotland,  p.  100. 


76  FOUETH  PERIOD.     A.D.  540  TO  1049. 

marriage,  the  most  fertile  districts  from  the  Tweed  to  the  Pent- 
land  Fii'th.  From  these  settlers  almost  every  noble  family  of 
Scotland  traces  its  descent.  They  brought  with  them  English 
civilization  and  religion. 

The  sons  and  successors  of  Margaret  enriched  the  church  by 
magnificent  endowments.  Alexander  I.  founded  the  bishoprics 
of  Moray  and  Dunkeld.  His  younger  brother,  David  I.,  the 
sixth  sou  of  Malcolm  III.,  who  married  Maud,  a  grand-niece  of 
William  the  Conqueror  (1110)  and  ruled  Scotland  from  1124  to 
1153,  founded  the  bishoisrics  of  Ross,  Aberdeen,  Caithness, 
and  Brechin,  and  several  monasteries  and  religious  houses. 
The  nobility  followed  his  example  of  liberality  to  the  chm'ch 
and  the  hierarchy  so  that  in  the  course  of,  a  few  centuries  one 
half  of  the  national  wealth  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  clergy, 
who  were  at  the  same  time  in  possession  of  all  the  learning. 

In  the  latter  part  of  David's  reign  an  active  crusade  com- 
menced against  the  Culdee  establishments  from  St.  Andrews  to 
lona,  until  the  very  name  gradually  disappeared;  the  last  men- 
tion being  of  the  year  1332,  when  the  usual  formula  of  their 
exclusion  in  the  election  of  a  bishop  was  repeated. 

"  Thus  the  old  Keltic  Church  came  to  an  end,  leaving  no  ves- 
tiges behind  it,  save  here  and  there  the  roofless  walls  of  what 
had  been  a  church,  and  the  numerous  old  burying-grounds  to 
the  use  of  which  the  people  still  cling  with  tenacity,  and  where 
occasionally  an  ancient  Keltic  cross  tells  of  its  former  state.  All 
else  has  disappeared ;  and  the  only  records  we  have  of  their  his- 
tory are  the  names  of  the  saints  by  whom  they  were  founded 
preserved  in  old  calendars,  the  fountains  near  the  old  churches 
bearing  their  name,  the  village  fairs  of  immemorial  antiquity 
held  on  their  day,  and  here  and  there  a  few  lay  families  holding 
a  small  portion  of  land,  as  hereditary  custodiers  of  the  pastoral 
staff,  or  other  relic  of  the  reputed  founder  of  the  church,  with 
some  small  remains  of  its  jurisdiction."  ^ 

'  Skene,  II.  418. 


II.  THE  CONVERSION  OF  FEANCE,  GERMANY,  ETC.      77 


II.  THE  CONVERSION  OF  FRANCE,  GERMANY,  AND  ADJACENT 

COUNTRIES. 

General  Literature. 

I,  Germany  before  Christianity. 

Tacitus:   Oermania  (cap,  2,  9,  11,  27,  39-45);  Annal  (XIII.  57);  Hist. 

(IV.  64). 
Jac.  Grimm:  Deutsche  Mythologie.      Gottingen,  2nd  ed.  1854,  2  vols. 
A.  F.  OzAifAM:  Les  Germains  avant  le  christianlsme.     Par.  1847. 
K.  Simrock:  Deutsche  Mythologie.     Bonn,  2nd  ed.  1864. 
A.  Plaxck  :  Die  Goiter  unci  der  Gottesglaube  der  Deutschen.     In  "  Jahrb. 

fiir  Deutsche  TheoL,"    1866,  No.  1. 

II.  The  Christianization  of  Germany. 

F.  W.  Eettberg:  Kirchengeschichte  Deutschlands.     Gottingen,  1846-48, 

2  vols. 
C.  J.  Hefele  (R.  C.) :   Geschichte  der  Einfuhrung  des  Christenthums  im 

siidwestL  Deutschland.     Tubingen  1837. 
H.  E.UCKERT :   Culturgeschichte  des  deutschen  Volkes  in  der  Zeit  des  Ueber' 

gangs  aus  dem  Heidenthum.     Leipz.  1853,  2  vols. 
W.    Krafft:     Kirchengeschichte    der    German.    Volher.      Berlin    1854 

(first  vol.) 
HiEMER   (R.  C):    Einfuhrung  des  Christenthums  in  Deutschen  Landen. 

Schaffhausen  1857  sqq.  4  vols. 
Count  de  Moxtalembert  (R.  C.)  :    Tlie  Monies  of  the  West  from  St. 

Benedict  to  St.  Bernard.     Edinb.  and  Lond.  1861  sqq.  7  vols. 
I.  Friedrich  (R.  C,  since  1870  Old  Cath.) :  Kirchengeschichte  Deutsch- 
lands. .  Eegensb.  1866,  1869,  2  vols. 
Charles  Merivale  :   Conversion  of  the  West.     TJie  Continental  Teutons. 

London  1878.    (Popular). 

G.  Korber:    Die  Ausbreitung  des    Christenthums  im  siidlichen  Baden. 

Heidelb.  1878. 
R.  Cruel:    Geschichte  der  deutschen   Predigt  im  Mittelalter.     Detmold 
1879.     (Chs.  I.  and  II.) 

§  21.  Arian  Christianity  among  the  Goths  and  other  German  Tribes. 

I.  Editions  of  the  remains  of  the  Gothic  Bible  Version  of  Wulfila  :  by 

H.  C.  vosr  DER  Gabelenz  and  J.  Loebe^  Leipz.  1836-46 ;  Mass- 
Manx,  1855-57 ;  E.  Bernhardt,  1875  (with  the  Greek  text  and 
notes) ;  and  Stamm,  7th  ed.  1878,  and  in  fac-simile  by  Uppstrom, 
1854-1868.  See  also  Ulphil^  Opera,  and  Schaff,  Compan.  to 
Gr.  Test.,  p.  150. 
UlphiLjE  Opera  ( Versio  Bibliorum  Gothica),  in  Migne's  Patrolog.,  Tom. 
XVIII.  pp.  462-1559  (with  a  Gothic  glossary). 

II.  G.  Waitz  :  TJeber  das  Leben  und  die  Lehre  des  Ulfila.     Hanover  1840. 


78  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

W.  Bessel:  Das  Leben  des    Ulfilas  und  die  Belcehrung  der  Gothen  zum 

Christenthum.     Gotting.  1860. 
W.  Keafft  :  I.  c.  I.  213-326 ;  and  Be  Fontibus  Ulfilce  Arianismi.  1860. 
A.  Helfferich;  Der  ivest-gothlsclie  Arianismus  und  die  spanische  Ket- 

zergeschichte.     Berlin  1860. 

We  now  proceed  to  the  conversion  of  the  Continental  Teutons, 
especially  those  of  France  and  Germany. 

The  first  wholesale  conversions  of  the  Germanic  or  Teutonic 
race  to  the  Christian  religion  took  place  among  the  Goths  in  the 
time  when  Arianism  was  at  the  height  of  power  in  the  East 
Roman  empire.  The  chief  agents  were  clerical  and  other  cap- 
tives of  war  whom  the  Goths  in  their  raids  carried  with  them 
from  the  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire  and  whom  they  learned 
to  admire  and  love  for  their  virtue  and  supposed  miraculous 
power.  Constantine  the  Great  entered  into  friendly  relations 
with  them,  and  is  reported  by  Eusebius  and  Socrates  to  have 
subjected  them  to  the  cross  of  Christ.  It  is  certain  that  some 
ecclesiastical  organization  was  effected  at  that  time.  Theophilus, 
a  bishop  of  the  Goths,  is  mentioned  among  the  fathers  of  the 
council  of  Nicsea,  325. 

The  real  apostle  of  the  Goths  is  Ulfilas/  who  was  consecrated 
bishop  in  348  at  Constantinople,  and  died  there  in  381,  aged 
seventy  years.  He  invented  the  Gothic  alphabet,  and  translated 
the  Bible  into  Gothic,  but  was  an  Arian,  or  rather  a  semi-Arian, 
who  regarded  Christ  as  a  secondary  God  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
merely  as  a  sanctifying  power.^ 

Arianism  spread  with  great  rapidity  among  the  Visigoths, 
Ostrogotlis,  Burgundians,  and  Vandals.  This  heretical  form  of 
Christianity,  however,  was  more  a  matter  of  accident  than  pref- 
erence and  conviction  among  the  Germans,  and  soon  gave  way 
to  orthodoxy  when  tlicy  became  acquainted  with  it.  When 
Alaric,  the  famous  king  of  the  Visigoths,  captured  Rome  (410), 

^  The  usual  spelling.     Better :    Wulfila,  i.  e.  Wolflein,  Little  WoJf. 

*  In  his  testamentary  creed,  which  he  always  held  {semper  sic  credidi),  he  con- 
fesses faith  "in  God  the  Father  and  in  his  only  begotten  Son  our  Lord  and  God, 
and  in  the  Holy  Spirit  as  virtutem  illuminantem  et  sanctificantem,  nee  Deum  nee 
Dominum,  scd  ministrum  Chrisli."     Corup.  Krafil,  1.  c.  328  sqq. 


§  21.  ARIAN  CHRISTIANITY  AMONG  THE  GOTHS,  ETC.    79 

he  treated  the  city  with  marked  leniency,  which  Augustin  justly 
traced  to  the  influence  of  the  Christian  faith  even  in  heretical 
form.  The  Vandals,  the  rudest  among  the  Teutonic  tribes, 
made  an  exception ;  they  fiercely  persecuted  the  orthodox  Chris- 
tians in  North  Africa  (since  430)  and  desolated  this  once  flou- 
rishino;  field  of  the  Catholic  Church,  the  scene  of  the  immortal 
labors  of  St.  Augustin.  Their  kingdom  was  destroyed  under 
Justinian  (534),  but  the  Catholic  Church  never  rose  from  its 
ruins,  and  the  weak  remnant  was  conquered  by  the  sword  of 
Islam  (670). 

Chrysostom  made  a  noble  eifort  to  convert  the  Eastero  Goths 
from  Arianism  to  Catholicity,  but  his  mission  ceased  after  his 
death  (407). 

The  conversion  of  the  Franks  to  Catholic  Christianity  and 
various  political  circumstances  led  to  the  abandonment  of  Arian- 
ism among  the  other  Germanic  tribes.  The  Burgundians  who 
spread  from  the  Rhine  to  the  Rhone  and  Saone,  embraced  Cath- 
olic Christianity  in  517,  and  were  incorporated  into  the  French 
kingdom  in  534.  The  Suevi  who  spread  from  Eastern  Germany 
into  France  and  Spain,  embraced  the  Catholic  faith  in  550.  The 
Visigoths  in  Spain,  through  their  king,  Reccared  the  Catholic, 
subscribed  an  orthodox  creed  at  the  third  Council  of  Toledo,  A. 
D.  589,  but  the  last  of  the  Gothic  kings,  Roderic,  was  conquered 
by  the  Saracens,  breaking  into  Spain  from  Africa,  in  the  bloody 
battle  of  Xeres  de  la  Frontera,  A.  D.  711. 

The  last  stronghold  of  Arianism  were  the  Longobards  or 
Lombards,  who  conquered  Northern  Italy  (still  called  Lombardy) 
and  at  first  persecuted  the  Catholics.  They  were  converted  to 
the  orthodox  faith  by  the  wise  influence  of  Pope  Gregory  I.  (590- 
616),  and  the  Catholic  queen  Theodelinde  (d.  625)  whose  hus- 
band Agilulf  (590-616)  remained  Arlan,  but  allowed  his  son 
Adelwald  to  be  baptized  and  brought  up  in  the  Catholic  Church. 
An  Arian  reaction  followed,  but  Catholicism  triumphed  under 
Grimoald  (662-671),  and  Liutprand  (773-774).  Towards  the 
close  of  the  eighth  century,  Pepin  and  Charlemagne,  in  the  interest 


80  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

of  France  and  the  papacy,  destroyed  the  independence  of  the 
Lombards  after  a  duration  of  about  two  hundred  years,  and 
transferred  tlie  greater  part  of  Italy  to  the  Eastern  empire  and  to 
the  Pope.  In  these  struggles  the  Popes,  being  then  (as  they  have 
been  ever  since)  opposed  from  hierarchical  interest  to  the  politi- 
cal unity  of  Italy,  aided  the  Franks  and  reajoed  the  benefit. 

§  22.   Conversion  of  Clovis  and  the  Franks. 

Gkegorius  Tueoxexsis  (d.  595) :  Historia  Francorum  Becks,  (till  A. 
D.  591). 

J.  W.   Lobell:   Gregor  von  Tours  und  seine  Zeit     Leipz.  1839. 

A.  Thierry  :  Reeits  des  temps  Mcrovingiens.     Par.  1842,  2  vols. 

F.  W.  Rettberg:    Kirchengeschichte  Deutschlands.     Gott,   1846,  I.  258- 
278. 

KORNHACK :    Geschichte  dcr  Franken  unter  den  Merovingern.     Greifsw. 
1863. 

Montalembert,  I.  c.  II.  219  sqq. 
Comp.  also  Henri  Martin:  Histoire  de  France;  Sir  James  Ste- 
phen:   Lectures  on  the  History  of  France  (Lond.   1859);    GuizoT : 
Histoire  de  la  civilization  en  France  (1830  sqq.),  and  his  Histoire  de 
France,  1870. 

The  Salian  Franks  were  the  first  among  the  Teutonic  tribes 
which  were  converted  to  catholic  or  orthodox  Christianity.  Hence 
the  sovereign  of  France  is  styled  by  the  Popes  "  the  oldest  son 
of  the  church,"  and  Rheims,  where  Clovis  was  baptized,  is  the 
holy  city  where  most  of  the  French  kings  down  to  Charles  X. 
(1824)  were  consecrated.^  The  conversion  of  the  Franks  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  downfall  of  the  Arian  heresy  among  the 
other  Germanic  nations,  and  for  the  triumph  of  the  papacy  in  the 
German  empire  under  Charlemagne. 

The  old  Roman  civilization  of  Gaul,  though  nominally  Chris- 
tian, was  in  the  last  stage  of  consumption  when  the  German 
barbarians  invaded  the  soil  and  introduced  fresh  blood.  Several 
savage  tribes,  even  the  Huns,  passed  through  Gaul  like  a  tempest, 

'  Witli  the  oil  of  the  miraculous  cruise  of  oil  {Ampulla  Rcmcnsis)  which,  ac- 
cording to  Ilincmar,  a  dove  brought  from  heaven  at  the  confirmation  of  Clovis, 
and  which  was  destroyed  in  1794,  but  recovered  in  1824. 


^  22.  CONVEESION  OF  CLOVIS  AND  THE  FRANKS.        81 

leavino-  desolation  behind  them,  but  the  Franks  settled  there 
and  changed  Gaul  into  France,  as  the  Anglo-Saxons  changed 
Britain  into  England.  They  conquered  the  Gallo-Eomans,  cru- 
elly sj)oiled  and  almost  exterminated  them  in  the  North -Eastern 
districts.  Before  thej  accepted  the  Christianity  of  the  conquered 
race,  they  learned  their  vices.  "  The  greatest  evil  of  barbarian 
government,"  says  Henri  Martin,^  "  was  perhaps  the  influence 
of  the  greedy  and  corrupt  Romans  who  insinuated  themselves 
into  the  confidence  of  their  new  masters."  To  these  degenerate 
Christians  Montalembert  traces  the  arts  of  oppression  and  the 
refinements  of  debauchery  and  perfidy  which  the  heathen  Ger- 
mans added  to  their  native  brutality.  "  The  barbarians  derived 
no  advantage  from  their  contact  with  the  Roman  world,  depraved 
as  it  was  under  the  empire.  They  brought  with  them  manly 
virtues  of  which  the  conquered  race  had  lost  even  the  recollec- 
tion ;  but  they  borrowed,  at  the  same  time,  abject  and  contagious 
vices,  of  which  the  Germanic  world  had  no  conception.  They 
found  Christianity  there ;  but  before  they  yielded  to  its  benefi- 
cent influence,  they  had  time  to  plunge  into  all  the  baseness  and 
debauchery  of  a  civilization  corrupted  long  before  it  was  van- 
quished. The  patriarchal  system  of  government  which  charac- 
terized the  ancient  Germans,  in  their  relations  with  their  children 
and  slaves  as  well  as  with  their  chiefs,  fell  into  ruin  in  contact 
with  that  contagious  depravity,"  ^ 

The  conversion  of  the  Salian  Franks  took  place  under  the  lead 
of  their  victorious  king  Chlodwig  or  Clovis  (Ludovicus, 
Louis),  the  son  of  Childeric  and  grandson  of  Merovig  (hence 
the  name  of  Merovingians).  He  ruled  from  the  year  481  to  his 
death  in  511.  With  him  begins  the  history  not  only  of  the  French 
empire,  its  government  and  laws,  but  also  of  the  French  nation, 
its  religion  and  moral  habits.  He  married  a  Christian  princess, 
Chlotilda,  a  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  Burgundians  (493),  and 
allowed  his  child  to  be  baptized.     Before  the  critical   battle  at. 

^  Vol.  I.  p.  394,  quoted  by  Montalembert. 
2  Montalembert,  Vol.  II.  p.  230. 
6 


82  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

Tolbiac^  near  Cologne  against  the  invasion  of  the  Allemanni,  he 
prayed  to  Jesas  Christ  for  aid  after  having  first  called  upon  his 
own  gods,  and  promised,  in  case  of  victory,  to  submit  to  baptism 
together  with  his  warriors.  After  the  victory  he  was  instructed 
by  Bishop  Eemigius  of  Rheims.  AVhen  he  heard  the  story  of 
the  crucifixion  of  Christ,  he  exclaimed :  "  Would  I  had  been 
there  -\\dth  my  valiant  Franks  to  avenge  him !"  On  Christmas, 
in  the  year  496,  he  descended  before  the  cathedral  of  Rheims  into 
i;he  baptismal  basin,  and  three  thousand  of  his  warriors  followed 
him  as  into  the  joys  of  paradise.  "  When  they  arose  from  the 
waters,  as  Christian  disciples,  one  might  have  seen  fourteen  cen- 
turies of  empire  rising  with  them;  the  whole  array  of  chivalry, 
the  long  series  of  the  crusades,  the  deep  philosophy  of  the  schools, 
in  one  word  all  the  heroism,  all  the  liber£y,  all  the  learning  of 
the  later  ages.  A  great  nation  was  commencing  its  career  in  the 
world — that  nation  was  the  Franks."^ 

But  the  change  of  religion  had  little  or  no  effect  on  the  charac- 
ter of  Clovis  and  his  descendants,  whose  history  is  tarnished  with 
atrocious  crimes.  The  ISIerovingians,  half  tigers,  half  lambs, 
passed  with  astonishing  rapidity  from  horrible  massacres  to  pas- 
sionate demonstrations  of  contrition,  and  from  the  confessional 
back  again  to  the  excesses  of  their  native  cruelty.  The  crimes 
of  Clovis  are  honestly  told  by  such  saintly  biographers  as  Gre- 
gory of  Tours  and  Hincmar,  who  feel  no  need  of  any  excuse  for 
him  in  view  of  his  services  to  religion.  St.  Remigius  even 
advised  the  war  of  conquest  against  the  Visigoths,  because  they 
were  Arians. 

"The  Franks,"  says  a  distinguished  Catholic  Frenchman,^ 
"were  sad  Christians.  While  they  respected  the  freedom  of  the 
Catholic  faith,  and  made  external  profession  of  it,  they  violated 
without  scruple  all  its  precepts,  and  at  the  same  time  the  simplest 

*  Tolbiacum,  Ziilpich.     *  Ozanam,  Etudes  Germaniques,  11.  54. 

^  Montalerabcrt,  II.  235.  Corap.  also  tlie  grapliic  description  of  the  Mero- 
vingian liouse  in  Dean  Milman's  Lat.  Christ.,  Bk.  III.,  ch.  2  (Vol.  I.,  p.  395, 
Am.  ed.). 


g  22.  CONVERSION  OF  CLOVIS  AND  THE  FRANKS.        83 

laws  of  humanity.  After  having  prostrated  themselves  before 
the  tomb  of  some  holy  martyr  or  confessor;  after  having  distin- 
guished themselves  by  the  choice  of  an  ii-reproachable  bishop; 
after  having  listened  respectfully  to  the  voice  of  a  pontiff  or 
monlt,  we  see  them,  sometimes  in  outbreaks  of  fury,  sometimes 
by  cold-blooded  cruelties,  give  full  course  to  the  evil  instincts  of 
their  savage  nature.  Their  incredible  perversity  was  most  appa- 
rent in  the  domestic  tragedies,  the  fratricidal  executions  and 
assassinations,  of  which  Clovis  gave  the  first  example,  and  which 
marked  the  history  of  his  son  and  grandson  with  an  ineffaceable 
stain.  Polygamy  and  perjury  mingled  in  their  daily  life  with  a 
semi-pagan  superstition,  and  in  reading  these  bloody  biographies, 
scarcely  lightened  by  some  transient  gleams  of  faith  or  humility, 
it  is  difficult  to  believe  that,  in  embracing  Christianity,  they  gave 
up  a  single  pagan  vice  or  adopted  a  single  Christian  virtue. 

"  It  was  against  this  barbarity  of  the  soul,  far  more  alarming 
than  grossness  and  violence  of  manners,  that  the  Church  trium- 
phantly struggled.  From  the  midst  of  these  frightful  disorders, 
of  this  double  current  of  corruption  and  ferocity,  the  pure  and 
resplendent  light  of  Christian  sanctity  was  about  to  rise.  But 
the  secular  clergy,  itself  tainted  by  the  general  demoralization  of 
the  two  races,  was  not  sufficient  for  this  task.  They  needed  the 
powerful  and  soon  preponderating  assistance  of  the  monastic 
army.  It  did  not  fail:  the  church  and  France  owe  to  it  the 
decisive  victory  of  Christian  civilization  over  a  race  much  more 
difficult  to  subdue  than  the  degenerate  subjects  of  Rome  or  By- 
zantium. While  the  Franks,  coming  from  the  North,  completed 
the  subjugation  of  Gaul,  the  Benedictines  were  about  to  approach 
from  the  South,  and  super-impose  a  pacific  and  beneficent  domi- 
nion upon  the  Germanic  barbarian  conquest.  The  junction  and 
union  of  these  forces,  so  unequal  in  their  civilizing  power,  were 
destined  to  exercise  a  sovereign  influence  over  the  future  of  our 
country." 

Among  these  Benedictine  monks,  St.  MAtTRTTS  occupies  the 
most  prominent  place.     He  left  Monte  Casino  before  the  death 


84  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

of  St.  Benedict  (about  540),  with  four  companions,  crossed  the 
Alps,  founded  Glanfcuil  on  the  Loire,  the  first  Benedictme  mo- 
nastery in  France,  and  gave  his  name  to  that  noble  band  of 
scholars  who,  more  than  a  thousand  years  after,  enriched  the 
church  with  the  best  editions  of  the  fathers  and  other  works  of 
sacred  learning.^  He  had  an  interview  with  King  Theodebert 
(the  grandson  of  Clovis),  was  treated  with  great  reverence  and 
received  from  him  a  large  donation  of  crown  lands.  Monastic 
establishments  soon  multiplied  and  contributed  greatly  to  the 
civihzation  of  France.' 

§  23.  Columbanus  and  the  Irish  Ilissionaries  on  the  Continefnt. 

I.  Sources. 

The  works  of  Coltjmbajtus  in  Patrick  Fleming's  Collectanea 
sacra  (Lovanii,  16G7),  and  in  Migne:  Patrolog.,  Tom.  87,  pp.  1013- 
1055.  His  life  by  Jonas  in  tlie  Acta  Sanct.  Orel.  Bened.,  Tom.  II., 
Sec.  II.,  2-26.     (Also  in  Fleming's  Coll.) 

II.  Works. 

Lanigan  (R.  K.):  Eccles.  Hist,  of  Ireland  (1829),  11.  263  sqq. 
MONTALEAIBERT :  3Ion/cs  of  the  West,  II.  397  sqq. 
Ph.  Heber:  Die  vorkarolingischen  Glaubenshelden  am  Rhein,  1867. 
LuTOLF  (R.  C):  Die  Glaubensboten  der  Schweiz  vor  St.  Gallus.     Luzem, 

1871. 
EbrARD:  Die  iroschottische  Missionshirche  (1873),  pp.  25-31;  284-340. 
KiLiiEN:  Ecclesiast.  Hist,  of  Ireland  (1875),  I.  41  sqq. 
W.  Smith  and  H.  Wace:  Diet.  Christ.  Biography  (1877),  I.  605-607. 
G.  Hertel:   Ucber  des  heil.   Columba  Leben  und  Wlr/cen,  besonders  seine 

Klosterregel     In   tlie   "  Zeitsclirift  fiir  hist.  Theol.,"  1875,  p.  396; 

and  another  article  in  Briegcr's   "  Zeitschrift  fiir  Kirchengesch.," 

1879,  p.  145. 

While  the  Latin  Benedictine  monks  worked  their  way  up 
from  the  South  towards  the  heart  of  France,  Keltic  missionaries 
carried  their  independent  Christianity  from  the  West  to  the 
North  of  France,  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  Switzerland  and  Lom- 

*  The  brotherhood  of  St.  Manr  was  founded  in  IGIS,  and  nmnbcred  such 
6chohirs  as  Mabillon,  Montfaucon,  and  Ruinart. 

*  Tlic  legendary  history  of  mona.sticism  under  the  ^Merovingians  is  well  told 
by  Montalembert,  II.  23G-386. 


2  23.  COLUMBANUS  AND  THE  lEISH  MISSIONAEIES.      85 

bardy;  but  they  were  counteracted  by  Roman  missionaries,  who 
at  last  secured  the  control  over  France  and  Germany  as  well  as 
over  the  British  Isles. 

St.  Columbanus^  is  the  pioneer  of  the  Irish  missionaries  to 
the  Continent.  His  life  has  been  written  with  great  minutenesa 
by  Jonas,  a  monk  of  his  monastery  at  Bobbio.  He  was  born  in 
Leinster,  A.D.  543,  in  which  year  St.  Benedict,  his  celebrated 
monastic  predecessor,  died  at  Monte  Casino,  and  was  trained  in 
the  monastery  of  Bangor,  on  the  coast  of  Down,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  St.  Comgall.  Filled  with  missionary  zeal,  he  left  his 
native  land  with  twelve  companions,  and  crossed  over  "the  sea  to 
Gaul  in  590,^  or  in  585,*  several  years  before  Augustin  landed 
in  England.  He  found  the  country  desolated  by  war;  Christian 
virtue  and  discipline  were  almost  extinct.  He  travelled  for 
several  years,  preaching  and  giving  an  example  of  humility  and 
charity.  He  lived  for  whole  weeks  without  other  food  than 
herbs  and  wild  berries.  He  liked  best  the  solitude  of  the  woods 
and  caves,  where  even  the  animals  obeyed  his  voice  and  received 
his  caresses.  In  Burgundy  he  was  kindly  received  by  King 
Gontran,  one  of  the  grandsons  of  Clovis;  refused  the  offer  of 
wealth,  and  chose  a  quiet  retreat  in  the  Vosges  mountains,  first 
in  a  ruined  Eoman  fort  at  Annegray,  and  afterwards  at  Luxeuil 
(Luxovium).  Here  he  established  a  celebrated  monastery  on  the 
confines  of  Bm^gundy  and  Austrasia.  A  similar  institution  he 
founded  at  Fontaines.  Several  hundred  disciples  gathered 
around  him.  Luxeuil  became  the  monastic  capital  of  Gaul,  a 
nursery  of  bishops  and  saints,  and  the  mother  of  similar  insti- 
tutions. 

^  Also  called  Columba  the  younger,  to  distinguish  him  from  the  Scotch  Co- 
lumba.  There  is  a  second  St.  Columbanus,  an  abbot  of  St.  Trudo  (St.  Troud) 
in  France,  and  a  poet,  who  died  about  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century. 

'  The  date  assigned  by  Hertel,  I.  c,  and  Meyer  von  Knonau,  in  "Allg.  Deutsche 
Biographic,"  IV.  424  (1876). 

'  The  date  according  to  the  Bollandists  and  Smitli's  Did.  of  Chr.  Biogr. 
Ebrard  puts  the  emigration  of  Columbanus  to  Gaul  in  the  year  594. 


8G  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

Columbanas  drew  up  a  monastic  rule,  which  in  all  essential 
points  resembles  the  more  famous  rule  of  St.  Benedict,  but  is 
shorter  and  more  severe.  It  divides  the  time  of  the  monks  be- 
tween ascetic  exercises  and  useful  agricultm-al  labor,  and  enjoins 
absolute  obedience  on  severe  penalties.  It  was  afterwards  super- 
seded by  the  Benedictine  rule,  which  had  the  advantage  of  the 
papal  sanction  and  patronage.^ 

The  life  of  Columbanus  in  France  was  embittered  and  his 

authority  weakened  by  his  controversy  with  the  French  clergy 

and  the  court  of  Burgundy.     He  adhered  tenaciously  to  the 

Irish  usage  of  computing  Easter,  the  Irish  tonsure  and  costume. 

Besides,  his  extreme  severity  of  life  was  a  standing  rebuke  of 

the  worldly  priesthood  and  dissolute  court."    He  was  summoned 

before  a  synod  in  602  or  603,  and  defended  himself  in  a  letter 

with  great  freedom  and  eloquence,  and  with  a  singular  mixture 

of  humility   and   pride.      He  calls  himself  (like  St.   Patrick) 

"Columbanus,  a  sinner,"  but  sj^eaks  with  an  air  of  authority. 

He  pleads  that  he  is  not  the  originator  of  those  ritual  differences, 

that  he  came  to  France,  a  poor  stranger,  for  the  cause  of  Christ, 

and  asks  nothing  but  to  be  permitted  to  live  in  silence  in  the 

depth  of  the  forests  near  the  bones  of  his  seventeen  bretliren, 

whom  he  had  already  seen  die.     "  Ah !  let  us  live  with  you  in 

this  Gaul,  where  we  now  are,  since  we  are  destined  to  live  with 

each  other  in  heaven,  if  we  are  found  worthy  to  enter  there." 

The  letter  is  mixed  with  rebukes  of  the  bishops,  calculations  of 

Easter  and  an  array  of  Scripture  quotations.     At  the  same  time 

he  -wrote  several  letters  to  Pope  Gregory  I.,  one  of  which  only 

is  preserved  in  the  writings  of  Columbanus.     There  is  no  record 

of  the  action  of  the  Synod  on  this  controversy,  nor  of  any  answer 

of  the  Pope. 

^  There  is  a  considerable  difference  between  his  Regula  Monastka,  in  ten 
chapters,  and  liis  Reguln  Oxnobialis  Fratrum,  sive  Liber  de  quotidianis  Pcenitentiis 
Monachorum,  in  fifteen  chapters.  The  latter  is  unreasonably  rigorous,  and  im- 
poses corporal  punishments  for  the  sliglitest  offences,  even  speaking  at  table, 
or  cougliing  at  chanting.  Ebrard  (/.  c,  p.  148  sqq.)  contends  that  tlie  Regula 
Ornobialis,  which  is  found  only  in  two  codices,  is  of  later  origin.  Comp.  Hei> 
tel,  I.  c. 


§  23.  COLUMBANUS  AND  THE  IKISH  MISSIONARIES.       87 

The  conflict  with  the  court  of  Burgundy  is  highly  honorable 
to  Columbanus,  and  resulted  in  his  banishment.  He  rej)roved 
by  word  and  writing  the  tyranny  of  queen  Brunehild  (or  Brune- 
hauld)  and  the  profligacy  of  her  grandson  Theodoric  (or  Thierry 
II.) ;  he  refused  to  bless  his  illegitimate  children  and  even  threat- 
ened to  excommunicate  the  young  king.  He  could  not  be 
silenced  by  flattery  and  gifts,  and  was  first  sent  as  a  prisoner  to 
Besangon,  and  then  expelled  from  the  kingdom  in  610.^ 

But  this  persecution  extended  his  usefulness.  We  find  him 
next,  with  his  Irish  friends  who  accompanied  him,  on  the  lake 
of  Zurich,  then  in  Bregenz  (Bregentium)  on  the  laker  of  Con- 
stance, planting  the  seeds  of  Christianity  in  those  charming 
regions  of  German  Switzerland.  His  preaching  was  accompanied 
by  burning  the  heathen  idols.  Leaving  his  disciple  St.  Gall  at 
Bregenz,  he  crossed  the  Alps  to  Lombardy,  and  founded  a  famous 
monastery  at  Bobbio.  He  manfully  fought  there  the  Arian 
heresy,  but  in  a  letter  to  Boniface  IV.  he  defended  the  cause  of 
Nestorius,  as  condemned  by  the  Fifth  General  Council  of  553, 
and  called  upon  the  Pope  to  vindicate  the  church  of  Rome  against 
the  charge  of  heresy.  He  speaks  very  boldly  to  the  Pope,  but 
acknowledges  Rome  to  be  "  the  head  of  the  churches  of  the  whole 
world,  excepting  only  the  singular  prerogative  of  the  place  of 
the  Lord's  resurrection  "  (Jerusalem).'^  He  died  in  Bobbio,  Nov. 
21,  615.  The  poetry  of  grateful  love  and  superstitious  faith  has 
adorned  his  simple  life  with  various  miracles. 

Columbanus  was  a  man  of  considerable  learnina;  for  his  a^e. 
He  seems  to  have  had  even  some  knowledge  of  Greek  and  He- 
brew. His  chief  works  are  his  Regula  IVIonastica,  in  ten  short 
chapters ;  seventeen  Discourses ;  his  Epistles  to  the  Gallic  Synod 
on  the  paschal  controversy,  to  Gregory  L,  and  to  Boniface  IV. ; 
and  a  few  poems.  The  following  characteristic  specimen  of  his 
ascetic  view  of  life  is  from  one  of  the  discourses :    "  O  mortal 

'  For  a  full  account  of  this  quarrel  see  Montalembert,  II.  411  sqq. 
*  "  Roma  orbis  terrarum  caput  est  ecclesiarum,  salva  loci  Dominicas  resurrectionis 
singulari  prarogativa." 


88  FOURTn  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

life !  how  many  hast  thou  deceived,  seduced,  and  blinded  !  Thou 
fliest  and  art  nothing;  thou  appearest  and  art  but  a  shade;  thou 
risest  and  ai't  but  a  vapor;  thou  fliest  every  day,  and  every  day 
thou  comcst;  thou  fliest  in  coming,  and  comest  in  flying,  the 
same  at  the  point  of  departure,  difierent  at  the  end;  sweet  to  the 
foolish,  bitter  to  the  wise.  Those  who  love  thee  know  thee  not, 
and  those  only  know  thee  who  despise  thee.  AVhat  art  thou, 
then,  O  human  life?  Thou  art  the  way  of  mortals,  and  not  their 
life.  Thou  beginnest  in  sin  and  endest  in  death.  Thou  art 
then  the  way  of  life  and  not  life  itself.  Thou  art  only  a  road, 
and  an  unequal  road,  long  for  some,  short  for  others;  wide  for 
these,  narrow  for  those;  jo}-x)us  for  some,  sad  for  others,  but  for 
all  equally  rapid  and  without  return.  It  is  necessary,  then,  O 
miserable  human  life !  to  fathom  thee,  to  question  thee,  but  not 
to  trust  in  thee.  We  must  traverse  thee  without  dwelling  in 
thee — no  one  dwells  upon  a  great  road ;  we  but  march  over  it, 
to  reach  the  country  beyond."  ^ 

Several  of  the  disciples  of  Columbanus  labored  in  eastern  Hel- 
vetia and  Rhoetia. 

SiGiSBERT  separated  from  him  at  the  foot  of  the  St.  Gothard, 
crossed  eastward  over  the  Oberalp  to  the  source  of  the  Rhine, 
and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  monastery  of  Dissentis  in  the 
Grisons,  Avhich  lasts  to  this  day. 

St.  Gj\jll  (Gallus),  the  most  celebrated  of  the  pupils  of  Co- 
lumbanus, remained  in  Switzerland,  and  became  the  father  of 
the  monastery  and  city  called  after  him,  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  Stcinach.  He  declined  the  bishopric  of  Constanz.  His 
double  struggle  against  the  forces  of  nature  and  the  gods  of  hea- 
thenism has  been  embellished  with  marvelous  traits  by  the  legen- 
dary poetry  of  the  middle  ages.'*     When  he  died,  ninety-five 

1  Montalembcrt,  II.  436. 

^  See  the  anonymous  Vita  S.  Gnlli  in  Pertz,  Monumenta,  IT.  123,  and  in  the 
Acta  Sand.,  Torn.  VII.  Octobris.  Also  Greith,  Onichichte  deraltirischen  Kirche  .  . 
ah  Einle'dimg  in  die  Gesch.  des  Stifts  St.  Qallen  (1857),  the  chapter  on  GiUlus,  pp. 
333  S(^q. 


2  24.  GERMAN  MISSIONARIES  BEFORE  BONIFACE.         89 

years  old,  A.  D.  640,  the  whole  surrounding  country  of  the 
Allemanni  was  nominally  christianized.  The  monastery  of  St. 
Gall  became  one  of  the  most  celebrated  schools  of  learning  in 
Switzerland  and  Germany,  where  Irish  and  other  missionaries 
learned  German  and  prepared  themselves  for  evangelistic  work 
in  Switzerland  and  Southern  Germany.  There  Notker  Balbu- 
lus,  the  abbot  (died  912),  gave  a  lasting  imjjulse  to  sacred 
poetry  and  music,  as  the  inventor  or  chief  promoter  of  the  mediae- 
val Laudes  or  Prosce,  among  which  the  famous  "  lledia  vita  in 
mode  sumus  "  still  repeats  in  various  tongues  its  solemn  funeral 
warning  throughout  Christendom. 

Fridold  or  Fridolin,  who  probably  came  from  Scotland, 
preached  the  gospel  to  the  Allemanni  in  South  Germany.  But 
his  life  is  involved  in  great  obscurity,  and  assigned  by  some  to 
the  time  of  Clovis  I.  (481-511),  by  others  more  probably  to 
that  of  Clovis  11.  (638-656). 

KiLiAN  or  Kyllina,  of  a  noble  Irish  family,  is  said  to  have 
been  the  apostle  of  Franconia  and  the  first  bishop  of  AViirzburg 
in  the  seventh  century. 

§  24.   German  llisslonaries  before  Boniface. 

England  derived  its  Anglo-Saxon  population  from  Germany 
in  the  fifth  century,  and  in  return  gave  to  Germany  in  the 
eighth  century  the  Christian  religion  with  a  strong  infusion  of 
popery.  Germany  afterwards  shook  off  the  yoke  of  popery,  and 
gave  to  England  the  Protestant  Reformation.  In  the  seventeenth 
century,  England  produced  Deism,  which  was  the  first  act  of 
modern  unbelief,  and  the  forerunner  of  German  Rationalism. 
The  revival  of  evangelical  theology  and  religion  which  followed 
in  both  countries,  established  new  points  of  contact  between 
these  cognate  races,  which  meet  again  on  common  groimd  in  the 
Western  hemisphere  to  commingle  in  the  American  nationality. 

The  conversion  of  Germany  to  Christianity  and  to  Romanism 
was,  like  that  of  England,  the  slow  work  of  several  centuries. 
It  was  accomplished  by  missionaries  of  different  nationalities, 


90  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

French,  Scotch-Irish,  English,  and  Greek.  It  began  at  the 
close  of  the  second  century,  when  Irenseus  spoke  of  Christian 
congregations  in  the  tsvo  Germanics,^  i.  e.  Germania  prima  and 
secuuda,  on  the  upper  and  lower  Rhine ;  and  it  was  substantially 
comiileted  in  the  age  of  Charlemagne  in  the  eighth  century. 
But  nearly  the  entire  North-Eastern  jjart  of  Germany,  which  was 
inhabited  mostly  by  Slavonic  tribes,  remained  heathen  till  the 
eleventh  and  thirteenth  centuries. 

We  must  distinguish  especially  three  stages:  1)  the  prepara- 
tory labors  of  Italian,  French,  and  Scotch-Irish  missionaries;  2) 
the  consolidating  romanizing  work  of  Boniface  of  England  and 
his  successors;  3)  the  forcible  military  conversion  of  the  Saxons 
under  Charlemagne.  The  fourth  and  last  missionary  stage,  the 
conversion  of  the  Prussians  and  Slavonic  races  in  North -Eastern 
Germany,  belongs  to  the  next  period. 

The  light  of  Christianity  came  to  Germany  first  from  the 
Roman  empire  in  the  Roman  colonies  on  the  Rhine.  At  the 
council  of  Aries  in  314,  there  was  a  bishop  INIaternus  of  Cologne 
with  his  deacon,  INIacrinus,  and  a  bishop  of  Treves  by  the  name 
of  Agrocius. 

In  the  fifth  century  the  mysterious  Severinus  from  the 
East  appeared  among  the  savages  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube  in 
Bavaria  as  an  angel  of  mercy,  walking  bare-footed  in  mid-winter, 
redeeming  prisoners  of  war,  bringing  food  and  clothing  with  the 
comfort  of  the  Gospel  to  the  poor  and  unfortunate,  and  won  by 
Ills  self-denying  labors  universal  esteem.  French  monks  and 
hermits  left  traces  of  their  work  at  St.  Goar,  St.  Elig,  Wul- 
fach,  and  other  places  on  the  charming  banks  of  the  Rhine. 
The  efficient  labors  of  Columbanus  and  his  Irish  companions 
and  pupils  extended  from  the  Vosges  to  South  Germany  and 
Eastern  Switzerland.  Willebeord,  an  Anglo-Saxon,  brought 
up  in  an  Irish  convent,  left  with  twelve  brethren  for  Holland 
(690),  became  the  Apostle  of  the  Friesians,  and  was  consecrated 

1  al  ev  Totg  Vepuavlaic,  l^pvuevat  iKuXTjaiai.      Adv.  hccr.  I.  10,  2. 


§  24.  GERMAN  MISSIONARIES  BEFORE  BONIFACE.         91 

by  the  Pope  the  first  bishop  of  Utrecht  (Trajectum),  under  the 
name  of  Clemens.  He  developed  an  extensive  activity  of  nearly 
fifty  years  till  his  death  (739). 

When  Boniface  arrived  in  Germany  he  found  nearly  in  all 
parts  which  he  visited,  especially  in  Bavaria  and  Thuringia, 
missionaries  and  bishops  independent  of  Rome,  and  his  object 
was  fully  as  much  to  romanize  this  earlier  Christianity  as  to 
convert  the  heathen.  He  transferred  the  conflict  between  the 
Anglo-Saxon  mission  of  Rome  and  the  older  Keltic  Christianity 
of  Patrick  and  Columba  and  their  successors  from  England  to 
German  soil,  and  repeated  the  role  of  Augustin  of  Caiiterbury. 
The  old  Easter  controversy  disappears  after  Columbanus,  and 
the  chief  objects  of  dispute  were  freedom  from  popery  and  cleri- 
cal marriage.  In  both  respects,  Boniface  succeeded,  after  a  hard 
struggle,  in  romanizing  Germany. 

The  leaders  of  the  opposition  to  Rome  and  to  Bonifacius 
among  his  predecessors  and  contemporaries  were  Adelbert  and 
Clemens.  We  know  them  only  from  the  letters  of  Boniface, 
which  represent  them  in  a  very  unfavorable  light.  Adelbert, 
or  Aldebert  (Eldebert),  was  a  Gaul  by  nation,  and  perhaps 
bishop  of  Soissons ;  at  all  events  he  labored  on  the  French  side 
of  the  Rhine,  had  received  episcopal  ordination,  and  enjoyed 
great  popularity  from  his  preaching,  being  regarded  as  an  apostle, 
a  patron,  and  a  worker  of  miracles.  According  to  Boniface,  he 
was  a  second  Simon  Magus,  or  immoral  impostor,  who  deceived 
the  people  by  false  miracles  and  relics,  claimed  equal  rank  with 
the  apostles,  set  up  crosses  and  oratories  in  the  fields,  consecrated 
buildings  in  his  own  name,  led  women  astray,  and  boasted  to 
have  relics  better  than  those  of  Rome,  and  brought  to  him  by 
an  angel  from  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Clemens  was  a  Scotchman 
(Irishman),  and  labored  in  East  Franconia.  He  opposed  eccle- 
siastical traditions  and  clerical  celibacy,  and  had  two  sons.  He 
held  marriage  with  a  brother's  widow  to  be  valid,  and  had  pecu- 
liar views  of  divine  predestination  and  Christ's  descent  into 
Hades.      Aldebert   and   Clemens   were  condemned   without  a 


92  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

hearing,  and  excommunicated  as  heretics  and  seducers  of  the 
peoi)k°  by  a  provincial  Synod  of  Soissons,  A.  D.  744,  and 
again  in  a  Synod  of  Rome,  745,  by  Pope  Zacharias,  who  con- 
firmed the  decision  of  Boniface.  Aldebert  was  at  last  imprisoned 
in  the  monastery  of  Fulda,  and  killed  by  shepherds  after 
escaping  from  prison.     Clemens  disappeared.^ 

§  25.  Boniface,  the  Apostle  of  Germany. 

I.  BoxiFACics:  EplstolcB  et  Sermones,  first  ed.  by  Serrarius,  Mogunt.  1605, 

then  by  Wurdtwein,  1790,  by  Giles,  1842,  and  in  Migne's  Patrol.  Tom. 
89,  pp.  593-801  (together  with  VitcB,  etc.).  Jaffe:  Monumenta  Mo- 
guntina.     Berol.  18(J6. 

II.  Biographies  of  Bonifacius.     The  oldest  by  Willibald,   his   pupil 

and  companion  (in  Pertz,  Monum.  II.  33,  and  in  Jfigne,  I.  c.  p.  G03) ; 
by  Othlo,  a  German  Benedictine  monk  of  the  eleventh  cent,  (in 
Migne,  p.  634);Letzxer  (1602) ;  Loffler  (1812);  Seitees  (1845); 
Cox  (1853);  J.  P.  MIjller  (1870);  Hope  (1872);  Aug.  Werner 
Bonifacius  iind  die  Romanisirung  von  Mitteleuropa.  Leipz.,  1875 ; 
PFAHLER(Regen8b.  1880);  Otto  Fischer  (Leipz.  1881);  Ebrard: 
Bonif.  der  Zerstorer  des  columbanischen  Kirchenthums  aiif  dem  Fest- 
lande  (Giitersloh,  1882;  against  Fischer  and  very  unjust  to  B. ;  see 
against  itZdPFFEL  in  the"  Theol.  Lit.  Zeitg,"  1882,  No.  22).  Cf.  the 
respective  sections  in  Neaxder,  Gfrorer,  Rettberg  (II.  307 
sqq.) 

On  the  councils  of  Bonif  see  Hefele  :  Conciliengeschichte,  III.  458. 

Boniface  or  Wixfried^  surpassed  all  his  predecessors  on 
the  German  mission-field  by  the  extent  and  result  of  his  labors, 
and  acquired  the  name  of  the  Apostle  of  Germany.  He  was 
born  al)out  680  from  a  noble  family  at  Kirton  in  Wessex, 
the  last  stronghold  of  paganism  among  the  Anglo-Saxon  king- 
doms. He  was  brought  up  in  the  convent  of  Nutsal  near  Win- 
chester, and  ordained  priest  at  the  age  of  thirty.  He  felt  it  his 
duty  to  christianize  those  countries  from  which  his  Anglo-Saxon 

*  Comp.  besides  the  Letters  of  Ronifoce,  the  works  of  Neander,  Rettberg, 
Ebnird,  Werner  and  Fischer,  quoted  below. 

'  One  tliat  wins  peace.  His  Latin  name  Bonifacius,  Benefactor,  was  probably 
liis  monastic  name,  or  given  to  lura  by  the  Pope  on  his  second  visit  to 
Rome,  723. 


^25.  BONIFACE,  THE  APOSTLE  OF  GERMANY.  93 

forefathers  had  emigrated.  It  was  a  formidable  task,  requiring 
a  heroic  courage  and  indomitable  perseverance. 

He  sacrificed  his  splendid  prospects  at  home,  crossed  the  chan- 
nel, and  began  his  missionary  career  with  two  or  three  compa- 
nions among  the  Friesians  in  the  neighborhood  of  Utrecht  in 
Holland  (715).  His  first  attempt  was  a  failure.  Eatbod,  the 
kino-  of  Friesland,  was  at  war  with  Charles  Martel,  and  devas- 
tated  the  churches  and  monasteries  which  had  been  founded  by 
the  Franks,  and  by  Willibrord. 

But  far  from  being  discouraged,  he  was  only  stimulated  to 
greater  exertion.  After  a  brief  sojourn  in  England,  where  he 
was  offered  the  dignity  of  abbot  of  his  convent,  he  left  again  his 
native  land,  and  this  time  forever.  He  made  a  pilgrimage  to 
Eome,  was  cordially  welcomed  by  Pope  Gregory  II.  and  received 
a  general  commission  to  christianize  and  romanize  central  Europe 
(718).  Recrossing  the  Alps,  he  visited  Bavaria  and  Thuriugia, 
which  had  been  evangelized  in  part  by  the  disciples  of  Columban, 
but  he  was  coldly  received  because  he  represented  their  Chris- 
tianity as  insufficient,  and  required  submission  to  Rome.  He 
turned  his  steps  again  to  Friesland  where  order  had  been  restored, 
and  assisted  AVillibrord,  archbishop  of  Utrecht,  for  three  years. 
In  722  he  returned  to  Thuringia  in  the  wake  of  Charles  INIartel's 
victorious  army  and  preached  to  the  heathen  in  Hesse  who  lived 
between  the  Franks  and  the  Saxons,  between  the  middle  Rhine 
and  the  Elbe.  He  founded  a  convent  at  Amanaburg  (Amone- 
burg)  on  the  river  Ohm. 

In  723  he  paid,  on  invitation,  a  second  visit  to  Rome,  and  was 
consecrated  by  Gregory  II.  as  a  missionary  bishop  without  a  dio- 
cese (episcopus  regionarius).  He  bound  himself  on  the  grave  of 
St.  Peter  with  the  most  stringent  oath  of  fealty  to  the  Pope  similar 
to  that  which  was  imposed  on  the  Italian  or  suburban  bishops.^ 

*  The  juramentum  of  Boniface,  which  he  ever  afterwards  remembered  and 
observed  with  painful  conscientiousness,  deserves  to  be  quoted  in  full,  as  it  con- 
tains his  whole  missionary  policy  (see  Migne,  I.  c,  p.  803) : 

"7n  nomine  Domini  Dei  Salvatoris  nostri  Jesu  Christi,  impcrante  domino  Leone 


94  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

From  this  time  his  work  assumed  a  more  systematic  character 
in  tlic  closest  contact  with  Rome  as  the  centre  of  Christendom. 
Fortified  with  letters  of  commendation,  he  attached  himself  for  a 
short  time  to  the  court  of  Charles  Martel,  who  pushed  his  schemes 
of  conquest  towards  the  Hessians.  Aided  by  this  secular  help 
and  the  Pope's  spiritual  authority,  he  made  rapid  progress.  By 
a  master  stroke  of  missionary  policy  he  laid  the  axe  to  the  root 
of  Teutonic  heathenism ;  with  his  own  hand,  in  the  presence  of 
a  vast  assembly,  he  cut  down  the  sacred  and  inviolable  oak  of 
the  Thunder-God  at  Gcismar  (not  far  from  Fritzlar),  and  built 
with  the  planks  an  oratory  or  church  of  St,  Peter.  His  biog- 
rapher, AVillibald,  adds  that  a  sudden  storm  from  heaven  came 
to  his  aid  and  split  the  oak  in  four  pieces  of  equal  length.  This 
practical  sermon  was  the  death  and  burial  of  German  mythology. 
He  received  from  time  to  time  supplies  of  books,  monks  and 
nuns  from  England.     The  whole  church  of  England  took  a  deep 

Magno  imperatore,  anno  7  post  consulatum  ejiLS,  sed  et  Constantini  Magni  imperatoris 
ejus  fiUi  anno  4,  indictione  6.  Promitto  ego  Bonijacius,  Dei  gratia  episeopus,  tibi, 
beatc  Petre,  apostolorum  princeps,  vicarioque  tuo  beato  Gregorio  pojpae,,  et  successo- 
ribus  ejus,  per  Patrem  et  Filium,  et  Spiritum  Sanctum,  Trinitatem  inseparabilem,  et 
hoc  sacratissimum  corpus  tuum,  me  omnem  fidem  et  puritatem  sanctce  fidei  caiholicce 
exhibere,  et  in  unitate  ejusdem  fide i,^ Deo  operante,  persistere  in  quo  omnis  Christian- 
orum  salus  esse  sine  dixbio  comprobatur,  nullo  modo  me  contra  unitatem  communis  et 
universalis  Ecclesice,  siiadente  quopiam.,  consentire,  sed,  ut  dizi,  fidem  et  puritatem  meam 
atque  concursum,  tibi  et  utilitatibus  tuce  Ecclesice,  cui  a  Domino  Deo  potestas  ligandi 
solvcndlqn/i  data  est,  et  prcedicfo  vicario  tuo  atque  successoribus  ejus,  per  omnia  exhi- 
bere. Sed  et  si  cognovero  anfistifes  contra  instituta  antiqua  sanctorum  Patrum  con- 
versari,  cum  ets  nullam  habere  communionem  aut  conjunctionem ;  sed  magis,  si 
valuero  prohibere,  prokibeam  ;  si  minus,  hoc  fideliter  statim  Domino  meo  aposfolico 
renuntiabo.  Quod  si,  quod  absit,  contra  hujus  professionis  mem  seriem  aliquid  facere 
quolibet  modo,  seu  ingenio,  vet  occasione,  tentavero,  reus  vweniar  in  cetcrno  judicio, 
vllinnem  Ananice  et  Saphira;  incurram,  qui  vorbis  etiam  de  rebus  propriis  fraudem 
facere  prcesumpsit :  hoe  autem  indiculum  sacramenti  ego  Bonifacivs  exiguvs  episeo- 
pus mnnu  propria  seripsi,  atque  ponens  supra  sacratissimum  corpus  sancti  Petri,  ita 
ut  prwseriptum,  Deo  teste  et  judice,  feci  sacramentum,  quod  et  conservare  promitto." 
With  all  his  devotion  to  the  Roman  See,  Boniface  was  manly  and  independent 
enough  to  complain  in  a  letter  to  Pope  Zacharias  of  the  scandalous  heathen 
practices  in  Rome  which  were  reported  by  travellers  and  filled  the  German 
Christians  with  prejudice  and  disobedience  to  Rome.  See  the  letter  in  Migne, 
1.  c.  p.  74G  sqq. 


§25.  BONIFACE,  THE  APOSTLE  OF  GEKMANY.  95 

interest  in  his  work,  as  we  learn  from  bis  correspondence.  He 
founded  monastic  colonies  near  Erfurt,  Fritzlar,  Ohrdruf,  Bisch- 
ofsheim,  and  Homburg.  Tbe  victory  of  Charles  JMartel  over  tbe 
Sai-acens  at  Tours  (732)  cbecked  tbe  westward  j)rogress  of  Islam 
and  insured  tbe  triumpb  of  Christianity  in  central  Europe. 

Boniface  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  archbishop  (without  a 
see)  and  papal  legate  by  the  new  Pope  Gregory  III.  (732),  and 
thus  enabled  to  coerce  the  refractory  bishops. 

In  738  he  made  his  third  and  last  pilgrimage  to  Rome  with  a 
great  retinue  of  monks  and  converts,  and  received  authority  to 
call  a  synod  of  bishops  in  Bavaria  and  Allemannia.  On  his  return 
he  founded,  in  concert  with  Duke  Odilo,  four  Bavarian  bishop- 
rias  at  Salzburg,  Freising,  Passau,  and  Ratisbon  or  Regensburg 
(739).  To  these  he  added  in  central  Germany  the  sees  of  Wiirz- 
burg,  Buraburg  (near  Fritzlar),  Erfurt,  Eichstadt  (742).  He 
held  several  synods  in  Mainz  and  elsewhere  for  the  organization 
of  the  churches  and  the  exercise  of  discipline.  The  number  of 
his  baptized  converts  till  739  is  said  to  have  amounted  to  many 
thousands. 

In  743  he  was  installed  Archbishop  of  ]\Iainz  or  JNIayence 
(Moguntum)  in  the  place  of  bishop  Gervillius  (Gewielieb)  who 
was  deposed  for  indulging  in  sporting  propensities  and  for  homi- 
cide in  battle.  His  diocese  extended  from  Cologne  to  Strasburg 
and  even  to  Coire.  He  would  have  preferred  Cologne,  but  the 
clergy  there  feared  his  disciplinary  severity.  He  aided  the  sons 
of  Charles  Martel  in  reducing  the  Gallic  clergy  to  obedience, 
exterminating  the  Keltic  element,  and  consolidating  the  union 
with  Rome. 

In  744,  in  a  council  at  Soissous,  w^here  twenty-three  bishops 
were  present,  his  most  energetic  opponents  were  condemned. 
In  the  same  year,  in  the  very  heart  of  Germany,  he  laid  the 
foundation  of  Fulda,  the  greatest  of  his  monasteries,  which  be- 
came the  Monte  Casino  of  Germany. 

In  753  he  named  Lull  or  Lullus  his  successor  at  INIainz. 
Laying  aside  his  dignities,  he  became  once  more  an  humble 


9G  FOURTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

missionan-,  and  returned  with  about  fifty  devoted  followers  to 
tlie  field  of  the  bafiled  labors  of  his  youth  among  the  Friesians, 
where  a  reaction  in  favor  of  heathenism  had  taken  place  since 
the  death  of  Willibrord.  He  planted  his  tents  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  Borne  near  Dockum  (between  Franecker  and  Gronin- 
gen),  waiting  for  a  large  number  of  converts  to  be  confirmed. 
But,  instead  of  that,  he  was  assailed  and  slain,  wdth  his  compa- 
nions, by  armed  pagans.  He  met  the  martyr's  death  Mith  calm- 
ness and  resignation,  June  5,  754  or  755.  His  bones  were 
deposited  first  at  Utrecht,  then  at  Mainz,  and  at  last  in  Fulda. 
Soon  after  his  death,  an  English  synod  chose  him,  together  with 
Pope  Gregory  and  Augustin,  patron  of  the  English  church. 
In  1875  Pope  Pius  IX.  directed  the  Catholics  of  Germany  and 
England  to  invoke  especially  the  aid  of  St.  Boniface  in  the  dis- 
tress of  modern  times. 

The  worlvs  of  Boniface  are  epistles  and  sermons.  The  former 
refer  to  his  missionary  labors  and  policy,  the  latter  exhibit  his 
theological  views  and  j:)ractical  piety.  Fifteen  short  sermons 
are  preserved,  addressed  not  to  heathen,  but  to  Christian  con- 
verts; they  reveal  therefore  not  so  much  his  missionary  as  his 
edifying  activity.  They  are  without  Scripture  text,  and  are 
either  festal  discourses  explaining  the  history  of  salvation,  espe- 
cially the  full  and  redemption  of  man,  or  catechetical  expositions 
of  Christian  doctrine  and  duty.  We  give  as  a  characteristic 
specimen  of  the  latter,  the  fifteenth  sermon,  on  the  renunciation 
of  the  devil  in  baptism : 

SERMON   XV. 

"  I.  Listen,  my  brethren,  and  consider  well  what  you  have  solemnly 
renounced  in  your  baptism.  You  have  renounced  the  devil  and  all  his 
works,  and  all  his  pomp.  But  what  are  the  works  of  the  devil?  They 
are  pride,  idolatry,  envy,  murder,  calumny,  lying,  perjury,  hatred,  forni- 
cation, adultery,  every  kind  of  lewdness,  theft,  false  witness,  robbery, 
gluttony,  drunkenness,  slander,  fight,  malice,  philters,  incantations,  lots, 
belief  in  witches  and  were-wolves,  abortion,  disobedience  to  the  Master, 
amulets.  These  and  other  such  evil  things  are  the  works  of  the  devil, 
all  of  which  you  have  forsworn  by  your  baptism,  as  the  apostle  says : 


2  25.  BONIFACE,  THE  APOSTLE  OF  GERMANY.  97 

Whosoever  doetli  such  things  deserves  death,  and  shall  not  inherit  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  But  as  we  believe  that,  by  the  mercy  of  God,  you  will 
renounce  all  these  things,  with  heart  and  hand,  in  order  to  become  fit  for 
grace,  I  admonish  you,  my  dearest  brethren,  to  remember  what  you  have 
promised  Almighty  God. 

II.  For,  first,  you  have  promised  to  believe  in  Almighty  God,  and  in 
his  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  one  almighty  God  in  perfect 
trinity. 

III.  And  these  are  the  commandments  which  you  shall  keep  and  ful- 
fil: to  love  God,  whom  you  profess,  with  all  your  heart,  all  your  soul, 
and  all  your  strength,  and  to  love  your  neighbor  as  yourselves ;  for  on 
these  commandments  hang  the  whole  law  and  the  prophets.  Be  pa- 
tient, have  mercy,  be  benevolent,  chaste,  pure.  Teach  your  sons  to  fear 
God ;  teach  your  whole  family  to  do  so.  Make  peace  where  you  go,  and 
let  him  who  sits  in  court,  give  a  just  verdict  and  take  no  presents,  for 
presents  make  even  a  wise  man  blind. 

IV.  Keep  the  Sabbath  and  go  to  church — to  pray,  but  not  to  prattle. 
Give  alms  according  to  your  power,  for  alms  extinguish  sins  as  water 
does  fire.  Show  hospitality  to  travelers,  visit  the  sick,  take  care  of 
widows  and  orphans,  pay  your  tithes  to  the  church,  and  do  to  nobody 
what  you  would  not  have  done  to  yourself.  Fear  God  above  all.  Let 
the  servants  be  obedient  to  their  masters,  and  the  masters  just  to  their 
servants.  Cling  to  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Creed,  and  communicate 
them  to  your  own  children  and  to  those  whose  baptismal  sponsors  you 
are.  Keep  the  fast,  love  what  is  right,  stand  up  against  the  devil,  and 
partake  from  time  to  time  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Such  are  the  works 
which  God  commands  you  to  do  and  fulfil. 

V.  Believe  in  the  advent  of  Christ,  the  resurrection  of  the  body, 
and  the  judgment  of  all  men.  For  then  the  impious  shall  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  just,  the  one  for  the  everlasting  fire,  the  others  for  the 
eternal  life.  Then  begins  a  life  with  God  without  death,  a  light  without 
shadows,  a  health  without  sickness,  a  plenty  without  hunger,  a  happiness 
without  fear,  a  joy  with  no  misgivings.  Then  comes  the  eternal  glory, 
in  which  the  just  shall  shine  like  suns,  for  no  eye  has  ever  seen  no  ear 
has  ever  heard,  no  heart  has  ever  dreamed,  of  all  that  which  God  has 
prepared  for  those  whom  he  loves. 

VI.  I  also  remind,  you,  my  beloved  brethren,  that  the  birth-day  of  our 
Lord  is  approaching,  in  order  that  you  may  abstain  from  all  that  is 
worldly  or  lewd  or  impure  or  bad.  Spit  out  all  malice  and  hatred  and 
envy ;  it  is  poison  to  your  heart.  Keep  chaste  even  with  respect  to  your 
own  wives.  Clothe  yourselves  with  good  works.  Give  alms  to  the  poor  who 
belong  to  Christ ;  invite  them  often  to  your  feasts.  Keep  peace  with  all, 
and  make  peace  between  those  who  are  at  discord.  If,  with  the  aid  of 
Christ,  vou  will  truly  fulfil  these  commands,  then  in  this  life  vou  can^ 

■  7 


98  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

with  confidence  approach  the  altar  of  God,  and  in  the  next  you  shall 
partake  of  the  everlasting  bliss."  ^ 

Bonifacius  combined  the  zeal  and  devotion  of  a  missionary 
witli  worldly  prudence  and  a  rare  genius  for  organization  and 
administration.  He  was  no  profound  scholar,  but  a  practical 
stiitesman  and  a  strict  disciplinarian.  He  was  not  a  theologian, 
but  an  ecclesiastic,  and  would  have  made  a  good  Pope.  He 
selected  the  best  situations  for  his  bishoprics  and  monasteries, 
and  his  far-sighted  policy  has  been  confirmed  by  history.  He 
was  a  man  of  unblemished  character  and  untiring  energy.  He 
was  incessantly  active,  preaching,  traveling,  presiding  over 
Synods,  deciding  perplexing  questions  about  heathen  customs 
and  trivial  ceremonies.  He  wrought  no  miracles,  such  as  were 
usually  expected  from  a  missionary  in  those  days.  His  disciple 
and  biographer  apologizes  for  this  defect,  and  appeals  as  an  off- 
set to  the  invisible  cures  of  souls  wdiicli  he  performed.^ 

The  weak  spot  in  his  character  is  the  bigotry  and  intolerance 
which  he  displayed  in  his  controversy  with  the  independent 
missionaries  of  the  French  and  Scotch-Irish  schools  who  had 
■  done  the  pioneer  work  before  him.  He  reaped  the  fruits  of  their 
labors,  and  destroyed  their  further  usefulness,  which  he  might 
have  secured  by  a  liberal  Christian  policy.  He  hated  every 
feature  of  individuality  and  national  independence  in  matters  of 
the  church.  To  him  true  Christianity  was  identical  wdth 
Romanism,  and  he  made  Germany  as  loyal  to  the  Pope  as  was 
his  native  England.  Pie  served  under  four  Popes,  Gregory  II., 
Grcgr)ry  III.,  Zacharias,  and  Stephen,  and  they  could  not  have 
had  a  more  devoted  and  faithful  agent.  Those  who  labored  W'ith- 
out  papal  authority  were  to  him  dangerous  hirelings,  thieves  and 
robbers  who  climbed  up  some  other  way.  He  denounced  them 
as  false  prophets,  seducers  of  the  people,  idolaters  and  adulterers 

'  In  Mip^ne,  I.  c,  p.  870.     A   German  translation   in   Cruel,   Gesckichte  der 
>dexU9chen  Predigt  im  Mittdalter  (1879),  p.  14. 

*  Othlo,  Vita  Bonif.,  c.  26  (Migne,  I.  c  fol.  664). 


^  25.  BONIFACE,  THE  APOSTLE  OF  GEKMANY.  99 

(because  they  were  married  and  defended  clerical  marriage).^  He 
encountered  from  them  a  most  determined  opposition,  especially 
in  Bavaria.  In  connection  with  his  servile  Romanism  is  his 
pedantic  legalism  and  ceremonialism.  His  epistles  and  sermons 
show  a  considerable  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  but  also  a  contracted 
legalistic  spirit.  He  has  much  to  say  about  matters  of  outward 
conformity  to  Roman  authority  and  usages  and  about  small  ques- 
tions of  casuistry  such  as  whether  it  was  right  to  eat  horse  flesh, 
rabbits,  storks,  meat  offered  to  idols,  to  marry  a  widow  after 
standing  god-father  to  her  son,  how  often  the  sign  of  the  cross 
should  be  made  in  preaching.  In  his  strength  and  hia  weak- 
ness, his  loyalty  to  Rome,  and  in  the  importance  of  the  work 
he  accomplished,  he  resembled  Augustin,  the  Roman  apostle  of 
his  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors. 

Boniface  succeeded  by  indomitable  perseverance,  and  his  work 
survived  him.  This  must  be  his  vindication.  In  judging  of 
him  we  should  remember  that  the  controversy  between  him  and 
his  French  and  Scotch-Irish  opponents  was  not  a  controversy 
between  Catholicism  and  evangelical  Protestantism  (which  was 
not  yet  born),  but  between  organized  Catholicism  or  Romanism 
and  independent  Catholicism.  Mediaeval  Christianity  was  very 
weak,  and  required  for  its  seli'-preservation  a  strong  central  power 
and  legal  discipline.  It  is  doubtful  whether  in  the  barbarous 
condition  of  those  times,  and  amid  the  commotions  of  almost 
constant  civil  wars,  the  independent  and  scattered  labors  of  the 
anti-Roman  missionaries  could  have  survived  as  well  and  made 
as  strong  an  impression  upon  the  German  nation  as  a  consoll' 
dated  Christianity  with  a  common  centre  of  unity  and  authority. 

'  The  description  he  gives  of  their  immorality  must  be  taken  with  considerable 
deduction.  In  Ep.  49  to  Pope  Zacharias  (A.  D.  742)  in  Migne,  I.  c,  p.  745, 
lie  speaks  of  deacons,  priests  and  bishops  hostile  to  Rome,  as  being  guilty  of 
habitual  drunkenness,  concubinage,  and  even  polygamy.  I  will  only  quote 
what  lie  says  of  tlie  bishops :  "  Et  inmniuntur  quidam  inter  eos  episcopi,  qui,  licet 
dicant  se  forniearios  vel  adulteros  non  esse,  scd  sunt  ebriosi,  et  injuriosi,  vel  venatores, 
et  qui  pugnant  in  exercitu  armati,  et  effundunt  propria  manu  sanguinem  hominum, 
sive  paganorum,  sive  Christianorum." 


100  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

lloman  unity  Mas  better  than  undisciplined  independency,  but  it 
was  itself  only  a  preparatory  school  for  the  self-governing  free- 
dom of  manhood. 

After  Boniface  had  nearly  completed  his  work,  a  political 
revolution  took  place  in  France  which  gave  it  outward  support. 
Pepin,  the  major  domus  of  the  corrupt  Merovingian  dynasty, 
overthrew  it  with  the  aid  of  Pope  Zacharias,  who  for  his  conquest 
of  the  troublesome  Lombards  rewarded  him  with  the  royal  crown 
of  France  (753).  Fifty  years  afterwards  this  political  alliance 
of  France  and  Germany  with  the  Italian  papacy  was  completed 
by  Charlemagne  and  Leo  III.,  and  lasted  for  many  centuries. 
Rome  hud  the  enchantment  of  distance,  the  prestige  of  power 
and  culture,  and  promised  to  furnish  the  strangest  support  to 
new  and  weak  churches.  Rome  was  also  the  connecting  link 
between  mediaeval  and  ancient  civilization,  and  transmitted  to 
the  barbarian  races  the  treasures  of  classical  literature  which  in 
due  time  led  to  the  revival  of  letters  and  to  the  Protestant  Refor- 
mation. 

§  26.    The  Pupils  of  Boniface. 
WiUibald,  Gregory  of  Utrecht,  Sturm  of  Fulda, 

Boniface  left  behind  him  a  number  of  devoted  disciples  who 
carried  on  his  work. 

Among  these  we  mention  St.  Willibald,  the  first  bishop  of 
Eichstadt.  lie  was  born  about  A.D.  700  from  a  noble  Anglo-Saxon 
family  and  a  near  relative  of  Boniface.  In  his  early  manhood 
he  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  and  to  the  Holy  Land  as  far  as 
Damascus,  spent  several  years  among  the  Benedictines  in  Monte 
Casino,  met  Boniface  in  Rome,  joined  him  in  Germany  (A.  D. 
740)  and  became  bishop  of  Eichstadt  in  Bavaria  in  742.  He 
directed  his  attention  chiefly  to  the  founding  of  monasteries  after 
tlic  Bonodiotino  rule.  He  called  to  his  side  his  brother  Wunne- 
bald,  his  sister  AValpurgis,  and  other  helpers  from  England.  He 
died  July  7,  781  or  787.     He  is  considered  by  some  as  the  author 


§  26.  THE  PUPILS  OF  BONIFACE.  101 

of  the  biography  of  Boniface;  but  it  was  probably  the  work 
of  another  \yillibald,  a  presbyter  of  Mainz. 

Gkegorv,  Abbot  of  Utrecht,  was  related  to  the  royal  house  of 
the  IMerovingians,  educated  at  the  court,  converted  in  his  fifteenth 
year  by  a  sermon  of  Boniface,  and  accompanied  him  on  his  jour- 
neys.    After  the  death  of  Boniface  he  superintended  the  mission 
among  the  Friasians,  but  declined  the  episcopal  dignity.  In  his  old 
age  he  became  lame,  and  was  carried  by  his  pupils  to   wherever 
hL  presence  was  desired.   He  died  in  781,  seventy-three  years  old. 
Sturm,  the  first  Abbot  of  Fulda  (710  to  Dec.  17,  779),  was  of 
a  noble  Bavarian  family  and  educated  by  Boniface.     With  his 
approval  he  passed  with  two  companions  through  the  dense  beech 
forests  of  Hesse  in  pursuit  of  a  proper  plax^e  for  a  monastery. 
Singing  psalms,  he  rode  on  an  ass,  cutting  a  way  through  the 
thicket"  inhabited   by  wild  beasts;   at   night   after  saying   his 
prayers  and  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  he  slept  on  the  bare 
ground  under  the  canopy  of  heaven  till  sunrise.     He  met  no 
human  being  except  a  troupe  of  heathen  slaves  who  bathed  in 
the  river  Fulda,  and  afterwards  a  man  with  a  horse  who  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  country.     He  found  at  last  a  suitable 
place,  and  took  solemn  possession  of  it  in  744,  after  it  was  pre- 
sented to  him  for  a  monastery  by  Karloman  at  the  request  of 
Boniface,  who  joined  him  there  with  a  large  number  of  monks, 
and  often  resorted  to  this  his  favorite  monastery.     "In  a  vast 
solitude,"  he  wrote  to  Pope  Zacharias  in  751,  "  among  the  tribes 
entrusted  to  my  preaching,  there  is  a  place  where  I  erected  a 
convent  and  peopled  it  with  monks  who  live  according  to  the 
rule  of  St.  Benedict  in  strict  abstinence,  without  flesh  and  wine, 
without  intoxicating  drink  and  slaves,  earning  their  living  with 
then-  own  hands.     This  spot  I  have  rightfully  secured  from 
pious  men,  especially  from  Karloman,  the  late  prince  of  the 
Franks,  and  dedicated  to  the  Saviomr.     There  I  will  occasionally 
rest  my  weary  limbs,  and  repose  in  death,  continuing  faithful  to 
the  Roman  Church  and  to  the  people  to  which  I  was  sent?"  ^ 
1  Condensed  translation  from  Epist.  75  in  Migne,  fol.  778. 


102  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Falda  received  special  privileges  from  Pope  Zacharias  and  his 
Buccessors/  and  became  a  centre  of  German  Christianity  and 
civilization  from  which  proceeded  the  clearing  of  the  forests,  the 
cultivation  of  the  soil,  and  the  education  of  youths.  The  number 
of  Benedictine  monks  was  increased  by  large  re-enforcements 
from  Monte  Casino,  after  an  Italian  journey  of  Sturm  in  747. 
The  later  years  of  his  life  were  disturbed  by  a  controversy  with 
Lullus  of  Mainz  about  the  bones  of  Boniface  after  his  martyrdom 
(755)  and  by  calumniations  of  three  monks  who  brought  upon 
him  the  displeasure  of  King  Pepin.  He  was,  however,  reinstated 
in  his  dignity  and  received  the  remains  of  his  beloved  teacher 
which  repose  in  Fulda.  Charlemagne  employed  him  as  mis- 
sionary among  the  Saxons.  His  bones  were"  deposited  in  the 
convent  chui'ch.  Pope  Innocent  II.  canonized  him,  A.  D. 
1139.^ 

§  27.  The  Conversion  of  the  Saxons.     Charlemagne  and  Alcuin. 
Tlie  Heliand,  and  the  Gospel-Harmony. 

Funk:  Die  Unterwerfung  der  Sachsen  water  Karl  dem  Gr.  1833. 
A.  Schaumaxn:  Geschichte  des  niedersdchs.   Volkes.     Getting.  1839. 
Bottger:  Die  Einfiihrung  des  Christenthums  in  Sachsert.     Hann.  1859. 
"\V.  GlESEBRECHT;  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Kaiserzeit,  Vol.  I.  (1863),  pp. 
110  sqq. 

Of  all  the  German  tribes  the  fierce  and  warlike  Saxons  were 
the  last  to  accept  the  Christian  religion.  They  diifered  in  this 
respect  very  much  from  their  kinsmen  who  had  invaded  and 
conquered  England.  But  the  means  employed  were  also  as 
different:  rude  force  in  one  case,  moral  suasion  in  the  other. 
The  Saxons  inhabited  the  districts  of  modern  Hanover,  Olden- 
burg, Brunswick,  and  Westphalia,  which  were  covered  with  dense 
forests.  They  had  driven  the  Franks  beyond  the  Weser  and  the 
Rhine,  and  they  were  now  driven  back  in  turn  by  Charles  Mar- 

'  See  ''  Fulda  und  seine  Privilegien"  in  Jul.  Harttung,  Diplcmatisch-historische 
Forschungen,  Gotha,  1879,  pp.  193  sqq. 

*  The  chief  source  is  the  Vita  Stitrmi  by  his  pupil  Eigil,  abbot  of  Fulda,  818 
to  822,  in  Mabillon,  "Acta  Sanct.  Ord.  Bcncd."     Saec.  VIII.  Tom.  242-269. 


§  27.  THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  SAXONS.  103 

tel,  Pepin,  and  Charlemagne.  They  hated  the  foreign  yoke  of 
the  Franks,  and  far-off  Rome ;  they  hated  the  tithe  which  was 
imposed  npon  them  for  the  support  of  the  church.  They  looked 
upon  Christianity  as  the  enemy  of  their  wild  liberty  and  inde- 
pendence. The  first  efforts  of  Ewald,  Suidbert,  and  other  mis- 
sionaries were  fruitless.  Their  conversion  was  at  last  brought 
about  by  the  sword  from  political  as  well  as  religious  motives, 
and  was  at  first  merely  nominal,  but  resulted  finally  in  a  real 
chano-e  under  the  silent  influence  of  the  moral  forces  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion. 

Charlemagne,  who  became  master  of  the  French  kingdom  in 
768,  had  the  noble  ambition  to  unite  the  German  tribes  in  one 
great  empire  and  one  religion  in  filial  communion  with  Rome, 
but  he  mistook  the  means.  He  employed  material  force,  believing 
that  people  become  Christians  by  water-baptism,  though  baptized 
against  their  will.  He  thought  that  the  Saxons,  who  were  the 
most  dangerous  enemies  of  his  kingdom,  must  be  either  subdued 
and  christianized,  or  killed.  He  pursued  the  same  policy  tow- 
ards them  as  the  squatter  sovereigns  would  have  the  United 
States  government  pursue  towards  the  wild  Indians  in  the  West- 
ern territories.  Treaties  were  broken,  and  shocking  cruelties 
were  committed  on  both  sides,  by  the  Saxons  from  revenge  and 
for  independence,  by  Christians  for  punishment  in  the  name  of 
religion  and  civilization.  Prominent  among  these  atrocities  is 
the  massacre  of  four  thousand  five  hundred  captives  at  Verden 
in  one  day.  As  soon  as  the  French  army  was  gone,  the  Saxons 
destroyed  the  churches  and  murdered  the  priests,  for  which  they 
were  in  turn  put  to  death. 

Their  subjugation  was  a  work  of  thirty-three  years,  from  772 
to  805.  Widukind  (Wittekind)  and  Albio  (Abbio),  the  two 
most  powerful  Saxon  chiefs,  seeing  the  fruitlessness  of  the  resist- 
ance, submitted  to  baptism  in  785,  with  Charlemagne  as  sponsor.^ 

1  "Jetzt  war  Sachsen  besiegt;'  says  Giesebrecht  {I.  c,  p.  117),  "und  mit  Blut- 
gesetzen  wurden  das  Christenthim  und  das  Konigthum  zugleich  den  Sachsen  avfge- 
drungen.     Mit  Todesstrafen  wurde  die  Taufe  erzwungen,  die  hsidnmhen  Gchrauche 


104  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

But  the  Saxons  were  not  entirely  defeated  till  804,  when  10,000 
families  were  driven  from  house  and  home  and  scattered  in  other 
provinces.  Bloody  laws  prohibited  the  relapse  into  heathenism. 
The  spirit  of  national  independence  was  defeated,  but  not  entirely 
crushed  and  broke  out  seven  centuries  afterwards  in  another 
form  against  the  Babylonian  tyranny  of  Rome  under  the  lead  of 
the  Saxon  monk,  Martin  Luther. 

The  war  of  Charlemagne  against  the  Saxons  was  the  first  omi- 
nous example  of  a  bloody  crusade  for  the  overthrow  of  heathenism 
and  the  extension  of  the  church.  It  was  a  radical  departure  from 
the  apostolic  method,  and  diametrically  opposed  to  the  spirit  of 
the  gospel.  This  was  felt  even  in  that  age  by  the  more  enlight- 
ened divines.  Alcuin,  who  represents  the  English  school  of  mis- 
sionaries, and  who  expresses  in  his  letters  great  respect  and 
admiration  for  Charlemagne,  modestly  protested,  though  without 
effect,  against  this  wholesale  conversion  by  foi-ce,  and  asked  him 
rather  to  make  peace  with  the  "  abominable  "  people  of  the  Sax- 
ons. He  properly  held  that  the  heathen  should  first  be  instructed 
before  they  are  required  to  be  baptized  and  to  pay  tithes ;  that 
water-baptism  without  faith  was  of  no  use ;  that  baptism  implies 
three  visible  things,  namely,  the  priest,  the  body,  and  the  water, 
and  three  invisible  things,  namely,  the  Spirit,  the  soul,  and  faith ; 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  regenerates  the  soul  by  faith ;  that  faith  is  a 
free  act  Avhieh  cannot  be  enforced ;  that  instruction,  persuasion, 
love  and  self-denial  are  the  only  proper  means  for  converting  the 
heathen.' 

bedroht;  jede  Verletzung  eines  christlichen  Priesters  wurde,  wie  der  Aufruhr  gegen 
den  Konitj  wnd  dcr  Unr/ehorsam  gcgen  seine  Bcfehle,  zu  einem  todcswurdigen  Ver- 
brechen  gcstempelt." 

'  Neandcr  III.  152  sqq.  (Germ.  ed. ;  Torrev's  transl.  III.  76).  It  seems  to  me, 
from  looking  over  Alcuin's  numerous  epistles  to  the  emperor,  he  might  have  used 
his  influence  nnich  more  freely  with  hispui)il.  Merivalesays  (p.  131) :  "Alcuin 
of  York,  exerted  his  influence  upon  those  Northern  missions  from  the  centre  of 
France,  in  which  lie  had  i)lanted  himself.  The  purity  and  simplicity  of  the 
English  school  of  teachers  contrasted  favorably  with  the  worldly  character  of 
the  Frankish  priesthood,  and  Charlemagne  himself  was  impressed  with  the 
importance  of  intrusting  the  establishment  of  the  Church  throughout  his  North- 


§  27.  THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  SAXONS.  105 

Cliarlemagne  relaxed  somewhat  the  severity  of  his  laws  or 
capitularies  after  the  year  797.  He  founded  eight  bishoprics 
among  the  Saxons:  Osnabriick,  Mtinster,  Minden,  Paderborn, 
Verden,  Bremen,  Hildesheim,  and  Halberstadt.  From  these 
bishoprics  and  the  parochial  churches  grouped  around  them,  and 
from  monasteries  such  as  Fulda,  proceeded  those  higher  and 
nobler  influences  which  acted  on  the  mind  and  heart. 

The  first  monument  of  real  Christianity  among  the  Saxons  is 

the  "Heliand"  (Heiland,  i.  e.,  Healer,  Saviour)  or  a  harmony 

of  the  GosjDels.     It  is  a  religious  epos  strongly  resembling  the 

older  work  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Csedmon  on  the  Passion  and 

Eesurrection.     From  this  it  no  doubt  derived  its  inspiration. 

For  since  Bonifacius  there  was  a  lively  intercourse  between  the 

church  of  England  and  the  church  in  Germany,  and  the  language 

of  the  two  countries  was  at  that  time  essentially  the  same.     In 

both  works  Christ  appears  as  the  youthful  hero  of  the  hmnan 

race,  the  divine  conqueror  of  the  world  and  the  devil,  and  the 

Christians  as  his  faithful  knights  and  warriors.     The  Heliand 

was  composed  in  the  ninth  century  by  one  or  more  poets  whose 

language  points  to  Westphalia  as  their  home.     The  doctrine  is 

free  from  the  worship  of  saints,  the  glorification  of  Peter,  and 

from  ascetic  excesses,  but  mixed  somewhat  with  mythological 

em  conquests  to  these  foreigners  rather  than  to  his  own  subjects.  He  appointed 
the  Anglo-Saxon  Willibrord  to  preside  over  the  district  of  Estphalia,  and  Liud- 
ger,  a  Friesian  by  birth,  but  an  Englishman  by  his  training  at  York,  to  organize 
the'  church  in  Westphalia;  while  he  left  to  the  earlier  foundation  of  Fulda, 
which  had  also  received  its  first  Christian  traditions  from  the  English  Boniface 
and  his  pupil  Sturm,  the  charge  of  Engern  or  Angaria.  From  the  teaching  of 
these  strangers  there  sprang  up  a  crop  of  Saxon  priests  and  missionaries;  from 
among  the  youths  of  noble  family  whom  the  conqueror  had  carried  off  from 
their  homes  as  hostages,  many  were  selected  to  be  trained  in  the  monasteries  for 
the  life  of  monks  and  preachers.  Eventually  the  Abbey  of  Corbie,  near  Ami- 
ens, was  founded  by  one  of  the  Saxon  converts,  and  became  an  important  centre 
of  Christian  teaching.  From  hence  sprang  the  daughter-foundation  of  the  New- 
Corbie  or  Corby,  on  the  banks  of  the  Weser,  in  the  diocese  of  Paderborn.  This 
abbey  received  its  charter  from  Louis  le  Debonnaire  in  823,  and  became  no  less 
important  an  institution  for  the  propagation  of  the  faith  in  the  north  of  Ger- 
many, than  Fulda  still  continued  to  be  in  the  centre,  and  St.  Gall  in  the  South. 


106  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

reminiscences.  Yilmar  calls  it  the  only  real  Christian  epos,  and 
a  wonderful  creation  of  the  German  genius.^ 

A  little  later  (about  870)  Otfried,  a  Franconian,  educated  at 
Fulda  and  St.  Gall,  produced  another  poetic  harmony  of  the 
Gospels,  which  is  one  of  the  chief  monuments  of  old  high  Ger- 
man literature.  It  is  a  life  of  Christ  from  his  birth  to  the  ascen- 
sion, and  ends  with  a  description  of  the  judgment.  It  consists 
of  fifteen  thousand  rhymed  lines  in  strophes  of  four  lines. 

Thus  the  victory  of  Christianity  in  Germany  as  well  as  in 
England,  was  the  beginning  of  poetry  and  literature,  and  of  true 
civilization. 

The  Christianizatiou  of  North-Eastern  Germany,  among  the 
Slavonic  races,  along  the  Baltic  shores  in  Prussia,  Livonia,  and 
Courland,  went  on  in  the  next  period,  chiefly  through  Bishop 
Otto  of  Bamberg,  the  apostle  of  Pomerauia,  and  the  Knights  of 
the  Teutonic  order,  and  was  completed  in  the  twelfth  and  thir- 
teenth centuries. 


III.  THE  COXVEESION  OF  SCANDINAVIA. 

General  Literature. 

I.  Scandinavia  before  Christianity. 

The  Eddas,  edit.  Rask  (Copenhagen,  1818);   A.  Munch   (Christiania, 

1847);  Mdbius  (Leipzig,  1860). 
N.  M.  Petersen  :  Danmarks  Hutorie  i  Hedenold.   Copenhagen,  1834-37, 

3  vols. ;  Den  Nordiske  Mythologie,  Copenhagen,  1839. 
N.  F.  S.  Grundtvig:  Nordcns  Mythologie.     Copenhagen,  1839. 
B.  Thorpe:  Northern  Mythology.     London,  1852,  3  vols. 
Rasmus  B.  Anderson:  Norse  Mythology;  Myths  of  the  Eddas  systematized 

and  interpreted.     Chicago,  1875. 

II.  The  Christianization  of  Scandinavia. 

Claudius  (Ernhjalm  :  Historia  Sueonum  Gothorumque  Ecdesice.  Stock- 
holm, 1689,  4  vols. 

E.  PoxTOPPiDAN:  Annates  Ecdesice  Danicce.     Copenhagen,  1741, 

F.  Munter:  Kirchcnga^chichte  von  Dcinemark  und  Norwegen.     Copen- 

hagen and  Leipzig,  1823-33,  3  vols. 

*  Bee  Ed.  Sievers,  Heliand.    Halle,  1878. 


?  28.  SCANDINAVIAN  HEATHENISM.  107 

H.  Reuterdahl:  Svensha  hyrkans  historia.  Lund,  1833,  3  vols.,  first 
volume  translated  into  German  by  E.  T.  Mayerhof,  under  the  title : 
Leben  Ansgars. 

FuED.  Helweg:  Den  Danske  Kirkes  Historie.     Copenhagen,  1862. 

A.  Jorgensen  :  Den  nordiske  Kirkes  Grundloeggelse.    Copenhagen,  1874. 

Neander  :  Geschichte  der  christlichen  Kirche,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  1-150. 

§  28.  Scandinavian  Heathenism. 

WheATON  :  History  of  the  Northmen.     London,  1831. 

Depping  :  Histoire  des  expeditions  maritimes  des  Normands.     Paris,  1843. 

2  vols.     ■ 
F.  WorsAAE:  Account  of  the  Danes  in  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland. 

London,   1852 ;   The  Danish   Conquest  of  England    and  ISformandy. 

London,  1863.     These  works  are  translated  from  the  Danish. 

Scandinavia  was  inhabited  by  one  of  the  wildest  and  fiercest, 
but  also  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  valiant  branches  of  the 
Teutonic  race,  a  people  of  robbers  which  grew  into  a  people  of 
conquerors.  Speaking  the  same  language — that  which  is  still 
spoken  in  Iceland — and  worshipping  the  same  gods,  they  were 
split  into  a  number  of  small  kingdoms  covering  the  present 
Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Norway.  Every  spring,  when  the  ice 
broke  in  the  fjords,  they  launched  their  boats  or  skiffs,  and 
swept,  each  swarm  under  the  leadership  of  its  own  king,  down 
upon  the  coasts  of  the  neighboring  countries.  By  the  rivers 
they  penetrated  far  into  the  countries,  burning  and  destroying 
what  they  could  not  carry  away  with  them.  When  autumn 
came,  they  returned  home,  loaded  with  spoil,  and  they  spent  the 
winter  round  the  open  hearth,  devouring  their  prey.  But  in 
course  of  time,  the  swarms  congregated  and  formed  large  armies, 
and  the  robber-campaigns  became  organized  expeditions  for 
conquest;  kingdoms  were  founded  in  Russia,  England,  France, 
and  Sicily.  In  their  new  homes,  however,  the  Northern  vikings 
soon  forgot  both  their  native  language  and  their  old  gods,  and 
became  the  strong  bearers  of  new  departures  of  civilization  and 
the  valiant  knights  of  Christianity. 

In  the  Scandinavian  mythology,  there  were  not  a  few  ideas 


108  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

which  tlie  Cliristian  missionary  could  use  as  connecting  links. 
It  was  not  absolutely  necessary  for  him  to  begin  with  a  mere 
negation;  here,  too,  there  was  an  "unknown  God,"  and  many- 
traits  indicate  that,  during  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries,  i^eople 
throu'diout  Scandinavia  became  more  and  more  anxious  to  hear 
something  about  him.  When  a  man  died,  he  w^ent  to  AValhall, 
if  he  had  been  brave,  and  to  Niflheim,  if  he  had  been  a  coward. 
In  Walhall  he  lived  together  with  the  gods,  in  great  brightness 
and  joy,  fighting  all  the  day,  feasting  all  the  night.  In  Niflheim 
he  sat  alone,  a  shadow,  surrounded  with  everything  disgusting 
and  de(i-radin<r.  But  Walhall  and  Niflheim  were  not  to  last 
forever.  A  deep  darkness,  Ragnarokr,  shall  fall  over  the  uni- 
verse ;  AValhall  and  Nifllieim  shall  be  destroyed  by  fire ;  the 
gods,  the  heroes,  the  shadows,  shall  perish.  Then  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth  shall  be  created  by  the  All-Father,  and  he  shall 
judge  men  not  according  as  they  have  been  brave  or  cowardly,  but 
according  as  they  have  been  good  or  bad.  From  the  Eddas  them- 
selves, it  appears  that,  throughout  Scandinavian  heathendom, 
there  now  and  then  arose  characters  Avho,  though  they  W'Ould 
not  cease  to  be  brave,  longed  to  be  good.  The  representative  of 
this  goodness,  this  dim  fore-shadowing  of  the  Christian  idea  of 
holiness,  was  Baldur,  the  young  god  standing  on  the  rainbow 
and  watching  the  worlds,  and  he  was  also  the  link  wdiich  held 
together  the  whole  chain  of  the  AYalhall  gods;  when  he  died, 
Ragnarokr  came. 

A  transition  from  the  myth  of  Baldur  to  the  gospel  of  Christ 
cannot  have  l)ocn  very  difficult  to  the  Scandinavian  imagination; 
and,  indeed,  it  is  apparent  that  the  first  ideas  which  the  Scandi- 
navian heathens  formed  of  the  "White  Christ"  w^ere  influenced 
l)y  their  ideas  of  Baldur.  It  is  a  question,  however,  not  yet  set- 
tled, whether  certain  parts  of  the  Scandinavian  mythology,  as, 
for  instance,  the  al)Ovc  myths  of  Ragnarola'  and  Baldur,  are 
not  a  reflex  of  Christian  ideas;  and  it  is  quite  probable  that 
when  the  Scandinavians  in  the  ninth  century  began  to  look 
at  Christ  under   the  image  of  Baldur,   they  had   long   before 


?  28.  SCANDINAVIAN  HEATHENISM.  109 

unconsciously  remodeled  their  idea  of  Baldur  after  the  imao-e  of 
Christ. 

Another  point,  of  considerable  importance  to  the  Christian 
missionary,  was  that,  in  Scandinavian  heathendom,  he  had  no 
priesthood  to  encounter.  Scandinavian  paganism  never  became 
an  institution.  There  were  temples,  or  at  least  altars,  at  Leire, 
near  Roeskilde,  in  Denmark ;  at  Sigtuna,  near  Upsall,  in  Swe- 
den, and  at  INIoere,  near  Drontheim,  in  ]SJ"orway ;  and  huge  sacri- 
fices of  ninety-nine  horses,  ninety-nine  cocks,  and  ninety- nine 
slaves  were  offered  up  there  every  Juul-time.  But  every  man 
was  his  own  priest.  At  the  time  when  Christianity  first  appeared 
in  Scandinavia,  the  old  religion  was  evidently  losing  its  hold  on 
the  individuals,  and  for  the  very  reason,  that  it  had  never  suc- 
ceeded in  laying  hold  on  the  nation.  People  continued  to  swear 
by  the  gods,  and  drink  in  their  honor ;  but  they  ceased  to  pray 
to  them.  They  continued  to  sacrifice  before  taking  the  field  or 
after  the  victory,  and  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  meaning 
Thor's  hammer,  over  a  child  Avhen  it  was  named;  but  there 
was  really  nothing  in  their  life,  national  or  individual,  public  or 
private,  which  demanded  religious  consecration.  As,  on  the  one 
side,  characters  developed  which  actually  went  beyond  the  estab- 
lished religion,  longing  for  something  higher  and  deeper,  it  was, 
on  the  other  side,  still  more  frequent  to  meet  with  characters 
Avhich  passed  by  the  established  religion  with  utter  indiiference, 
believing  in  nothing  but  their  own  strength. 

The  principal  obstacle  which  Christianity  had  to  encounter  in 
Scandinavia  was  moral  rather  than  religious.  In  his  passions, 
the  old  Scandinavian  was  sometimes  worse  than  a  beast.  Glut- 
tony and  drunkenness  he  considered  as  accomplishments.  But 
he  was  chaste.  A  dishonored  woman  was  vei-}^  seldom  heard  of, 
adultery  never.  In  his  energy,  he  was  sometimes  fiercer  than  a 
demon.  He  destroyed  for  the  sake  of  destruction,  and  there 
were  no  indignities  or  cruelties  which  he  would  not  inflict  upon 
a  vanquished  enemy.  But  for  his  friend,  his  king,  his  wife,  his 
child,  he  would  sacrifice  eveiything,  even  life  itself;  and  he 


110  FOURTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

would  do  it  without  a  doubt,  without  a  pang,  in  pure  and  noble 
enthusiasm.  Such,  however,  as  his  morals  were,  they  had  abso- 
lute sway  over  him.  The  gods  he  could  forget,  but  not  his 
duties.  The  evil  one,  among  gods  and  men,  was  he  who  saw 
the  duty,  but  stole  away  from  it.  The  highest  spiritual  power 
among  the  old  Scandinavians,  their  only  enthusiasm,  was  their 
feeling  of  dutv;  but  the  direction  which  had  been  given  to  this 
feeling  was  so  absolutely  opposed  to  that  pointed  out  by  the 
Christian  morality,  that  no  reconciliation  was  possible.  Revenge 
was  the  noblest  sentiment  and  passion  of  man ;  forgiveness  was 
a  sin.  The  battle-field  reeking  with  blood  and  fire  w^as  the 
highest  beauty  the  earth  could  show;  patient  and  peaceful  labor 
was  au  abomination.  It  was  quite  natural,  therefore,  that  the 
actual  conflict  between  Christianity  and  Scandinavian  paganism 
should  take  place  in  the  field  of  morals.  The  pagans  slew  the 
missionaries,  and  burnt  their  schools  and  churches,  not  because 
they  preached  new  gods,  but  because  they  "  corrupted  the  morals 
of  the  people"  (by  averting  them  from  their  warlike  pursuits), 
and  when,  after  a  contest  of  more  than  a  century,  it  became 
apparent  that  Christianity  would  be  victorious,  the  pagan  heroes 
left  the  country  in  great  swarms,  as  if  they  were  flying  from 
some  awful  plague.  The  first  and  hardest  work  which  Chris- 
tianity had  to  do  in  Scandinavia  was  generally  humanitarian 
rather  than  specifically  religious. 

§  29.  The  Christianization  of  Denmark.     St.  Atisgar, 

Ansgarius:  Pigmenta,  ed.  Lappenberg.  Hamburg,  1844.  Vita  Wile- 
had!,  in  Pertz :  Monumenta  II. ;  and  in  Migne :  Patrol.  Tom.  118,  pp. 
1014-1051. 

RlMBERTUS:  VitaAnsgarii,  in  Pertz:  Monumenta  II.,  and  in  Migne,  I.  c. 
pp.  961-1011. 

Adamus  Bremensis  (d.  1076) :  Gesta  Hamenburgemis  Ecd,  Pontificum 
(embracing  the  history  of  the  archbishopric  of  Hamburg,  of  Scandi- 
navia, Denmark,  and  Northwestern  Germany,  from  788-1072); 
reprinted  in  Pertz :  Monumenta,  VII. ;  separate  edition  by  Lappen- 
berg.   Hanover,  1846. 

Laurent:  Leben  der  Erzb.  Ansgar  und  Rimbert.     1856. 

A.  TAPPEnORX:  Leben  d.  h.  Ansgar.    1863. 


S  29.  THE  CHKISTIANIZATION  OF  DENMAKK.  Ill 

G.  Dehio:   Geschichte  d.  Erzb.  Hamburg- Bremen.     1877. 
H.  N.  A.  Jensen:  SMeswig-Holsteinische  Kirchengeschichte,  edit.  A.  L. 
J.  Michelsen  (1879). 

During  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  the  Danes  first  came 
in  contact  with  Christianity,  partly  through  their  commercial 
intercourse  with  Duerstede  in  Holland,  partly  through  their  per- 
petual raids  on  Ireland;  and  tales  of  the  "White  Christ"  were 
frequently  told  among  them,  though  probably  with  no  other 
effect  than  that  of  wonder.  The  first  Christian  missionaiy  who 
visited  them"  and  worked  among  them  was  Willebrord.  Born 
in  ISTorthumbria  and  educated  within  the  pale  of  the  Keltic 
Kirk  he  went  out,  in  690,  as  a  missionary  to  the  Frises.  Expel- 
led by  them  he  came,  about  700,  to  Denmark,  was  well  received 
by  king  Yngrin  (Ogendus),  formed  a  congregation  and  bought 
thirty  Danish  boys,  whom  he  educated  in  the  Christian  religion, 
and  of  whom  one,  Sigwald,  is  still  remembered  as  the  patron 
saint  of  Nuremberg,  St.  Sebaldus.  But  his  work  seems  to  have 
been  of  merely  temporary  effect. 

Soon,  however,  the  tremendous  activity  which  Charlemagne 
developed  as  a  political  organizer,  was  felt  even  on  the  Danish 
frontier.  His  realm  touched  the  Eyder.  Political  relations 
sprang  up  between  the  Roman  empire  and  Denmark,  and  they 
opened  a  freer  and  broader  entrance  to  the  Christian  missionaries. 
In  Essehoe,  in  Holstein,  Charlemagne  built  a  chapel  for  the  use 
of  the  garrison ;  in  Hambm-g  he  settled  Heridock  as  the  head  of 
a  Christian  congregation ;  and  from  a  passage  in  one  of  Alcuin's 
letters^  it  appears  that  a  conversion  of  the  Danes  did  not  lie  alto- 
gether outside  of  his  plans.  Under  his  successor,  Lewis  the 
Pious,  Harald  Klak,  one  of  the  many  petty  kings  among  whom 
Denmark  was  then  divided,  sought  the  emperor's  support  and 
decision  in  a  family  feud,  and  Lewis  sent  archbishop  Ebo  of 
Rheims,  celebrated  both  as  a  political  negotiator  and  as  a  zeal- 
ous missionary,  to  Denmark.     In  822  Ebo  crossed  the  Eyder, 

*  EpisUlZ,  in  Monumenta  Alcuiniana,  Ed.  Jaffe. 


1 1 2  FOUETH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

accompanied  by  bishop  Halitgar  of  Cainbray.  In  the  following 
years  he  made  several  journeys  to  Denmark,  preached,  baptized, 
and  established  a  station  of  the  Danish  mission  at  Cella  Wellana, 
the  present  AVelnau,  near  Essehoc.  But  he  was  too  nuich  occu- 
pied with  the  internal  affairs  of  the  empire  and  the  opportunity 
wliicli  now  opened  for  the  Danish  mission,  demanded  the  whole 
and  undivided  energy  of  a  great  man.  In  826  Harald  Klak  was 
expelled  and  sought  refuge  with  the  emperor,  Ebo  acting  as  a 
mediator.  At  Ingelheim,  near  Mentz,  the  king,  the  queen,  their 
son  and  their  whole  retinue,  were  solemnly  baptized,  and  when 
Harald  shortly  after  returned  to  Denmark  with  support  from 
the  emperor,  he  was  accompanied  by  that  man  who  was  destined 
to  become  the  Apostle  of  the  North,  Ansgar. 

Ansgar  was  born  about  800  (according  to  general  acceptation 
Sept.  9,  801)  in  the  diocese  of  Amiens,  of  Frankish  parents,  and 
educated  in  the  abbey  of  Corbie,  under  the  guidance  of  Adalhard. 
Paschasius  Radbertus  was  among  his  teachers.  In  822  a  mis- 
sionary colony  was  planted  by  Corbie  in  Westphalia,  and  the 
German  monastery  of  Corwey  or  New  Corwey  was  founded. 
Hither  Ansgar  was  removed,  as  teacher  in  the  new  school,  and 
he  soon  acquired  great  fame  both  on  account  of  his  powers  as  a 
preacher  and  on  account  of  his  ardent  piety.  When  still  a 
boy  he  had  holy  visions,  and  was  deeply  impressed  with  the 
vanity  of  all  earthly  greatness.  The  crown  of  the  martyr  seemed 
to  him  the  highest  grace  which  human  life  could  attain,  and  he 
ardently  prayed  that  it  might  be  given  to  him.  The  j)roposition 
to  follow  king  Harald  as  a  missionary  among  the  heathen  Danes 
he  immediately  accepted,  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  his 
friends,  and  accompanied  by  Autbert  he  repaired,  in  827,  to 
Denmark,  where  he  immediately  established  a  missionary  station 
at  Hedeby,  in  the  province  of  Schleswig.  The  task  was  difficult, 
but  the  beginning  was  not  without  success.  Twelve  young  boys 
were  bought  to  be  educated  as  teachers,  and  not  a  few  people  were 
converted  and  baptized.  His  kindness  to  the  poor,  the  sick,  to 
all  who  were  in  distress,  attracted  attention ;  his  fervor  as  a 


I  29.  THE  CHEISTIANIZATION  OF  DENMARK.  113 

preacher  and  teacher  produced  sympathy  without,  as  yet,  pro- 
voking resistance.  But  in  829  king  Harald  was  again  expelled 
and  retired  to  Riustri,  a  possession  on  the  mouth  of  the  Weser, 
which  the  emperor  had  given  to  him  as  a  fief.  Ansgar  was  com- 
pelled to  follow  him  and  the  prospects  of  the  Danish  mission 
became  very  dark,  the  more  so  as  Autbert  had  to  give  up  any 
further  participation  in  the  work  on  account  of  ill  health,  and 
return  to  New  Corwey.  At  this  time  an  invitation  from  the 
Swedish  king,  Bjorn,  gave  Ansgar  an  opportunity  to  visit  Swe- 
den, and  he  stayed  there  till  831,  when  the  establishment  of  an 
episcopal  see  at  Hamburg,  determined  upon  by  the  diet  of  Aix- 
le-chapelle  in  831,  promised  to  give  the  Danish  mission  a  new 
impulse.  All  Scandinavia  was  laid  under  the  new  see,  and  Ans- 
gar was  consecrated  its  first  bishop  by  bishop  Drago  of  JNIetz,  a 
brother  of  the  emperor,  with  the  solemn  assistance  of  three  arch- 
bishops, Ebo  of  Rheiras,  Hetti  of  Treves  and  Obgar  of  Mentz. 
A  bull  of  Gregory  IV.^  confirmed  the  whole  arrangement,  and 
Ansgar  received  personally  the  pallium  from  the  hands  of  the 
Pope.  In  834  the  emperor  endowed  the  see  with  the  rich  mon- 
astery of  Thorout,  in  West  Flanders,  south  of  Bruges,  and  the 
work  of  the  Danish  mission  could  now  be  pushed  with  vigor. 
Enabled  to  treat  with  the  petty  kings  of  Denmark  on  terms  of 
equality,  and  possessed  of  means  to  impress  them  with  the  import- 
ance of  the  cause,  Ansgar  made  rapid  progress,  but,  as  was  to  be 
expected,  the  progress  soon  awakened  opposition.  In  834  a 
swarm  of  heathen  Danes  penetrated  with  a  fleet  of  six  hundred 
small  vessels  into  the  Elb  under  the  command  of  king  Horich  I., 
and  laid  siege  to  Hamburg.  The  city  was  taken,  sacked  and 
burnt;  the  church  which  Ansgar  had  built,  the  monasteiy  in. 
which  he  lived,  his  library  containing  a  copy  of  the  Bible  which 
the  emperor  had  presented  to  him,  etc.,  were  destroyed  and  the 
Christians  were  driven  away  from  the  place.  For  many  days 
Ansgar  fled  from  hiding-place  to  hiding-place  in  imminent  danger 
of  his  life.  He  sought  refuge  with  the  bishop  of  Bremen,  but' 
1  Mabillon :  Act.  Sand.  Etned.  Ord.  lY.  2,  p.  124. 


lU  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

the  bishop  of  Bremen  was  jealous,  because  Scandinavia  had  not 
been  laid  under  his  see,  and  refused  to  give  any  assistance.  The 
revenues  of  Thorout  he  lost,  as  the  emperor,  Charles  the  Bald, 
gave  the  fief  to  one  of  his  favorites.  Even  his  own  pupils 
deserted  him. 

In  this  great  emergency  his  character  shone  forth  in  all  its 
strength  and  splendor;  he  bore  what  God  laid  upon  him  in 
silence  and  made  no  complaint.  Meanwhile  Lewis  the  German 
ciime  to  his  support.  In  846  the  see  of  Bremen  became  vacant. 
The  see  of  Hamburg  was  then  united  to  that  of  Bremen,  and  to 
this  new  see,  which  Ansgar  was  called  to  fill,  a  papal  bull  of  May 
31,  8G4,  gave  archiepiscopal  rank.  Installed  in  Bremen,  Ansgar 
immediately  took  up  again  the  Danish  mission  and  again  with 
success.  He  won  even  kmg  Horich  himself  for  the  Christian 
cause,  and  obtained  permission  from  him  to  build  a  church  in 
Iledeby,  the  first  Christian  church  in  Denmark,  dedicated  to  Our 
Lady.  Under  king  Horich's  son  this  church  was  alloAved  to 
have  bells,  a  particular  horror  to  the  heathens,  and  a  new  and 
larger  church  was  commenced  in  Ribe.  By  Ansgar's  activity 
Christianity  became  an  established  and  acknowledged  institution 
in  Denmark,  and  not  only  in  Denmark  but  also  in  Sweden,  which 
he  visited  once  more,  848-850. 

The  principal  feature  of  his  spiritual  character  was  ascetic 
severity;  he  wore  a  coarse  hair-shirt  close  to  the  skin,  fasted 
much  and  spent  most  of  his  time  in  prayer.  But  with  this  asceti- 
cism he  connected  a  great  deal  of  practical  energy;  he  rebuked 
the  idleness  of  the  monks,  demanded  of  his  pupils  that  they 
should  have  some  actual  work  at  hand,  and  was  often  occupied 
in  knitting,  while  praying.  His  enthusiasm  and  holy  raptures 
were  also  singularly  well-tempered  by  good  common  sense. 
To  those  who  wished  to  extol  his  greatness  and  goodness  by 
ascribing  miracles  to  him,  he  said  that  the  greatest  miracle  in 
his  life  would  be,  if  God  ever  made  a  thoroughly  pious  man  out 
of  him.'    ]\Iost  prominent,  however,  among  the  spiritual  features 

^  "  Sidignus  essem  apud  Dcum  mcum,  rogaran  quatcmis  unum  mihi  concedcret 


§  29.  THE  CITRISTIAXIZATIOX  OF  DENMARK.  115 

of  his  character  shines  forth  his  unwavering  faith  in  the  final 
success  of  his  cause  and  the  never-failing  patience  with  which 
this  faith  fortified  his  soul.  In  spite  of  apparent  failure  lie  never 
gave  up  his  work ;  overwhelmed  with  disaster,  he  still  continued 
it.  From  his  death-bed  he  wrote  a  letter  to  king  Lewis  to  recom- 
mend to  him  the  Scandinavian  mission.  Other  missionaries  may 
have  excelled  him  in  sagacity  and  organizing  talent,  but  none 
in  heroic  patience  and  humility.  He  died  at  Bremen,  Feb.  3, 
865,  and  lies  buried  there  in  the  church  dedicated  to  him.  He 
was  canonized  by  Nicholas  I. 

Ansgar's  successor  in  the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Hamburg- 
Bremen  was  his  friend  and  biographer,  Rimbeet,  865-888. 
In  his  time  all  the  petty  kingdoms  into  which  Denmark  was 
divided,  were  gathered  together  under  one  sceptre  by  King 
Gorm  the  Old ;  but  this  event,  in  one  respect  very  favorable  to 
the  rapid  spread  of  Christianity,  was  in  other  respects  a  real 
obstacle  to  the  Christian  cause  as  it  placed  Denmark,  politically, 
in  opposition  to  Germany,  which  was  the  basis  and  only  support 
of  the  Christian  mission  to  Denmark.  King  Gorm  himself  was 
a  grim  heathen ;  but  his  queen,  Thyra  Danabod,  had  embraced 
Christianity,  and  both  under  Rimbert  and  his  successor,  Adal- 
gar,  888-909,  the  Christian  missionaries  were  allowed  to  work 
undisturbed.  A  new  church,  the  third  in  Denmark,  was  built 
at  Aarhus.  But  under  Adalgar's  successor,  Unni,  909-936, 
King  Gorm's  fury,  half  political  and  half  religious,  sud- 
denly burst  forth.  The  churches  were  burnt,  the  missionaries 
were  killed  or  expelled,  and  nothing  but  the  decisive  victory  of 
Henry  the  Fowler,  king  of  Germany,  over  the  Danish  king 
saved  the  Christians  in  Denmark  from  complete  extermination. 
By  the  peace  it  was  agreed  that  King  Gorm  should  allow  the 
preaching  of  Christianity  in  his  realm,  and  Unni  took  up  the 
cause  again  with  great  energy.  Between  Unni's  successor, 
Adaldag,    936-988,  and  King  Harald  Blue  Tooth,  a  son   of 

signum,  videlicet  ut  de  me  sua  gratia  faceretbonum  hominem."  Vita  by  Eimbert, 
c.  67  (Migne  118,  p.  1008). 


115  FOURTH  PERIOD,    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Gorni  the  Old,  there  grew  up  a  relation  which  ahuost  might 
be  called  a  co-operation.  Around  the  three  churches  in  Jut- 
land: Schleswig,  Ribe  and  Aarhus,  and  a  fourth  in  Fiinen: 
Odeuse,  bishoprics  were  formed,  and  Adaldag  consecrated  four 
native  bishops.  The  church  obtained  right  to  accept  and  hold 
donations,  and  instances  of  very  large  endowments  occurred. 

The  war  between  King  Harald  and  the  German  king,  Otto  II., 
arose  from  merely  political  causes,  but  led  to  the  baptism  of  the 
former,  and  soon  after  the  royal  residence  was  moved  from 
Leirc,  one  of  the  chief  centres  of  Scandinavian  heathendom,  to 
Roeskilde,  where  a  Christian  church  was  built.  Among  tlie 
Danes,  however,  there  was  a  large  party  which  was  very  ill- 
pleased  at  this  turn  of  affairs.  They  were  heathens  because 
heathenism  was  the  only  religion  which  suited  their  passions. 
They  clung  to  Thor,  not  from  conviction,  but  from  pride. 
They  looked  down  with  indignation  and  dismay  upon  the  trans- 
formation which  Christianity  everywhere  effected  both  of  the 
character  and  the  life  of  the  people.  Finally  they  left  the  coun- 
try and  settled  under  the  leadership  of  Palnatoke,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Oder,  where  they  founded  a  kind  of  republic,  Jomsborg. 

From  this  place  they  waged  a  continuous  war  upon  Christianity 
in  Denmark  for  more  than  a  decade,  and  with  dreadful  effect. 
The  names  of  the  martyrs  would  fill  a  whole  volume,  says  Adam 
of  Bremen.  The  church  in  Roeskilde  was  burnt.  The  bishopric 
of  Fiinen  was  abolished.  The  king's  own  son,  Swen,  was  one 
of  the  leaders,  and  the  king  himself  was  finally  shot  by  Palna- 
toke, 991.  Swen,  however,  soon  fell  out  with  the  Joms  vikings, 
and  his  invasion  of  England  gave  the  wai-like  passions  of  the 
nation  another  direction. 

From  the  conquest  of  that  country  and  its  union  with  Den- 
mark, the  Danish  mission  received  a  vigorous  impulse.  King 
Swen  himself  was  converted,  and  showed  great  zeal  for  Chris- 
tianity. He  rebuilt  the  church  in  Roeskilde,  erected  a  new 
church  at  Lund,  in  Skaane,  placed  the  sign  of  the  cross  on 
his  coins,  and   exhorted,  on  his  death-bed,  his  son  Canute  to 


?29.  THE  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  DENMARK.  117 

work  for  the  Christianizatiou  of  Denmark.  The  ardor  of  the 
Hamburg-Bremen  archbishops  for  the  Danish  mission  seemed 
at  this  time  to  have  cooled,  or  perhaps  the  growing  difference 
between  the  language  spoken  to  the  north  of  the  Eyder  and  that 
spoken  to  the  south  of  that  river  made  missionary  work  in  Den- 
mark very  difficult  for  a  German  preacher.  Ansgar  had  not 
felt  this  difference ;  but  two  centuries  later  it  had  probably  be- 
come necessary  for  the  German  missionary  to  learn  a  foreign 
language  before  entering  on  his  work  in  Denmark. 

Between  England  and  Denmark  there  existed  no  such  difference 
of  language.  King  Canute  the  Great,  during  whose  reign  (1019- 
1035)  the  conversion  of  Denmark  was  completed,  could  employ 
English  i3ricsts  and  monks  in  Denmark  without  the  least  em- 
barrassment. He  re-established  the  bishopric  of  Fiinen,  and 
founded  two  new  bishoi3rics  in  Sealand  and  Skaane;  and  these 
three  sees  were  filled  Avith  Englishmen  consecrated  by  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.  He  invited  a  number  of  English  monks 
to  Denmark,  and  settled  them  partly  as  ecclesiastics  at  the 
churches,  partly  in  small  missionary  stations,  scattered  all  around 
in  the  country;  and  everywhere,  in  the  style  of  the  church- 
building  and  in  the  character  of  the  service,  the  English  influ- 
ence was  predominating.  This  circumstance,  however,  did  in 
no  way  affect  the  ecclesiastical  relation  between  Denmark  and 
the  archiepLscopal  see  of  Hamburg-Bremen.  The  authority  of 
the  archbisliop,  though  not  altogether  uuassailed,  was  neverthe- 
less generally  submitted  to  with  good  grace,  and  until  in  the 
twelfth  century  an  independent  Scandinavian  archbishopric  was 
established  at  Lund,  with  the  exception  of  the  above  cases,  he 
always  appointed  and  consecrated  the  Danish  bishops.  Also  the 
relation  to  the  Pope  was  very  cordial.  Canute  made  a  pilgrim- 
age to  Rome,  and  founded  several  Hospitia  Danorum  there.  He 
refused,  however,  to  permit  the  introduction  of  the  Peter's  pence 
in  Denmark,  and  the  tribute  which,  up  to  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, was  annually  sent  from  that  country  to  Rome,  was  con- 
sidered a  voluntary  gift. 


118  FOUHTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  last  part  of  Denmark  which  was  converted  was  the  island 
of  Boruholm.  It  was  christianized  in  1060  by  Bishop  Egius 
of  LimJ.  It  is  noticeable,  however,  that  in  Denmark  Chris- 
tianity was  not  made  a  part  of  the  law  of  the  land,  such  as  was 
the  case  in  England  and  in  ^'orway. 

§  30.  The  Christianization  of  Sweden. 

RlJlBERTUS :   Vita  Ansgarii,  in  Pertz :  Ilonumenta  II. 

Adamus  Bremensis:  Gesta  Ham.  Ecd.  Pout/in  Pertz:  MonumentaVII ; 

separate  edition  by  Lappcnberg.    Hanover,  1846. 
HiSTORiA  S.  SiGFRiDl,  in  Scriptt.  Per.  Suec.  Medii-oivi,  T.  II. 

Jast  when  the  expulsion  of  Harald  Klak  compelled  Ansgar  to 
give  up  the  Danish  mission,  at  least  for  the  tim^  being,  an  em- 
bassy was  sent  by  the  Swedish  king,  Bjorn,  to  the  emperor, 
Lewis  the  Pious,  asking  him  to  send  Christian  missionaries  to 
Sweden.  Like  the  Danes,  the  Swedes  had  become  acquainted 
with  Christianity  through  their  Avars  and  commercial  connections 
with  foreign  countries,  and  with  many  this  acquaintance  appears 
to  have  awakened  an  actual  desire  to  become  Christians.  Ac- 
cordingly Ansgar  went  to  Sweden  in  829,  accompanied  by  Wit- 
mar.  While  crossing  the  Baltic,  the  vessel  was  overtaken  and 
plundered  by  pirates,  and  he  arrived  em^^ty  handed,  not  to 
say  destitute,  at  Bjorko  or  Birka,  the  residence  of  King  Bjorn, 
situated  on  an  island  in  the  Ma^larn.  Although  poverty  and 
misery  vrcre  very  jjoor  introduction  to  a  heathen  king  in  ancient 
Scandinavia,  he  was  well  received  by  the  king;  and  in  Hergeir, 
one  of  the  most  prominent  men  at  the  court  of  Birka,  he  found 
a  warm  and  reliable  friend.  Hergeir  built  the  first  Christian 
chapel  in  Sweden,  and  during  his  whole  life  he  proved  an  un- 
failing and  powerful  support  of  the  Christian  cause.  After  two 
years'  successful  labor,  Ansgar  returned  to  Germany;  but  he 
did  not  forget  the  Avorlc  l)egun.  As  soon  as  he  was  well  estab- 
lislicd  as  bisliop  in  Hamburg,  he  sent,  in  834,  Gautbert,  a 
nephew  of  Ebo,  to  Sweden,  accompanied  by  Nithard  and  a 
nundxT  of  other  Christian  priests,  and  Avell  provided  with  every- 


2  30.  THE  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  SWEDEN.  119 

tiling  necessary  for  the  work.  Gautbert  labored  with  great  suc- 
cess. In  Birka  he  built  a  church,  and  thus  it  became  possible 
for  the  Christians,  scattered  all  over  Sweden,  to  celebrate  service 
"and  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  their  own  country  without 
going  to  Duerstede  or  some  other  foreign  place.  But  here,  as 
in  Denmark,  the  success  of  the  Christian  mission  aroused  the 
jealousy  and  hatred  of  the  heathen,  and,  at  last,  even  Hergeir 
was  not  able  to  keep  them  within  bounds.  An  infuriated  swarm 
broke  into  the  house  of  Gautbert.  The  house  was  plundered; 
Nithard  was  murdered;  the  church  was  burnt,  and  Gautbert 
himself  was  sent  in  chains  beyond  the  frontier.  He  never  re- 
turned to  Sweden,  but  died  as  bishop  of  Osnabriick,  shortly 
before  Ansgar.  When  Ansgar  first  heard  of  the  outbreak  in 
Sweden,  he  was  himself  flying  before  the  fury  of  the  Danish 
heathen,  and  for  several  years  he  was  unable  to  do  anything 
for  the  Swedish  mission.  Ardgar,  a  former  hermit,  now  a  priest, 
went  to  Sweden,  and  in  Birka  he  found  that  Hergeir  had  suc- 
ceeded in  keeping  together  and  defending  the  Christian  congre- 
gation ;  but  Hergeir  died  shortly  after,  and  with  him  fell  the 
last  defence  against  the  attacks  of  the  heathen  and  barbarians. 
INIeanwhile  Ansgar  had  been  established  in  the  archiepiscopal 
see  of  Hamburg-Bremen.  In  848,  he  determined  to  go  him- 
self to  Sweden.  The  costly  presents  he  gave  to  king  Olaf,  the 
urgent  letters  he  brought  from  the  emperor,  and  the  king  of  Den- 
mark, the  magnificence  and  solemnity  of  the  appearance  of  the 
mission  made  a  deep  impression.  The  king  promised  that  the 
question  should  be  laid  before  the  assembled  people,  whether  or 
not  they  would  allow  Christianity  to  be  preached  again  in  the 
country.  In  the  assembly  it  was  the  address  of  an  old  Swede, 
proving  that  the  god  of  the  Christians  was  stronger  even  than 
Thor,  and  that  it  was  poor  policy  for  a  nation  not  to  have  the 
strongest  god,  which  finally  turned  the  scales,  and  once  more 
the  Christian  missionaries  were  allowed  to  preach  undisturbed 
in  the  country.  Before  Ansgar  left,  in  850,  the  church  was  rebuilt 
in  Birka,  and,  for  a  number  of  years,  the  missionaiy  labor  was 


120  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

continued  with  great  zeal  by  Erimbert,  a  nephew  of  Gautbert, 
by  Ansfrid,  born  a  Dane,  and  by  Rimbert,  also  a  Dane. 

Nevertheless,  although  the  persecutions  ceased,  Christianity 
made  little  progress,  and  when,  in  935,  Archbishop  Unni  himself 
visited  Birka,  his  principal  labor  consisted  in  bringing  back  to 
the  Christian  fold  such  members  as  had  strayed  away  among 
the  heathen,  and  forgotten  their  faith.  Half  a  century  later, 
however,  during  the  reign  of  Olaf  Skotkouge,  the  mission  re- 
ceived a  vigorous  impulse.  The  king  himself  and  his  sons  were 
won  for  the  Christian  cause,  and  from  Denmark  a  number  of 
English  missionaries  entered  the  country.  The  most  prominent 
among  these  was  Sigfrid,  who  has  been  mentioned  beside  Ans- 
gar  as  the  apostle  of  the  North.  By  his  exerlions  many  were 
converted,  and  Christianity  became  a  legally  recognized  religion 
in  the  country  beside  the  old  heathenism.  In  the  Southern  part 
of  Sweden,  heathen  sacrifices  ceased,  and  heathen  altars  disap- 
peared. In  the  Northern  part,  however,  the  old  faith  still  con- 
tinued to  live  on,  partly  because  it  Avas  difficult  for  the  mission- 
aries to  penetrate  into  those  wild  and  forbidding  regions,  partly 
because  there  existed  a  difference  of  tribe  between  the  Northern 
and  Southern  Swedes,  which  again  gave  rise  to  political  differ- 
ences. 

The  Christianization  of  Sweden  was  not  completed  imtil  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century. 

§  31.  Tlic  Christianization  of  Norway  and  Iceland. 

Snorre  Sturlesox  (d.  1241) :  Heimskringla  [L  e.  Circle  of  Home,  writ- 
ten first  in  Icelandic),  seu  Historia  Regum  SeptentrionaHum,  etc. 
Stockliolm,  1607,  2  vols.  The  same  in  Icelandic,  Danish,  and  Latin. 
Havn.,  1777-1826;  in  German  by  Mohnike,  1835;  in  English,  transl. 
by  Sam.  Laing.  London,  1844,  3  vols.  This  history  of  the  Norwe- 
gian kings  reaches  from  the  m}i;hological  age  to  A.  D.  1177. 

N.  P.  SiBBERX :  BibliotJieca  Historica  Dano-Norvegica.  Hamburg,  1716. 
Fornmanna-Sogur  seu  Scripta  Hist.  Idandoriim.     Hafnioe,  1828. 

K.  I^Iaurkr:  Bckehrimg  des  Norwegisclien  Staniynes  zum  Chrisknthum. 
Mfinchen,  1855-56,  2  vols. 

Thomas  Carlyle  :  Earhj  Kings  of  Norway.   London  and  N.  York,  1875. 

G.  F.  SIaclear  :  TAe  Conversion  of  tlie  Northmen.     London,  1879. 


§  31.  THE  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  NORWAY.  121 

Christianity  was  introduced  in  Norway  almost  exclusively  by 
the  exertions  of  the  kings,  and  the  means  employed  were  chiefly 
violence  and  tricks.  The  people  accepted  Christianity  not  because 
they  had  become  acquainted  with  it  and  felt  a  craving  for  it,  but 
because  they  were  compelled  to  accept  it,  and  the  result  was  that 
heathen  customs  and  heathen  ideas  lived  on  in  Christian  Norway 
for  centuries  after  they  had  disappeared  from  the  rest  of  Scandi- 
navia. 

The  first  attempt  to  introduce  Christianity  in  the  country 
was  made  in  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century  by  Hakon  the  Good. 
Norway  was  gathered  into  one  state  in  the  latter  part  of  the  ninth 
century  by  Harald  Haarfagr,  but  internal  wars  broke  out  again 
under  Harald's  son  and   successor,  Eric.     These   troubles  in- 
duced Hakon,  an  illegitimate  sou  of  Harald  Haarfagr  and  edu- 
cated in  England  at  the  court  of  king  Athelstan,  to  return  to 
Norway  and  lay  claim  to  the  crown.     He  succeeded  in  gaining 
a  party  in  his  favor,  expelled  Eric  and  conquered  all  Norway, 
where  he  soon  became  exceedingly  popular,  partly  on  account  of 
his  valor  and  military  ability,  partly  also  on  account  of  the  refine- 
ment and  suavity  of  his  manners.     Hakon  was  a  Christian,  and 
the  Christianization  of  Norway  seems  to  have  been  his  highest 
goal  from  the  very  first  days  of  his  reign.     But  he  was  prudent. 
Without  attracting  any  great  attention  to  the  matter,  he  won  oyer 
to  Christianity  a  number  of  those  who  stood  nearest  to  him, 
called  Christian  priests  from  England,  and  built  a  church  at 
Drontheim.    Meanwhile  he  began  to  think  that  the  time  had  come 
for  a  more  public  and  more  decisive  step,  and  at  the  great  Frost- 
ething,  where  all  the  most  prominent  men  of  the  country  were 
assembled,  he  addressed  the  people  on  the  matter  and  exhorted 
them  to  become  Christians.     The  answer  he  received  was  very 
characteristic.     They  had  no  objection  to  Christianity  itself,  for 
they  did  not  know  what  it  meant,  but  they  suspected  the  king's 
proposition,  as  if  it  were  a  political  stratagem  by  means  of  which 
he  intended  to  defraud  them  of  their  political  rights  and  liber- 
ties.    Thus  they  not  only  refused  to  become  Christians  them- 


122  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

selves,  but  even  (iompelled  the  king  to  partake  in  their  heathen 
festivals  and  offer  sacrifices  to  their  heathen  gods.  The  king  was 
very  indignant  and  determined  to  take  revenge,  but  just  as  he 
had  got  an  army  together,  the  sons  of  the  expelled  Eric  landed 
in  N(jrway  and  in  the  battle  against  them,  961,  he  received  a 
deadly  wound. 

The  sous  of  Eric,  who  had  lived  in  England  dmnng  their 
exile,  were  likewise  Christians,  and  they  took  up  the  cause 
of  Christianity  in  a  very  high-handed  manner,  overthrowing 
the  heathen  altars  and  forbidding  sacrifices.  But  the  impres- 
sion they  made  was  merely  odious,  and  their  successor,  Hakon 
Jarl,  was  a  rank  heathen.  The  first  time  Christianity  really 
gained  a  footing  in  Norway,  was  under  Olaf  Trygveson.  De- 
scended from  Harald  Haarfagr,  but  sold,  while  a  child,  as  a  slave 
in  Esthonia,  he  was  ransomed  by  a  relative  Avho  incidentally  met 
him  and  recognized  his  own  kin  in  the  beauty  of  the  boy,  and 
was  educated  at  Moscow.  Afterwards  he  roved  about  much  in 
Denmark,  "Wendland,  England  and  Ireland,  living  as  a  sea- 
king.  In  Eugland  he  became  acquainted  with  Christianity  and 
immediately  embraced  it,  but  he  carried  his  viking-nature  almost 
unchanged  over  into  Christianity,  and  a  fiercer  knight  of  the 
cross  was  probably  never  seen.  Invited  to  Norway  by  a  party 
which  had  grown  impatient  of  the  tyranny  of  Hakon  Jarl,  he  easily 
made  himself  master  of  the  country,  in  995,  and  immediately 
set  about  making  Christianit)^  its  religion,  '^  punishing  severely," 
as  Snorre  says,  "  all  who  opposed  him,  killing  some,  mutilating 
others,  and  driving  the  rest  into  banishment."  In  the  Southern 
part  there  still  lingered  a  remembrance  of  Christianity  from  the 
days  of  Hakon  the  Good,  and  things  went  on  here  somewhat 
more  smoothly,  though  Olaf  more  than  once  gave  the  people 
assembled  in  council  with  him  the  choice  between  fighting  him 
or  accepting  baptism  forthwith.  But  in  the  Northern  part 
all  the  craft  and  all  the  energy  of  the  king  were  needed  in  order 
to  overcome  the  opposition.  Once,  at  a  great  heathen  festival  at 
Moere,  he  told  the  assembled  people  that,  if  he  should  return  to 


2  31.  THE  CHEISTIANIZATION  OF  NORWAY.  123 

the  heathen  gods  it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  make  some 
great  and  awful  sacrifice,  and  accordingly  he  seized  twelve  of  the 
most  prominent  men  present  and  prepared  to  sacrifice  them  to 
Thor.  They  were  rescued,  however,  when  the  whole  assembly 
accepted  Christianity  and  were  baptized.  In  the  year  1000,  he 
fell  in  a  battle  against  the  united  Danish  and  Swedish  kings,  but 
though  he  reigned  only  five  years,  he  nevertheless  succeeded  in 
establishing  Christianity  as  the  religion  of  Norway  and,  what  is 
still  more  remarkable,  no  general  relapse  into  heathenism  seems  to 
have  taken  place  after  his  death. 

During  the  reign  of  Olaf  the  Saint,  who  ruled  from  A.  D. 
1014-'30,  the  Christianization  of  the  country  was  completed. 
His  task  it  was  to  uproot  heathenism  wherever  it  was  still  found 
lurking,  and  to  give  the  Christian  religion  an  ecclesiastical  orga- 
nization. Like  his  predecessors,  he  used  craft  and  violence  to 
reach  his  goal.  Heathen  idols  and  altars  disappeared,  heathen 
customs  and  festivals  were  suppressed,  the  civil  laws  were  brought 
into  conformity  with  the  rules  of  Christian  morals.  The  country 
was  divided  into  dioceses  and  parishes,  churches  were  bfiilt,  and 
regular  revenues  were  raised  for  the  sustenance  of  the  clergy. 
For  the  most  part  he  employed  English  monks  and  priests,  but 
with  the  consent  of  the  archbishop  of  Hamburg-Bremen,  under 
whose  authority  he  placed  the  Norwegian  church.  After  his 
death,  in  the  battle  of  Stiklestad,  July  29,  1030,  he  was  canonized 
and  became  the  jjatron  saint  of  Norway. 

To  Norway  belonged,  at  that  time,  Iceland.  From  Icelandic 
tradition  as  well  as  from  the  "  De  Mensura  Orbis  "  by  Dicuilus, 
an  Irish  monk  in  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century,  it  ap- 
pears that  Culdee  anchorites  used  to  retire  to  Iceland  as  early 
as  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century,  while  the  island  was  still 
uninhabited.  These  anchorites,  however,  seem  to  have  had  no 
influence  whatever  on  the  Norwegian  settlers  who,  flying  from 
the  tyranny  of  Harald  Haarfagr,  came  to  Iceland  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  ninth  century  and  began  to  people  the  country.  The 
new-comers  were  heathen,  and  they  looked  with  amazement  at 


124  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

AiKla  tlie  Rich,  the  widow  of  Olaf  the  White,  king  of  Dublin, 
who  in  892  took  up  her  abode  in  Iceland  and  reared  a  lofty  cross 
in  front  of  her  house.  But  the  Icelanders  were  great  travellers, 
and  one  of  them,  Thorvald  Ivodranson,  who  in  Saxony  had 
embraced  Christianity,  brought  bishop  Frederic  home  to  Iceland. 
Frederic  stayed  there  for  four  years,  and  his  preaching  found 
easy  access  among  the  people.  The  mission  of  Thangbrand  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  tenth  century  failed,  but  when  Norway,  or 
at  least  the  Norwegian  coast,  became  Christian,  the  intimate 
relation  between  Iceland  and  Norway  soon  brought  the  germs 
which  Frederic  had  planted,  into  rapid  growth,  and  in  the  year 
1000  the  Icelandic  Althing  declared  Christianity  to  be  the 
established  religion  of  the  country.  The  first^church  was  built 
shortly  after  from  timber  sent  by  Olaf  the  Saint  from  Norway 
to  the  treeless  island. 


IV.  THE  CHEISTIANIZATION  OF  THE  SLAVS. 
§  32.  General  Survey. 

A.  Regenvolscius :   Systema  hisLchronol.  Ecclcsiarum  Slavonic.     Traj. 

ad  Rhen.,  1652. 
A.  Wexgerscius:  Hist,  ecdesiast.  Ecclesiarum  Slavonic,    Amst.,  1689. 
KoHLlUS:  latroductio  in  Hist.  Slavorum  imprimis  sacram.    Altona,  1704. 
J.  Ch.  Jordan:  Origines  Slavicce.    Vindob.,  1745. 
S.  DE  BOHUSz:  Becherches  hist,  sur  Vorigine  des  Sarmates,  des  Esclavons, 

et  des  Slaves,  et  sur  les  epoques  de  la  conversion  de  ces  peuples.    St. 

Petersburg  and  London,  1812. 
P.  J.  SCHAFABIK:  Slavische  Alterthiimer.     Leipzig,  1844,  2  vols. 
HoRVAT :   Urgeschichte  der  Slaven.     Pest,  1844. 
W.  A.  Maciejowsky:  Efisai  hist,  sur  Veglise  ehref.  primitive  de  deux  rites 

chez  les  Slaves.    Translated  from  Polish  into  French  by  L.  F.  Sauvet, 

Paris,  1846. 

At  what  time  the  Slavs  first  made  their  appearance  in  Europe 
is  not  known.  I^atin  and  Greek  writers  of  the  second  half 
of  the  sixth  century,  sucli  as  Procopius,  Jornandes,  Agathias, 
the  emperor  Mauritius  and  others,  knew  only  those  Slavs  who 


?  32.  THE  CHEISTIANIZATION  OF  THE  SLAVS.         125 

lived  along  the  frontiers  of  the  Roman  empire.  In  the  era  of 
Charlemagne  the  Slavs  occupied  the  whole  of  Eastern  Europe 
from  the  Baltic  to  the  Balkan ;  the  Obotrites  and  Wends  be- 
t-ween the  Elbe  and  the  Vistula;  the  Poles  around  the  Vistula, 
and  beliind  them  the  Russians;  the  Czechs  in  Bohemia.  Fur- 
ther to  the  South  the  compact  mass  of  Slavs  was  split  by  the  in- 
vasion of  various  Finnish  or  Turanian  tribes ;  the  Huns  in  the 
fifth  century,  the  Avars  in  the  sixth,  the  Bulgarians  in  the 
seventh,  the  Magyars  in  the  ninth.  The  Avars  penetrated  to 
the  Adriatic,  but  were  thrown  back  in  640  by  the  Bulgarians; 
they  then  settled  in  Panonia,  were  subdued  and  converted  by 
Charlemagne,  791-796,  and  disappeared  altogether  from  history 
in  the  ninth  centmy.  The  Bulgarians  adopted  the  Slavic  lan- 
guage and  became  Slavs,  not  only  in  language,  but  also  in  cus- 
toms and  habits.  Only  the  Magyars,  who  settled  around  the 
Theiss  and  the  Danube,  and  are  the  ruling  race  in  Hungary, 
vindicated  themselves  as  a  distinct  nationality. 

The  great  mass  of  Slavs  had  no  common  political  organization, 
but  formed  a  number  of  kingdoms,  which  flourished,  some  for 
a  shorter,  and  others  for  a  longer  period,  such  as  Moravia,  Bul- 
garia, Bohemia,  Poland,  and  Russia.  In  a  religious  respect  also 
great  differences  existed  among  them.  They  were  agricultu- 
rists, and  their  gods  were  representatives  of  natural  forces;  but 
while  Radigost  and  Sviatovit,  worshipped  by  the  Obotrites  and 
"Wends,  were  cruel  gods,  in  whose  temples,  especially  at  Arcona 
in  the  island  of  Riigen,  human  beings  were  sacrificed,  Svarog 
worshipped  by  the  Poles,  and  Dazhbog,  worshipped  by  the 
Bohemians,  were  mild  gods,  who  demanded  love  and  praver. 
Common  to  all  Slavs,  however,  was  a  very  elaborate  belief  in 
fairies  and  trolls;  and  polygamy,  sometimes  connected  with  sut- 
teeism,  widely  j)revailed  among  them.  Their  conversion  was 
attempted  both  by  Constantinople  and  by  Rome;  but  the  cha- 
otic and  ever-shifting  political  conditions  under  which  they  lived, 
the  rising  difference  and  jealousy  between  the  Eastern  and  West- 
ern  churches,  and  the  great  difficulty  which  the  missionaries 


12G  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

experienced  in  learning  their  language,  presented  formidable 
obstacles,  and  at  the  close  of  the  period  the  work  was  not  yet 
completed. 

§  33.  Christian  Ilissions  among  the   Wends, 

Adam  of  Bremen  (d.  1067) :  Gesta  Hammenb.  [Hamburgensis)  Eccl.  Pont, 

in  Perfz:  Monumenta  Germ.,  VII. 
Helmoldus  (d.  1147)  and  Arnoldus  Lubecensis  :  Chronicon  Slavorum 

give  Annales  Slavorum,  from  Charlemagne  to  1170,  ed.  H.  Bangert. 

Lubccce,  1659.    German  translation  by  Laurent.   Berlin,  1852. 
Spieker  :  Kirchengeschichte  der  Mark  Brandenburg.     Berlin,  1839. 
■\VlGGEns :  Kirchengeschichte  Mechlenburgs.     Parchim,  1840. 
GiESEBRECUT :   Wendische  Geschichten.     Berlin,  1843. 

Charlemagne  was  the  first  who  attempted  to  introduce  Chris- 
tianity among  the  Slavic  tribes  which,  under  the  collective  name 
of  Wends,  occupied  the  Northern  part  of  Germany,  along  the 
coast  of  the  Baltic,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Elbe  to  the  Vistula : 
Wagrians  in  Holstem,  Obotrites  in  Mecklenburg,  Sorbians  on 
the  Saxon  boundary,  Wilzians  in  Brandenburg,  etc.  But  in  the 
hands  of  Charlemagne,  the  Christian  mission  was  a  political 
weapon;  and  to  the  Slavs,  acceptation  of  Christianity  became 
synonymous  with  political  and  national  subjugation.  Hence 
their  fury  against  Christianity  which,  time  after  time,  broke 
forth,  volcano-like,  and  completely  destroyed  the  work  of  the 
missionaries.  The  decisive  victories  which  Otto  I.  gained  over 
the  AVonds,  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  attempt,  on  a  large  scale, 
tlie  establishment  of  the  Christian  church  among  them.  Episcopal 
sees  were  founded  at  Havelberg  in  946,  at  Altenburg  or  Olden- 
burg in  948,  at  IMeissen,  Merseburg,  and  Zeitz  in  968,  and  in 
the  last  year  an  arcliicpiscopal  see  was  founded  at  Magdeburg. 
Boso,  a  monk  from  St.  Emmeran,  at  Regensburg,  who  first  had 
translated  the  formulas  of  the  liturgy  into  the  language  of  the 
natives,  became  bishop  of  Merseburg,  and  Adalbert,  who  first 
bad  preached  Christianity  in  the  island  of  Riigen,  became  arch- 
bi.shop. 

But  again  the  Christian  church  was  used  as  a  means  for  poli- 


§  33.  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS  AMONG  THE  WENDS.        127 

tical  purposes,  and,  in  the  reign  of  Otto  II.,  a  fearful  rising 
took  place  among  the  Wends  under  the  leadership  of  Prince 
Mistiwoi.  He  had  become  a  Christian  himself;  but,  indignant 
at  the  suppression  which  was  practiced  in  the  name  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  he  returned  to  heathenism,  assembled  the  tribes  at 
Rethre,  one  of  the  chief  centres  of  Wendish  heathendom,  and 
began,  in  983,  a  war  which  spread  devastation  all  over  Northern 
Germany.  The  churches  and  monasteries  were  burnt,  and  the 
Christian  priests  were  expelled.  Afterwards  Mistiwoi  was 
seized  with  remorse,  and  tried  to  cure  the  evil  he  had  done  in 
an  outburst  of  passion.  But  then  his  subjects  abandoifed  him; 
he  left  the  country,  and  spent  the  last  days  of  his  life  in  a  Chris- 
tian monastery  at  Bardewick.  His  grandson,  Gottschalk,  whose 
Slavic  name  is  unknown,  was  educated  in  the  Christian  faith  in 
the  monastery  of  St.  Michael,  near  Liineburg;  but  when  he 
heard  that  his  father,  Uto,  had  been  murdered,  1032,  the  old 
heathen  instincts  of  revenge  at  once  awakened  within  him.  He 
left  the  monastery,  abandoned  Christianity,  and  raised  a  storm 
of  persecution  against  the  Christians,  which  swept  over  all  Bran- 
denburg, Mecklenburg,  and  Holstein.  Defeated  and  taken 
prisoner  by  Bernard  of  Lower  Saxony,  he  returned  to  Chris- 
tianity; lived  afterwards  at  the  court  of  Canute  the  Great  in 
Denmark  and  England;  married  a  Danish  jjrincess,  and  was 
made  ruler  of  the  Obotrites.  A  great  warrior,  he  conquered 
Holstein  and  Pommerania,  and  formed  a  powerful  "NVendish 
empire;  and  on  this  solid  political  foundation,  he  attempted, 
with  considerable  success,  to  build  up  the  Christian  church. 
The  old  bishoprics  were  re-established,  and  new  ones  were 
founded  at  Pazzeburg  and  Mecklenburg ;  monasteries  were  built 
at  Leuzen,  Oldenburg,  Razzeburg,  Liibeck,  and  Mecklenburg; 
missionaries  were  provided  by  Adalbert,  archbishop  of  Ham- 
burg-Bremen ;  the  liturgy  was  translated  into  the  native  tongue, 
and  revenues  were  raised  for  the  support  of  the  clergy,  the 
churches,  and  the  service. 

But,  as  might  have  been  expected,  the  deeper  Christianity 


228  FOUKTII  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

penetrated  into  the  mass  of  tlie  people,  the  fiercer  beearae  the 
resistance  of  the  heathen.  Gottsehalk  was  murdered  at  Lentz, 
June  7,  1006,  together  vnth  his  old  teacher,  Abbot  Uppo,  and  a 
general  rising  now  took  place.  The  churches  and  schools  were 
destroyed ;  the  priests  and  monks  were  stoned  or  killed  as  sacri- 
fices r)n  the  heathen  altars ;  and  Christianity  was  literally  swept 
out  of  the  countr}\  It  took  several  decades  before  a  new  begin- 
ning could  be  made,  and  the  final  Christianization  of  the  Wends 
was  not  acliievcd  until  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century. 

§  34.    Cyrillus  and  Methodim,  the  Apostles  of  the  Slavs.      Chris- 
tianization of  Moravia,  Bohemia  and  Poland. 

F.  >r.  Pelzel  et  J.  DoBROWSKY :  Bernim  Bohemic.  Scriptores.     Prague. 

Friese:  Kirchengeschichte  d.  KonigreicJis  Polen.     Breslau,  1786. 

Fraxz.  Palacky  :  Geschichte  von  Bohmen.  Prague,  3d  ed.,  1864  sqq.,  5 
vols,  (down  to  1520). 

Wattenbach:  Geschichte  d.  christl.  Kirche  in  Bohmen  und  Mdhren. 
Wicn,  1849. 

A.  Feiud:  Die  Kirchengesch.  Bohmens.     Prague,  1863  sqq. 

Biograpliies  of  Cyrillus  and  Methodius,  by  J.  Dobeowsky  (Prague, 
1823,  and  1826);  J.  A.  Gixzel  [Geschichte  der  Slawenapostel  und 
dcr  Slau-ischcn  Liiurgie.  Leitmeritz,  1857);  Philaret  (in  the  Rus- 
sian, German  translation,  Mitau,  1847) ;  J.  E.  Biley  (Prague,  1863) ; 
DiJMMLER  and  F.  Milkosisch  (Wien,  1870). 

The  Moravian  Slavs  were  subjugated  by  Charlemagne,  and 
the  bishop  of  Pa.ssau  was  charged  with  the  establishment  of  a 
Christian  mission  among  them.  Moymir,  their  chief,  was  con- 
verted and  bishoprics  were  founded  at  Olmiitz  and  Nitra.  But 
LcAvis  the  German  suspected  INIoymir  of  striving  after  indejDen- 
dence  and  supplanted  him  by  Rastislaw  or  Radislaw.  Rastis- 
law,  however,  accomplished  what  Moymir  had  only  been  sus- 
pected of.  He  formed  an  independent  Moravian  kingdom  and 
defeated  Lewis  the  German,  and  with  the  political  he  also  broke 
the  ecclesiastical  connec^+ions  with  Germany,  requesting  the  Byzan- 
tine emperor,  Michael  III.,  to  send  him  some  Greek  missionaries. 

Cykii.lus  and  Methodius  became  the  apostles  of  the  Slavs. 

Cyrillus,  whose  original  name  was  Constantinus,  was  born  at 


§  34.  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  MORAVIA,  ETC.  129 

Thessalonica,  in  the  first  half  of  the  ninth  century,  and  studied 
philosophy  in  Constantinople,  whence  his  by-name:  the  philo- 
sopher. Afterwards  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  theology, 
and  went  to  live,  together  with  his  brother  Methodius,  in  a 
monastery.  A  strong  ascetic,  he  became  a  zealous  missionary. 
In  860  he  visited  the  Chazares,  a  Tartar  tribe  settled  on  the 
North-Eastern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  planted  a  Christian 
church  there.  He  afterward  labored  among  the  Bulgarians  and 
finally  went,  in  company  with  his  brother,  to  Moravia,  on  the 
invitation  of  Rastislaw,  in  863. 

Cyrillus  understood  the  Slavic  language,  and  succeeded  in 
making  it  available  for  literary  purposes  by  inventing  a  suitable 
alphabet.  He  used  Greek  letters,  with  some  Armenian  and 
Hebrew,  and  some  original  letters.  His  Slavonic  alphabet  is 
still  used  with  alterations  in  Russia,  Wallachia,  Moldavia,  Bul- 
garia, and  Servia.  He  translated  the  liturgy  and  the  pericopes 
into  Slavic,  and  his  ability  to  preach  and  celebrate  service  in 
the  native  language  soon  brought  hundreds  of  converts  into 
his  fold.  A  national  Slavic  church  rapidly  arose;  the  German 
priests  with  the  Latin  liturgy  left  the  country.  It  corres- 
ponded well  with  the  political  plans  of  Rastislaw,  to  have  a 
church  establishment  entirely  independent  of  the  German  prelates, 
but  in  the  difference  which  now  developed  between  the  Eastern 
and  "Western  churches,  it  was  quite  natural  for  the  young  Slavic 
church  to  connect  itself  with  Rome  and  not  with  Constantinople, 
partly  because  Cyrillus  always  had  shown  a  kind  of  partiality  to 
Rome,  partly  because  the  jirudence  and  discrimination  with  which 
Pope  Nicholas  I.  recently  had  interfered  in  the  Bulgarian  church, , 
must  have  made  a  good  impression. 

In  868  Cyrillus  and  Methodius  went  to  Rome,  and  a  jaerfect 
agreement  was  arrived  at  between  them  and  Pope  Adrian  II., 
both  with  respect  to  the  use  of  the  Slavic  language  in  religious 
service  and  with  respect  to  the  independent  position  of  the  Slavic 
church,  subject  only  to  the  authority  of  the  Pope.  Cyrillus 
died  in  Rome,  Feb.  14,  869,  but  Methodius  retm-ned  to  Mo^- 


130  FOUKTII  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

ravia,  having  been   consecrated  archbishop  of  the  Pannonian 

diocese. 

The  organization  of  this  new  diocese  of  Pannonia  was,  to  some 
extent,  an  encroachment  on  the  dioceses  of  Passau  and  Salzburg, 
and  such  an  encroachment  must  have  been  so  much  the  more 
irritating  to  the  German  prelates,  as  they  really  had  been  the  first 
to  sow  the  seed  of  Christianity  among  the  Slavs.  The  growing 
difference  between  the  Eastern  and  Western  churches  also  had 
its  cffo(;t.  The  German  clergy  considered  the  use  of  the  Slavic 
lanfuao-c  in  the  mass  an  unwarranted  innovation,  and  the  Greek 
doctrine  of  the  single  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  still  ad- 
hered to  by  ^Icthodius  and  the  Slavic  church,  they  considered 
as  a  heresy.  Their  attacks,  however,  had  at  first  no  practical 
consequences,  but  when  Rastislaw  was  succeeded  in  870  by  Swa- 
topluk,  and  Adrian  II.  in  872  by  John  VIII.,  the  position  of 
Methodius  became  difficult.  Once  more,  in  879,  he  was  sum- 
moned to  Rome,  and  although,  this  time  too,  a  j)erfect  agreement 
was  arrived  at,  by  which  the  independence  of  the  Slavic  church 
was  confirmed,  and  all  her  natural  peculiarities  were  acknow- 
lalgcd,  neither  the  energy  of  INIethodius,  nor  the  support  of  the 
Pope  was  able  to  defend  her  against  the  attacks  which  now  were 
made  upon  her  both  from  without  and  from  within.  Swatopluk 
inclined  towards  the  German-Roman  views,  and  Wichin  one  of 
Methodius's  bishops,  became  their  powerful  champion. 

After  the  death  of  Swatopluk,  the  Moravian  kingdom  fell  to 
pieces  and  was  divided  between  the  Germans,  the  Czechs  of  Bohe- 
mia, and  the  Magyars  of  Hungary ;  and  thereby  the  Slavic  church 
lost,  so  to  speak,  its  very  foundation.  Methodius  died  between 
881  and  910.  At  the  opening  of  the  tenth  century  the  Slavic 
church  had  entirely  lost  its  national  character.  The  Slavic  priests 
were  expelled  and  the  Slavic  liturgy  abolished,  German  priests 
and  the  Latin  liturgy  taking  their  place.  The  expelled  priests 
fled  to  Bulgaria,  whither  they  brought  the  Slavic  translations  of 
ithe  Bible  and  the  liturgy. 

Neither  Charlemagne  nor  Lewis  the  Pious  succeeded  in  subju- 


§  34.  CHEISTIANIZATION  OF  MOKAVIA,  ETC.  131 

gating  Bohemia,  and  although  the  country  was  added  to  the  dio- 
cese of  Regensburg,  the  inhabitants  remained  pagans.  But  when 
Bohemia  became  a  dependency  of  the  Moravian  empire  and  Swa- 
topluk  married  a  daughter  of  the  Bohemian  duke,  Borziwai,  a 
door  was  opened  to  Christianity.  Borziwai  and  his  wife,  Lud- 
milla,  were  baptized,  and  their  children  were  educated  in  the 
Christian  faith.  Nevertheless,  when  Wratislav,  Borziwai's  son 
and  successor,  died  in  925,  a  violent  reaction  took  place.  He 
left  two  sons,  Wenzeslav  and  Boleslav,  who  were  placed  under 
the  tutelage  of  their  grandmother,  Ludmilla.  But  their  mother, 
Drahomira,  was  an  inveterate  heathen,  and  she  caused  the  miu:- 
der  first  of  Ludmilla,  and  then  of  Wenzeslav,  938.  Boleslav, 
surnamed  the  Cruel,  had  his  mother's  nature  and  also  her  faith, 
and  he  almost  succeeded  in  sweeping  Christianity  out  of  Bohemia. 
But  in  950  he  was  utterly  defeated  by  the  emperor,  Otto  I.,  and 
compelled  not  only  to  admit  the  Christian  priests  into  the  country, 
but  also  to  rebuild  the  churches  which  had  been  destroyed,  and 
this  misfortune  seems  actually  to  have  changed  his  mind.  He 
now  became,  if  not  friendly,  at  least  forbearing  to  his  Christian 
subjects,  and,  during  the  reign  of  his  son  and  successor,  Boleslav 
the  Mild,  the  Christian  Church  progressed  so  far  in  Bohemia 
that  an  independent  archbishopric  was  founded  in  Prague.  The 
mass  of  the  people,  however,  still  remained  barbarous,  and  hea- 
thenish customs  and  ideas  lingered  among  them  for  more  than  a 
century.  Adalbert,  archbishop  of  Prague,  from  983  to  997,^ 
preached  against  polygamy,  the  trade  in  Christian  slaves,  chiefly 
carried  on  by  the  Jews,  but  in  vain.  Twice  he  left  his  see, 
disgusted  and  discouraged ;  finally  he  was  martyred  by  the  Prus- 
sian Wends.  Not  until  1038  archbishop  Severus  succeeded  in 
enforcing  laws  concerning  marriage,  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Day,  and  other  points  of  Christian  morals.  About  the  contest 
between  the  Romano-Slavic  and  the  Romano-Germanic  churches 
in  Bohemia,  nothing  is  known.     Legend  tells  that  Methodius 

*  Passio  S.  Adalberti,  in  Scriptores  Rerum  Prussicarum  I.,  and  Vita  S.  Adaiberti 
in  Monumenta  German.  IV' 


132  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

himself  baptizal  Borziwai  and  Ludmilla,  and  the  first  mi.ssionary 
work  was,  no  doubt,  done  by  Slavic  priests,  but  at  the  time  of 
Adalbert  the  Germanic  tendency  was  prevailing. 

Also  among  the  Poles  the  Gospel  was  first  preached  by  Slavic 
missionaries,  and  Cyrillus  and  Methodius  are  celebrated  in  the 
Polish  liturgy'  as  the  apostles  of  the  country.  As  the  Moravian 
empire  under  Rastislaw  comprised  vast  regions  which  afterward 
belonged  to  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  it  is  only  natural  that  the 
movement  started  by  Cyrillus  and  Methodius  should  have  reached 
also  these  regions,  and  the  naaie  of  at  least  one  Slavic  missionary 
among  the  Poles,  Wiznach,  is  known  to  history. 

After  the  breaking  up  of  the  Moravian  kingdom,  Moravian 
nobles  and  priests  sought  refuge  in  Poland,  and  diiring  the  reign 
of  duke  Scmovit  Christianity  had  become  so  jDowerful  among  the 
Poles,  that  it  began  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  the  pagans,  and  a 
violent  contest  took  place.  By  the  marriage  between  Duke 
Mieczyslav  and  the  Bohemian  princess  Dombrowka,  a  sister  of 
Boleslav  the  Mild,  the  influence  of  Christianity  became  still 
stronger.  Dombrowka  brought  a  number  of  Bohemian  priests 
with  her  to  Poland,  965,  and  in  the  following  year  Miecz}^slav 
Iiimself  Avas  converted  and  baptized.  With  characteristic  arro- 
gance he  simply  demanded  that  all  his  subjects  should  follow  his 
example,  and  the  pagan  idols  were  now  burnt  or  thrown  into  the 
river,  pagan  sacrifices  were  forbidden  and  severely  punished,  and 
Christian  churches  Avere  built.  So  far  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity among  the  Poles  was  entirely  due  to  Slavic  influences, 
but  at  this  time  the  close  political  connection  between  Duke 
JMieczyslav  and  Otto  I.  opened  the  way  for  a  powerful  German 
influence.  Mieczyslav  borrowed  the  whole  organization  of  the 
Polish  church  from  Germany.  It  was  on  the  advice  of  Otto  I. 
tliat  he  founded  the  first  Polish  bishopric  at  Posen  and  placed  it 
under  the  authority  of  the  archbishop  of  Magdeburg.  German 
priests,  representing  Roman  doctrines  and  rites,  and  using  the 

'  Misxnle  proprium  rcgnm  Polonicc,  Venet.  1629 ;  Ojjicia  propria  patronorum 
regni  Poloniai,  Antwerp,  1G27. 


§  34.  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  MORAVIA,  ETC.  133 

Latin  language,  began  to  work  beside  the  Slavic  priests  who  rep- 
resented Greek  doctrines  and  rites  and  used  the  native  language, 
and  when  finally  the  Polish  church  was  placed  wholly  under  the 
authority  of  Rome,  this  was  not  due  to  any  spontaneous  move- 
ment within  the  church  itself,  such  as  Polish  chroniclers  like  to 
represent  it,  but  to  the  influence  of  the  German  emperor  and  the 
German  church.     Under  Mieczyslav's  son,  Boleslav  Chrobry,  the 
first  king  of  Poland  and  one  of  the  most  brilliant  heroes  of  Polish 
history,  Poland,  although  christianized  only  on  the  surface,  became 
itself  the  basis  for  missionary  labor  among  other  Slavic  tribes. 
It  was   Boleslav   who  sent   Adalbert  of  Prague  "among  the 
Wends,  and  when  Adalbert  here  was  pitifully  martyred,  Boles- 
lav ransomed  his  remains,  had  them  buried  at  Gnesen  (whence 
they  afterwards  were  carried  to  Prague),  and  founded  here  an 
archiepiscopal  see,  around  which  the  Polish  church  was  finally 
consolidated.     The  Christian  mission,  however,  was  in  the  hands 
of  Boleslav,  just  as  it  often  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  German 
emperors,  and  sometimes  even  in  the  hands  of  the  Pope  himself, 
nothing  but  a  political  weapon.     The  mass  of  the  population  of 
his  own  realm  was  still  pagan  in  their  very  hearts.     Annually 
the  Poles  assembled  on  the  day  on  which  their  idols  had  been 
thrown  into  the  rivers  or  burnt,  and  celebrated  the  memory  of 
their  gods  by  dismal  dirges,^  and  the  simplest  rules  of  Christian 
morals  could  be  enforced  only  by  the  application  of  the  most 
barbarous  punishments.     Yea,  under  the  political  disturbances 
which  occurred  after  the  death  of  Mieez}^slav  II.,  1034,  a  general 
outburst  of  heathenism  took  place  throughout  the  Polish  kingdom, 
and  it  took  a  long  time  before  it  was  fully  put  down. 

*  Grimm :  Deutsche  Mythologie,  11.  733. 


134  FOUETH  PEKIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

§  35.  The  Conversion  of  the  Bulgarians. 

CoKSTANTiinjs  POKPHYROGENITUS:  Life  of  Bosilius  Macedo,  in  Hist. 

Byzant.  Continuatores post  Theophanem.  Greek  and  Latin,  Paris,  1685. 
Photii  Epistola,  ed.  Bichard.  Montacutius.     London,  1G47. 
Nicholas  I.:  Eesponsaad  Consulta Bulgarorum,  in  Mansi:  Coll.  Condi. , 

Tom.  XV.,  pp.  401-434;  and  in  Haeduin;   Coll.  Concil.,  V.,  pp. 

353-386. 
A.  PiCHLER :  Geschichte  dcr  kirchlichen  Trennung  zwischen  dem  Orient  und 

Occident.    Miinchen,  1864,  I.,  pp.  192  sqq. 
Comp.  the  biographies  of  Cyrillus  and  Methodius,  mentioned  in  I  34, 

p.  128. 

The  Bulgarians  were  of  Tiu-auian  descent,  but,  having  lived 
for  centuries  among  Slavic  nations,  they  had  -adopted  Slavic 
language,  religion,  customs  and  habits.  Occupying  the  plains 
between  the  Danube  and  the  Balkan  range,  they  made  frequent 
inroads  into  the  territory  of  the  Byzantine  empire.  In  813  they 
conquered  Adrianople  and  carried  a  niuuber  of  Christians,  among 
whom  was  the  bishop  himself,  as  prisoners  to  Bulgaria.  Here 
these  Christian  prisoners  formed  a  congregation  and  began  to 
labor  for  the  conversion  of  their  captors,  though  not  with  any 
great  success,  as  it  would  seem,  since  the  bishop  was  martj^red. 
But  in  861  a  sister  of  the  Bulgarian  prince,  Bogoris,  Avho  had 
been  carried  as  a  prisoner  to  Constantinople,  and  educated  there 
in  the  Christian  faith,  returned  to  her  native  country,  and  her 
exertions  for  the  conversion  of  her  brother  at  last  succeeded. 

JNIethodius  was  sent  to  her  aid,  and  a  picture  he  painted  of  the 
last  judgment  is  said  to  have  made  an  overwhelming  impression 
on  Bogoris,  and  determined  him  to  embrace  Christianity.  He 
was  baptized  in  863,  and  entered  immediately  in  correspondence 
wnth  Photius,  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople.  His  baptism, 
however,  occasioned  a  revolt  among  his  subjects,  and  the  hor- 
rible punishment,  whicli  he  inflicted  upon  the  rebels,  shows  how 
little  as  yet  he  had  understood  the  teachings  of  Christianity. 

Meanwhile  Greek  missionaries,  mostly  monks,  had  entered  the 
country,  but  they  were  intriguing,  arrogant,  and  produced  nothing 


i  36.  THE  CONVEESION  OF  THE  MAGYAKS.  135 

but  confusion  among  the  peoj)le.  In  865  Bogoris  addressed  him- 
self to  Pope  Nicolas  I.,  asking  for  Koman  missionaries,  and 
laying  before  the  Pope  one  hundred  and  six  questions  con- 
cerning Christian  doctrines,  morals  and  ritual,  which  he  wished 
to  have  answered.  The  Pope  sent  two  bishops  to  Bulgaria, 
and  gave  Bogoris  very  elaborate  and  sensible  answers  to  his 
questions. 

Nevertheless,  the  Roman  mission  did  not  succeed  either. 
The  Bulgarians  disliked  to  submit  to  any  foreign  authority. 
They  desired  the  establishment  of  an  independent  national 
church,  but  this  was  not  to  be  gained  either  from,  Rome  or 
from  Constantinople.  Finally  the  Byzantine  emperor,  Basi- 
lius  Macedo,  succeeded  in  establishing  Greek  bishops  and  a  Greek 
archbishop  in  the  country,  and  thus  the  Bulgarian  church  came 
under  the  authority  of  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  but  its 
history  up  to  this  very  day  has  been  a  continuous  struggle 
against  this  authority.  The  church  is  now  ruled  by  a  Holy 
Synod,  with  an  independent  exarch. 

Fearful  atrocities  of  the  Turks  against  the  Christians  gave 
rise  io  the  Russo-Turkish  war  in  1877,  and  resulted  in  the  in- 
dependence of  Bulgaria,  which  by  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  in  1878 
was  constituted  into  "an  autonomous  and  tributary  principality 
under  the  suzerainty  of  the  Sultan,"  but  with  a  Christian 
government  and  a  national  militia.  Religious  prosel}i:ism  is 
prohibited,  and  religious  school-books  must  be  previously  exam- 
ined by  the  Holy  Synod.  But  Protestant  missionaries  are  at 
work  amoug  the  people,  and  practically  enjoy  full  liberty. 

§  36.  The  Conversion  of  the  3Iagyars. 

JOH.  DE  Thwrocz  :   Chronica  Hungarorum,  in  Schwandtmr:  Scriptores 

jRerum  Hungaricarum,  I.     Vienna,  1746-8. 
Vita  S.  Stephani,  in  Act.  Sanctor.  September. 
Vita  S.  Adalberti,  in  3Ionument.  German.     IV. 
HoRVATH :  History  of  Hungary.     Pest,  1842-46. 
Aug.  Theiner  :  Monumenta  vetera  historica  Hungariam  sacram  illustran- 

tia.     Eom.,  1859,  1860,  2  Tom.  fol. 


236  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  Mao-yar-s,  belonging  to  the  Turanian  family  of  nations, 
and  allied  to  the  Finns  and  the  Turks,  penetrated  into  Europe 
in  the  ninth  century,  and  settled,  in  884,  in  the  plains  between 
the  Bu'--  and  the  Sereth,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Danube.  On 
the  instigation  of  the  Byzantine  emperor,  Leo  the  Wise,  they 
attacked  the  Bulgarians,  and  completely  defeated  them.  The 
military  renown  they  thus  acquh'ed  gave  them  a  new  opportunity'. 
The  prankish  king  Arnulf  invoked  their  aid  against  Swatopluk, 
the  ruler  of  the  JNIoravian  empire.  Swatopluk,  too,  was  defeated, 
and  his  realm  was  divided  between  the  victors.  The  Magyars, 
retracing  their  steps  across  the  Carpathian  range,  settled  in  the 
plains  around  the  Theiss  and  the  Danube,  the  country  which 
their  forefathers,  the  Huns,  once  had  ruled  over,  the  present 
Hungary.  They  were  a  Avild  and  fierce  race,  worshij)j)ing  one 
supreme  god  under  the  guise  of  various  natural  phenomena: 
the  sky,  the  river,  dc.  They  had  no  temjjlcs  and  no  priesthood, 
and  their  sacrifices  consisted  of  animals  only,  mostly  horses. 
But  the  oath  was  kept  sacred  among  them,  and  their  marriages 
were  monogamous,  and  inaugurated  with  religious  rites. 

The  first  acquaintance  with  Christianity  the  IMaygars  made 
through  their  connections  with  the  Byzantine  court,  Avithout  any 
further  consequences.  But  after  settling  in  Hungary,  where  they 
were  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  Christian  nations,  they  were 
compelled,  in  950,  by  the  emperor,  Otto  I.,  to  allow  the  bishop 
of  Passau  to  send  missionaries  into  their  country ;  and  various 
circumstances  contributed  to  make  this  mission  a  rapid  and  com- 
plete success.  Their  prince,  Geyza,  had  married  a  daughter  of 
the  Tran.sylvanian  prince,  Gyula,  and  this  princess,  Savolta,  had 
been  educated  in  the  Christian  faith.  Thus  Geyza  felt  friendly 
towanls  the  Christians;  and  as  soon  as  this  became  known, 
Christianity  broke  forth  from  the  mass  of  the  population  like 
flowers  from  the  earth  when  spring  has  come.  The  people  which 
the  INIagyai-s  had  subdued  Avhcn  settling  in  Hungary,  and  the 
captives  whom  thoy  had  carried  along  with  them  from  Bulgaria 
and  ]\Ioravia,  Avere  Christians.     Hitherto  these  Christians  had 


^  36.  THE  CONVEESIOX  OF  THE  MAGYAES.  137 

concealed  their  religion  from  fear  of  their  rulers,  and  their  chil- 
dren had  been  baptized  clandestinely;  but  now  they  assembled 
in  great  multitudes  around  the  missionaries,  and  the  entrance  of 
Christianity   into    Hungary    looked    like   a   triumphal   march.' 

Political  disturbances  afterwards  interrupted  this  progress,  but 
only  for  a  short  time.  Adalbert  of  Prague  visited  the  country, 
and  made  a  great  impression.  He  baptized  Geyza's  son,  Voik, 
born  in  961,  and  gave  him  the  name  of  Stephanus,  991.  Adal- 
bert's pupil,  Rodla,  remained  for  a  longer  period  in  the  country, 
and  was  held  in  so  high  esteem  by  the  people,  that  they  after- 
wards would  not  let  him  go.  When  Stephanus  ascended  the 
throne  in  997,  he  determined  at  once  to  establish  Christianity  as 
the  sole  religion  of  his  realm,  and  ordered  that  all  JMagyars 
should  be  baptized,  and  that  all  Christian  slaves  should  be 
set  free.  This,  however,  caused  a  rising  of  the  pagan  party 
under  the  head  of  Ivuppa,  a  relative  of  Stejahanas;  but  Kuppa 
was  defeated  at  Veszprim,  and  the    order  had  to  be    obeyed. 

Stephanus'  marriage  with  Gisela,  a  relative  of  the  emperor, 
Otto  III.,  brought  him  in  still  closer  contact  with  the  German 
empire,  and  he,  like  INIieczyslav  of  Poland,  borrowed  the  whole 
ecclesiastical  organization  from  the  German  church.  Ten  bish- 
oprics were  formed,  and  placed  under  the  authorit}^  of  the  arch- 
bishop of  Gran  on  the  Danube  (which  is  still  the  seat  of  the 
primate  of  Hungary) ;  churches  were  built,  schools  and  monaste- 
ries were  founded,  and  rich  revenues  were  j^rocured  for  their  sup- 
port ;  the  clergy  was  declared  the  first  order  in  rank,  and  the  Latin 
language  was  made  the  official  language  not  only  in  ecclesiastical, 
but  also  in  secular  matters.  As  a  reward  for  his  zeal,  Stephanus 
was  presented  by  Pope  Silvester  II.  with  a  golden  crown,  and, 
in  the  year  1000,  he  was  solemnly  crowned  king  by  the  arch- 
bishop of  Gran,  while  a  papal  bull  conferred  on  him  the  title  of 
"His  Apostolic  Majest}^"  And,  indeed,  Stephanus  was  the 
apostle  of  the  Magyars.     As  most  of  the  priests  and  monks, 

^  See  the  letter  from  Bishop  Pilgrin  of  Passau  to  Pope  Benedict  VI.  in 
Mansi,  Concil.  I. 


138  FOUETH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

called  from  Germany,  did  not  understand  the  language  of  the 
people,  the  king  himself  travelled  about  from  town  to  town, 
preached,  prayed,  and  exhorted  all  to  keep  the  Lord's  Day,  the 
fast,  and  other  Christian  duties.  Nevertheless,  it  took  a  long 
time  before  Christianity  really  took  hold  of  the  ISIagyars,  chiefly 
on  account  of  the  deep  gulf  created  between  the  priests  and 
their  flocks,  partly  by  the  difference  of  language,  partly  by  the 
exceptional  position  which  Stephanus  had  given  the  clergy  iu 
the  community,  and  which  the  clergy  soon  learned  to  utilize 
for  selfish  purposes.  Twice  during  the  eleventh  century  there 
occurred  heavy  relapses  into  paganism;  in  1045,  under  King 
Andreas,  and  in  1060,  under  King  Bela. 

§  37.  The  Christianization  of  Russia. 

Nestor  (monk  of  Kieff,  the  oldest  Kussian  annalist,  d.  1116) :  Annates, 
or  Chronicon  (from  the  building  of  the  Babylonian  tower  to  1093). 
Continued  by  Niphoxtes  (Nifon)  from  1116-1157,  and  by  others 
to  1676.  Complete  ed.  in  Euss  by  Pogodin,  1841,  and  with  a  Latin 
version  and  glossary  by  Fr.  3Iiklosisch,  Vindobon,  1860.  German 
translation  by  Schlozer,  Gottingen,  1802-9,  5  vols,  (incomplete). 
J.  G.  Stritter  :  Mcmorice  populorum  olim  ad  Danubium,  etc.,  incolentium 
ex  Bijzant.  Script.  Petropoli,  1771.  4  vols.  A  collection  of  the 
Byzantine  sources. 
N.  M.  Karamsix:  History  of  Russia,  12  vols.    St.  Petersburg,  1816-29, 

translated  into  German  and  French. 
Ph.  Strahl:  Beitrdgezur  rttss.Kirchen-GescMchte  {vol.1.).  Halle,  1827; 

and  Geschichte  d.  russ  Kirche  (vol.  I.).     Halle,  1830  (incomplete). 
A.  N.  MouRAVlEFF  (late  chamberlain  to  the  Czar  and  Under-Procurator 
of  the  Most  Holy  Synod) :  A  History  of  the  Church  of  Russia  (to  the 
founding  of  the  Holy  Synod  in  1721).  St.  Petersburg,  1840,  translated 
into  English  by  Eev.  E.  W.  Blackmore.    Oxford,  1862. 
A.  P.  Staxley:  Lectures  on  the  Eastern  Church.     Lee.  IX.-XII.     Lon- 
don, 1862. 
L.  BoissARD:  Ueglhe  de  Russie.     Paris,  1867,  2  vols. 

The  legend  traces  Christianity  iu  Russia  back  to  the  Apostle 
St.  Andrew,  who  is  especially  revered  by  the  Russians.  INIou- 
ravieff  commences  his  histor>'  of  the  Russian  church  with  these 
words:  "  The  Russian  church,  like  the  other  Orthodox  churches 
of  the  East,  had  an  apostle  for  its  founder.     St.  Andrew,  the 


§37.  THE  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  RUSSIA.  139 

first  called  of  the  Twelve,  hailed  with  his  blessing  long  before- 
hand the  destined  introduction  of  Christianity  into  our  country. 
Ascending  up  and  penetrating  by  the  Dniepr  into  the  deserts  of 
Scythia,  he  planted  the  first  cross  on  the  hills  of  Kieflf,  and  *See 
you/  said  he  to  his  disciples,  '  those  hills  ?  On  those  hills  shall 
shine  the  light  of  divine  grace.  There  shall  be  here  a  great  cit}^, 
and  God  shall  have  in  it  many  churches  to  His  name.'  Such 
are  the  words  of  the  holy  Nestor  that  point  from  whence  Chris- 
tian Russia  has  sj^rung." 

This  tradition  is  an  expansion  of  the  report  that  Andrew 
labored  and  died  a  martyr  in  Scythia/  and  nothing  more. 

In  the  ninth  century  the  Russian  tribes,  inhabiting  the  Eastern 
part  of  Europe,  were  gathered  together  under  the  rule  of  Ruric, 
a  Varangian  prince,^  who  from  the  coasts  of  the  Baltic  penetrated 
into  the  centre  of  the  present  Russia,  and  was  voluntarily  accepted, 
•if  not  actually  chosen  by  the  tribes  as  their  chief.  He  is  regarded 
as  the  founder  of  the  Russian  empire,  A.  D.  862,  Avhich  in  1862 
celebrated  its  millennial  anniversary.  About  the  same  time  or 
a  little  later  the  Russians  became  somewhat  acquainted  with 
Christianity  through  their  connections  with  the  Byzantine  em- 
pire. The  Eastern  church,  however,  never  developed  any 
great  missionary  activity,  and  when  Photius,  the  j)atriarch  of 
Constantinople,  in  his  circular  letter  against  the  Roman  see, 
speaks  of  the  Russians  as  already  converted  at  his  time  (867),  a 
few  years  after  the  founding  of  the  empire,  he  certainly  exagge- 
rates. "When,  in  945,  peace  was  concluded  between  the  Russian 
grand-duke,  Igor,  and  the  Byzantine  emperor,  some  of  the  Rus- 
sian soldiers  took  the  oath  in  the  name  of  Christ,  but  by  far  the 
greatest  number  swore  by  Rerun,  the  old  Russian  god.  In  Kiefi", 
on  the  Dniepr,  the  capital  of  the  Russian  realm,  there  was  at  that 
time  a  Christian  church,  dedicated  to  Elijah,  and  in  955  the 
grand-duchess,  Olga,  went  to  Constantinople  and  was  baptized. 

1  Euseb.  III.  1. 

^  The  Varangians  were  a  tribe  of  piratical  Northmen  who  made  the  Slavs 
and  Finns  tributary. 


1  iO  FOUETH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

She  did  not  succeed,  however,  in  persuading  her  son,  Svatoslav, 
to  embrace  the  Christian  faith. 

Tlie  proo-ress  of  Christianit}'-  among  the  Russians  was  slow 
until  the  grand-duke  Vladimir  (980-1015),  a  grandson  of  Olga, 
and  revered  as  Isapostolos  ("  Equal  to  an  Apostle  ")  with  one 
sweep  established  it  as  the  religion  of  the  country.  The  narra- 
tive of  this  event  by  Nestor  is  very  dramatic.  Envoys  from  the 
Greek  and  the  Roman  churches,  from  the  Mohammedans  and 
the  Jews  (settled  among  the  Chazares)  came  to  Vladimir  to  per- 
suade him  to  leave  his  old  gods.  He  hesitated  and  did  not  know 
which  of  the  new  religions  he  should  choose.  Finally  he  deter- 
mined to  send  wise  men  from  among  his  own  people  to  the  vari- 
ous places  to  investigate  the  matter.  The  envoys  were  ^o  power- 
fully impressed  by  a  picture  of  the  last  judgment  and  by  the 
service  in  the  church  of  St.  Sophia  in  Constantinople,  that  the 
question  at  once  was  settled  in  favor  of  the  religion  of  the  By- 
zantine court. 

Vladimir,  however,  would  not  introduce  it  without  compensa- 
tion. H.e  was  staying  at  Cherson  in  the  Crimea,  which  he  had 
just  taken  and  sacked,  and  thence  he  sent  ^vord  to  the  emj^eror 
Basil,  that  he  had  determined  either  to  adopt  Christianity  and 
receive  the  emperor's  sister,  Anne,  in  marriage,  or  to  go  to  Con- 
stantinople and  do  to  that  city  as  he  had  done  to  Cherson.  He 
married  Anne,  and  was  baptized  on  the  day  of  his  wedding, 
A.D.  988. 

As  soon  as  he  was  baptized  preparations  were  made  for  the 
baptism  of  liis  people.  The  wooden  image  of  Rerun  was  dragged 
at  a  horse's  tail  through  the  country,  soundly  flogged  by  all 
passers-by,  and  finally  thrown  into  the  Dniepr.  Next,  at  a  given 
hour,  all  the  people  of  Kieff,  men,  women  and  children,  descended 
into  the  river,  while  the  grand  Duke  kneeled,  and  the  Christian 
priests  read  the  prayers  from  the  top  of  the  cliffs  on  the  shore. 
Nestor,  the  Russian  monk  and  annalist,  thus  describes  the  scene: 
"  Some  stood  in  the  water  up  to  their  necks,  others  up  to  their 
breasts,  holding  their  young  children  in  their  arms;  the  priests 


^  37.  THE  CHKISTIANIZATION  OF  KUSSIA.  141 

read  the  prayers  from  the  shore,  naming  at  once  whole  compa- 
nies by  the  same  name.  It  was  a  sight  wonderfully  curious  and 
beautiful  to  behold ;  and  when  the  j)eople  were  baptized,  each 
returned  to  his  own  home." 

Thus  the  Russian  nation  was  converted  in  wholesale  style  to 
Christianity  by  despotic  power.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  su- 
preme influence  of  the  ruler  and  the  slavish  submission  of 
the  subjects  in  that  country.  Nevertheless,  at  its  first  entrance 
in  Russia,  Christianity  penetrated  deeper  into  the  life  of  the 
people  than  it  did  in  any  other  country,  without,  however, 
bringing  about  a  corresponding  thorough  moral  transformation. 
Only  a  comparatively  short  period  elapsed,  before  a  complete 
union  of  the  forms  of  religion  and  the  nationality  took  place. 
Every  event  in  the  history  of  the  nation,  yea,  every  event  in 
the  life  of  the  individual  was  looked  upon  from  a  religious  j)oint 
of  view,  and  referred  to  some  distinctly  religious  idea.  The 
explanation  of  this  striking  phenomenon  is  due  in  part  to  Cyrill's 
translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Slavic  language,  which  had 
been  driven  out  from  ISIoravia  and  Bohemia  by  the  Roman 
priests,  and  was  now  brought  from  Bulgaria  into  Russia,  ^^'liere 
it  took  root.  While  the  Roman  church  always  insisted  upon  the 
exclusive  use  of  the  Latin  translation  of  the  Bible  and  the  Latin 
language  in  divine  service,  the  Greek  church  always  allowed  the 
use  of  the  vernacular.  Under  its  auspices  there  were  produced 
translations  into  the  Coptic,  Syriac,  Armenian,  and  Slavic  lan- 
guages, and  the  effects  of  this  principle  were,  at  least  in  Russia, 
most  beneficial.  During  the  reign  of  Vladimir's  successor,  Ja- 
roslaflP,  1019—1054,  not  only  were  churches  and  monasteries  and 
schools  built  all  over  the  country,  but  Greek  theological  books 
were  translated,  and  the  Russian  church  had,  at  an  early  date,  a 
religious  literature  in  the  native  tongue  of  the  people.  Jaroslaff', 
by  his  celebrated  code  of  laws,  became  the  Justinian  of  Russia. 

The  Czars  and  people  of  Russia  have  ever  since  faithfully 
adhered  to  the  Oriental  church  which  grew  with  the  growth  of 
the  empire  all  along  the  Northern  line  of  two  Continents.     As 


142  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

in  the  "U^'est,  so  in  Russia,  monasticism  was  the  chief  institution 
for  the  spread  of  Christianity'  among  heathen  savages.  Hilarion 
(afterwards  Metropolitan),  Anthony,  Theodosius,  Sergius,  Laza- 
rus, are  prominent  names  in  the  early  history  of  Russian  monas- 
ticism. 

The  subsequent  history  of  the  Russian  church  is  isolated  from 
the  main  current  of  history,  and  almost  barren  of  events  till  the 
age  of  Xikon  and  Peter  the  Great.  At  first  she  was  dependent 
on  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople.  In  1325  Moscow  was 
founded,  and  became,  in  the  place  of  Kieff,  the  Russian  Rome, 
with  a  metropolitan,  who  after  the  fall  of  Constantinople  became 
independent  (1461),  and  a  century  later  was  raised  to  the  dig- 
nity of  one  of  the  five  patriarchs  of  the  Eastern  Churdi  (1587). 
But  Peter  the  Great  made  the  Northern  city  of  his  own  found- 
ing the  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  the  political  metropolis,  and 
transferred  the  authority  of  the  patriarchate  of  Moscow  to  the 
"Holy  Synod"  (1721),  which  permanently  resides  in  St.  Peters- 
burg and  constitutes  the  highest  ecclesiastical  judicatory  of 
Russia  under  the  cajsaropapal  rule  of  the  Czar,  the  most  power- 
ful rival  of  the  Roman  Pope. 


g  38.  MOHAMMEDANISM.    LITEEATURE.  143 


CHAPTER  III. 

MOHAMMEDANISM  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  CHRISTIANITY.* 

"There  is  no  God  but  God,  and  Mohammed  is  his  apostle." — The 
Koran. 

"There  is  one  God  and  one  Mediator  between  God  and  men,  the 
man'  Christ  Jesus,  who  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all." — 1  Tim.  ii.  5,  6. 

§  38.  Literature. 

See  A.  SpREifGER's  Bibliotheca  Orientalls  Sprengeriana.     Giessen,  1857. 
W.  MuiR :  Life  of  Mahomet,  Vol.  I.,  eh.  1.    Muir  discusses  especially  the 

value  of  Mohammedan  traditions. 
Ch.  Fkiedrici:  Bibliotheca  Orientalis.  London  (Triibner  &  Co.)  1875  sqq. 

I.   SOURCES. 

1.  The  Koran  or  Al-koran,  The  chief  source.  The  Mohammedan 
Bible,  claiming  to  be  given  by  inspiration  to  Mohammed  during  the 
course  of  twenty  years.  About  twice  as  large  as  the  New  Testament. 
The  best  Arabic  MSS.,  often  most  beautifully  written,  are  in  the 
Mosques  of  Cairo,  Damascus,  Constantinople,  and  Paris ;  the  largest 

I  collection  in  the  library  of  the  Khedive  in  Cairo.  Printed  editions  in 
Arabic  by  Hixkelmann  (Hamburg,  1694) ;  Moll  A  Osmak  Ismael 
(St.  Petersburg,  1787  and  1803) ;  G.  Flugel  (Leipz.,  1834);  revised 
by  Eedslob  (1837, 1842, 1858).  Arabice  et  Latine,  ed.  L.  Maraccius, 
Patav.,  1698,  2  vols.,  fol.  {Alcorani  textus  universus,  with  notes  and 
refutation).  A  lithographed  edition  of  the  Arabic  text  appeared  at 
Lucknow  in  India,  1878  (A.  H.  1296). 
The  standard  English  translations :  in  prose  by  Geo.  Sale  (first  pub!., 

Lond.,  1734,  also  1801,  1825,  Philad.,  1833,  etc.),  with  a  learned  and 

valuable  preliminary  discourse  and  notes ;  in  the  metre,  but  without  the 

^  Mahomet  and  Mahometanimi,  is  the  usual,  but  Mohammad,  Muhammad,  or 
Mohammed,  Mohammedanism,  is  the  more  correct  spelling  in  English.  Sale, 
Deutsch,  B.  Smith,  Khan  Bahador,  and  others,  spell  Mohammed;  Sprenger^ 
Mohammad;  Noldeke,  Muhammed;  Gibbon,  Carlyle  and  Muir,  retain  3Tahomet. 
The  word  means:  the  Praised,  the  Glorified,  the  Illustrious;  but  according  to 
Sprenger  and  Deutsch,  the  Desired,  perhaps  with  reference  to  the  Messianic 
interpretation  of  "  the  Desire  of  all  nations,"  Hagg.  2 :  7.  See  on  the  name, 
Sprenger,  I.  155  sqq.,  and  Deutsch,  p.  68  note. 


14-i  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

rhyme,  of  the  original  by  J.  M.  Rodwell  (Lond.,  18G1,  2d  cd.  1876, 
the  Suras  arrantred  in  chronological  order).  A  new  transl.  in  prose  by 
E.  H.  Palmer  (Oxford,  1880,  2  vols.)  in  M.  Miiller's  "Sacred  Books 
of  the  East."  Parts  are  admirably  translated  by  EmVARD  W.  Lane. 
French  translation  by  Sayary,  Paris,  1783,  2  vols.;  enlarged  edition 
by  Garcix  de  Tassy,  1829,  in  3  vols. ;  another  by  M.  Kasimieski, 
Paris,  1847,  and  1873. 

German  translations  by  Wahl  (Halle,  1828),  L.  Ullmann  (Bielefeld, 
1S40,  4th  ed.  1857),  and  parts  by  Hammer  von  Purgstall  (in  the 
Fundgruben  des  Orients),  and  Sprexger  (in  Das  Leben  und  die  Lehre  des 
Mohammad). 

2.  Secondary  sources  on  the  Life  of  Moh.  and  the  origin  of  Islilm  are 
the  numerous  poems  of  contemporaries,  especially  in  Ibn  Ishac, 
and  the  collections  of  the  sayings  of  Moh.,  especially  the  Sahih 
(i  e.  The  True,  the  Genuine)  of  Albuchdri  (d.  871).  Also  the  early 
Commentaries  on  the  Koran,  which  explain  difficult  passages,  recon- 
cile the  contradictions,  and  insert  traditional  sayings  and  legends. 
See  Sprenger,  III.  CIV.  sqq. 

II.    WORKS   ox  the   KORAN. 

Th.  Noldeke:  GescMchte  des  Quorans,  {History  of  the  Koran),  Gottingen, 

1860 ;  and  his  art.  in  the  "  Encycl.  Brit.,"  9th  ed.  XVI.  597-606. 
Garcin  de  Tassy:  VMamisme  d'apris  le  Goran  I'enseignement  doctrinal 

et  la  pratique,  3d  ed.     Paris,  1874. 
GUSTAV  Weil  :  Hist,  kritische  Einleihmg  in  den  Koran.     Bielefeld  und 

Leipz.,  1844,  2d  ed.,  1878. 
Sir  William  Muir:  The  Cordn.    Its  Composition  and  Teaching;  and 

the  Testimony  it  bears  to  the  Holy  Scriptures.     (Allahabad,   1860), 

3d  ed.,  Lond.,  1878. 
Sprenger,  I.  c..  III.,  pp.  xviii.-cxx. 

III.  biographies  op  MOHAMMED. 
1.  Moliammcdan  biographers. 
ZoHRi  (the  oldest,  died  after  the  Hegira  124). 

Ibn  IshAc  (or  Ibni  Ishak,  d.  A  H.  151,  or  A.  D.  773),  ed.  in  Arabic 
from  MSS.  by  Wiistenfeid,  Gott.,  1858-60,  translated  by  Weil,  Stuttff. 
1864. 

Ibn  (Tlmi)  Hisham  (d.  A.  H.  213,  A.  D.  835),  also  ed.  by  Wiistenfeid, 
and  translated  by  Weil,  1864. 

Katib  al  Waquidi  (or  Wackedee,  Wackidi,  d.  at  Bagdad  A.  H.  207, 
A.  D.  829),  a  man  of  prodigious  learning,  who  collected  the  tradi- 
tions, and  left  six  hundred  chests  of  books  (Sprenger,  HI.,  LXXL), 
and  his  secretary,  Muhammad  Ibn  SIad  (d.  A.  H.  230,  A.  D.  852), 
who  arranged,  abridged,  and  completed  the  biographical  works  of 


2  38.  MOHAMMEDANISM.     LITERATURE.  145 

his  master  iu  twelve  or  fifteen  for.  vols. ;  the  first  vol.  contains  the  biog- 
raphy of  Moh.,  and  is  preferred  by  Muir  and  Sprenger  to  all  others. 
German  transl.  by  Wellhausen  :    Muhammed  in  Medina.      From 
the  Arabic  of  Vakidi.     Berlin,  1882. 
Tabari  (or  TiBREE,  d.  A.  H.  310,  A.  D.  932).  called  by  Gibbon  "the 

Livy  of  the  Arabians." 
■  Muir  says  (I.,  GUI.) :  "To  the  three  biographies  by  Ibn  Hisham,  by 
WlcKiDi,  and  his  secretary,  and  by  Tabari,  the  judicious  historian  of 
Mahomet  will,  as  his  original  authorities,  confine  himself.  He  will  also 
receive,  with  a  similar  respect,  such  traditions  in  the  general  collections 
of  the  earliest  tradltionists — Bokhari,  Muslim,  Tirmidzi,  etc., — as  may 
bear  upon  his  subject.  But  he  will  reject  as  evidence  all  later  authors." 
Abulfeda  (or  Abulfida,  d.  1331),  once  considered  the  chief  authority, 

now  set  aside  by  much  older  sources. 
*Syed  Ahmed  Khan  Bahador  (member  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society) : 
A  Series  of  Essays  on  the  Life  of  Mohammed.     London  (Triibner  & 
Co.),  1870.     He  wrote  also  a  "Mohammedan  Commentary  on  the 
Holy  Bible."     He  begins  with  the  sentence:  "In  nomine  Dei  Miseri- 
cordis  Miseratoris.     Of  all  the  innumerable  wonders  of  the  universe, 
the  most  marvellous  is  religion.'^ 
Syed  Ameer  Ali,  Moulve  (a  Mohammedan  lawyer,  and  brother  of 
the  former) :    A  Critical  Examination  of  the  Life  and  Teachings  of 
Mohammed.     London  1873.     A  defense  of  Moh.  chiefly  drawn  from 
Ibn-Hisham  (and  Ibn-al  Athir  (1160-1223). 
2.  Christian  Biographies. 
Dean  Prideaux  (d.  1724) :  Life  of  Mahomet,  1697,  7th  ed.  Lond.,  1718. 

Very  unfavorable. 
Count  Boulinvilliers  :  The  Life  of  Mahomet.    Transl.  from  the  French. 

Lond.,  1731. 
Jean  Gagnier  (d.  1740)  :  La  vie  de  Mahomet,  1732,  2  vols.,  etc.    Am- 
sterd.  1748,  3  vols.     Chiefly  from  Abulfeda  and  the  Sonna,     He  also 
translated  Abulfeda, 
*Gibbon:  Decline  and  Fall,  etc.  (1788),  chs.  50-52.     Although  not  an 
Arabic  scholar,  Gibbon  made  the  best  use  of  the  sources  then  acces- 
sible in  Latin,  French,  and  English,  and  gives  a  brilliant  and,  upon 
the  whole,  impartial  picture. 
*GusTAV  Weil;    Mohammed  der  Prophet,  scin  Leben  und  seine   Lehre. 
Stuttgart,  1843.     Comp,  also  his  translation  of  Ibn  Ishdc,  and  Ibn 
Hisham,  Stuttgart,   1864,   2  vols,;  and  his  Biblische  Legenden  der 
Muselmdnner  atis  arabischen  Quellen  und  mit  jud.  Sagen  verglichen. 
Frcf.,  1845.     The  last  is  also  transl.  into  English. 
Th.  Carlyle  •.   The  Hero  as  Prophet,  in  his  Heroes   Hero-  Worship  and 
10 


X40  FOUKTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

the  Heroic  in  History.  London,  1840.  A  mere  sketch,  but  full  of 
geniuri  and  stimulating  hints.  He  says :  "  We  have  chosen  Mahomet 
not  as  the  most  eminent  prophet,  but  as  the  one  we  are  freest  to 
speak  of.  He  is  by  no  means  the  truest  of  prophets,  but  1  esteem 
him  a  true  one.  Farther,  as  there  is  no  danger  of  our  becoming, 
any  of  us,  Mahometans,  I  mean  to  say  all  the  good  of  him  I  justly 
can.     It  is  the  way  to  get  at  his  secret." 

"Washingtox  Irving  :  Mahomet  and  His  Followers.    N.  Y.,  1850.   2  vols. 

Geokgic  Bush:   The  Life  oj Mohammed.     New  York  (Harpers). 

*SiK  William  Muir  (of  the  Bengal  Civil  Service) :  The  Life  of  Mahomet. 
With  introductory  chapters  on  the  original  sources  for  the  biography  of 
Mahomet,  and  on  the  pre-Islamite  history  of  Arabia.  Lond.,  1858-1861, 
4  vols.   Learned,  able,  and  fair.    Abridgement  in  1  vol.   Lond.,  1877, 

*A.  Sprenger:  First  an  English  biography  printed  at  Allahabad,  1851, 
and  then  a  more  complete  one  in  German,  Das  Leben  und  die  Lehre 
des  Mohammad.  Nach  bisher  grosstentheils  unbenutzten  Quellen.  Ber- 
lin, 1861-'65,  2d  ed.  1869,  3  vols.  This  work  is  based  on  original 
and  Arabic  sources,  and  long  personal  intercourse  with  Mohamme- 
dans in  India,  but  is  not  a  well  digested  philosophical  biography. 

*TnEOi).  Noldeke:  Z)as  Ze6erail!fMAam7?iec?s.  Hanover,  1863.  Comp.  his 
elaborate  art.  in  Vol.  XVIII.  of  Herzog's  Real-Encycl,  first  ed. 

E.  Kenan  :  Mahomet,  et  les  origines  de  I'islamisme,  in  his  "  Etudes  de  I'his- 
toire  relig.,"  7th  ed.     Par.,  1864. 

Barthelemy  Saint-Hilaire:  Mahomet  et  le  Coran.  Paris,  1865.  Based 
on  Sprenger  and  Muir. 

Ch.  Scroll  :  U Islam  et  son  Fondateur.     Paris,  1874. 

R.  Bo-SWORTH  Smith  (Assistant  Master  in  Harrow  School) :  Mohammed 
and  Mohammedanism.     Lond.  1874,  reprinted  New  York,  1875. 

J.  W.  H.  Stobart:  Islam  and  its  Founder.     London,  1876. 

J.  Wellhausen  :  Art.  Moh.  in  the  "  Encycl.  Brit."  9th  ed.  vol.  XVI. 
545-565. 

IV.    history   of   the   ARABS   AND   TURKS. 

*Jos.  VON  Hammer-PurgsTALL:    Gcschichte  des  osmanischen   Eeiches. 

Pesth,  1827-34,  10  vols.   A  smaller  ed.  in  4  vols.    This  standard  work 

is  the  result  of  thirty  years'  labor,  and  brings  the  history  down  to  1774. 

By  the  same:  Literaturgeschichte  der  Araber.    Wien,  1850-57,  7  vols. 
*G.  Weil:  Gesch.  der  Chalifen.    Mannheim,  1846-51,  3  vols. 
*Caussin  de  Perceval  :  Essai  sur  I'h isfoire  des  Arabes.  Paris,  1848, 3  vols. 
*EnwARD  A.  Freeman  (D.CL.,  LL.D.)  :  History  and  Conquests  of  the 

Saracens.     Lond.,  1856,  3d  ed.  1876. 
Robert  Durie  Osborn  (Major  of  the  Bengal  Staff  Corps) :  Islam  under 

the   Arabs.     London.,    1876;  Islam  under  the   KJialifs   of  Baghdad. 

London,  1877. 
Sir  EnwARD  S.  Creasy  :  History  of  the  Ottoman  Turks  from  the  Begin,' 


2  38.  MOHAMMEDANISM.    LITERATURE.  147 

ning  of  their  Empire  to  the  present  Time.  Lond.,  2d  ed.  1877.    Chiefly 

founded  on  von  Hammer. 
Th.  Noldeke:   Geschichte  der  Perser  und  Araber  zur  Zeit  der  Sasaniden. 

Aus  der  arabischen  Chronik  des  Tabari  ubcrsetzt.     Leyden,  1879. 
Sir  Wm.  Mttir  :  Annals  of  the  Early  Caliphate.     London  1883. 

V.   MANNERS   AND   CUSTOMS   OF   THE   MOHAMMEDANS. 

JOH.  LUDWIG  Burckhardt:   Travels  in  Nubia,  1819;   Travels  in  Syria 
and  Palestine,  1823  ;  Notes  on  the  Bedouins,  1830. 

*Edw.  VV.  Lane:  Modern  Egyptians.  Lond.,  1836,  5th  ed.  1871,  in  2  vols. 

*KlCH.  F.  Burton:  Personal  narrative  of  a  Pilgrimage  to  El  Medinah  and 
■    Meccah,  Lond.  1856,  3  vols. 

C.  B.  Klunzinger:    Upper  Egypt:  its  People  and  its  Products.     A  de- 
scriptive Account  of  the  Manners,  Customs,  Superstitions,  ahd  Occupa- 
tions of  the  People  of  the  Nile  Valley,  the  Desert,  and  the  Bed  Sea  Coast. 
New  York,  1878.     A  valuable  supplement  to  Lane. 
Books  of  Eastern  Travel,  especially  on  Egypt  and  Turkey.  Bahedt's 

Travels  in  Central  Africa  (1857),  Palgrave's  Arabia  (1867),  etc. 

VI.    RELATION   OF   MOHAMMEDANISM   TO  JUDAISM. 

*Abb,AHAM  Geiger:    Wos  hat  Mohammed  aus  dem  Judenthum  aufgenorri' 

men  ?    Bonn,  1833. 
Hartwig  Hirschfeld  :  Jiidische  Elemente  im  Koran.     Berlin,  1878. 

VII.   MOHAMMEDANISM   AS  A  RELIGION,   AND  IN  ITS   RELATION  TO 
CHRISTIANITY. 

L.  Maracci;  Prodromus  ad  refutationem  Alcorani.     Rom.,  1691,  4  vols. 

S.  Lee:   Controversial  Tracts  on  Cliristianity  and  Mahometanism.     1824. 

J.  DoLLINGER  (R.  C.)  ;  Muhammed's  Religion  nach  ihrer  innern  Entwick- 
lung  u.  ihrem  Einfluss  auf  das  Leben  der  Vblker.     Regensb.  1838. 

A.  MoHLER  (R.  C) :  Das  Verhdltniss  des  Islam  zum  Christenthum  (in  hia 
"  Gesammelte  Schriften  ").     Regensb.,  1839. 

C.  F.  Gerock  :  Versuch  einer  Darstellung  der  Christologie  des  Koran. 
Hamburg  und  Gotha,  1839. 

J.  H.  Newman  (R.  C.)  :  The  Turks  in  their  relation  to  Europe  (written  in 
1853),  in  his  "  Historical  Sketches."     London,  1872,  pp.  1-237. 

Dean  Arthur  P.  Stanley  :  Mahometanism  and  its  relations  to  the  East- 
ern Church  (in  Lectures  on  the  "History  of  the  Eastern  Church." 
London  and  New  York,  1862,  pp.  360-387).     A  picturesque  sketch. 

Dean  Milman:  History  of  Latin  Christianity.  Book  IV.,  chs.  1  and  2. 
(Vol.  IL  p.  109). 

Theod.  Noldeke:  Art.  Muhammedund  der  Islam,  in  Herzog's  "  Real- 
Encyclop."  Vol.  XVIIL  (1864),  pp.  767-820. 

*Eman.  Deutsch  :  Islam,  in  his  "  Liter.  Remains."  Lond.  and  N.  York, 
1874,  pp.  50-134.    The  article  originally  appeared  in  the  Londor^ 


248  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

"  Quarterly  Review  "  for  Oct.  1869,  and  is  also  printed  at  the  end  of 
the  New  York  (Harper)  ed.  of  R.  Bosworth  Smith's  Mohammed. 

Reports  oftlie  General  M'mionary  Conference  at  Allaluibad,  1873. 

J.  MiJULEl.SEN  Arnold  (formerly  chaplain  at  Batavia) :  Mam:  its  His- 
tory, Character,  and  Relation  to  Christianity.     Lond.,  1874,  3d  ed. 

GusTAV.  Rosch:  Die  Jesusmythen  des  Islam,  in  the  "Studien  und  Kriti- 
ken."  Gotha,  1876.  (No.  III.  pp.  409-454). 

Marcds  Dods:  Mohammed,  Buddha,  and  Christ.     Lond.  2d  ed.  1878. 

Cu.  A.  AiKEX :  Mohammedanism  as  a  Missionary  Religion.  In  the  "  Bib- 
liothcca  Sacra,"  of  Andover  for  1879,  p.  157. 

Aecubishop  Trexch  :  Lectures  on  Mediceval  Church  History  (Lect.  IV. 
45-58).     London,  1877. 

Henry  H.  Jessup  (Amer.  Presbyt.  missionary  at  Beirut) :  The  Moham- 
medan Missionary  Problem.     Philadelphia,  1879. 

Edouard  Sayous:  Jesus  Christ  d'aprh  Mahomet.     Paris  1880. 

G.  P.  Badger  :  Mukdmmed  in  Smith  and  Wace,  III.  951-998. 

§  39.  Statistics  and  Chronological  Table. 
ESTIMATE  OF  THE  MOHAMMEDAN  POPULATiox  (According  to  Keith  Johnston). 

In  Asia, 112,739,000 

In  Africa, 50,416,000 

In  Europe, 5,974,000 

Total, .     169,129,000 

MOHAMMEDANS   UNDER   CHRISTIAN   GOVERNMENTS. 

England  in  India  rules  over 41,000,000 

Russia  in  Central  Asia  rules  over 6,000,000 

France  in  Africa  rules  over 2,000,000 

Holland  in  Java  and  Celebes  rules  over 1,000,000 

Total, 50,000,000 

A.  D.  CHRONOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 

570.  Birtli  of  Mohammed,  at  INIecca. 

610.  Muliammed  received  the  visions  of  Gabriel  and  began  his  career  as  a 
prophet.     (Conversion  of  the  Anglo-Saxons). 

622.  The  Hrgira,  or  the  flight  of  Mohammed  from  Mecca  to  Medina.  Begin- 
ning of  tlie  Mohammedan  era. 

G32.  f  June  8)  Death  of  Mohammed  at  Medina. 

632.  Abu  Bekr,  first  Cali])li  or  successor  of  Mohammed 

630.  Capture  of  Jerusalem  by  tlie  Caliph  Omar. 

040.  Capture  of  Alcxandri;-  by  Omar. 

711.  Tliaryk  crosses  tlie  Straits  from  Africa  to  Europe,  and  calls  the  mountain 
Jcbel  Tliaryk  (Gibraltar). 

732.  Battle  of  Poitiers  and  Tours ;  Abd-er-Rahman  defeated  by  Charles  Martel  j 
Western  Europe  saved  from  Moslem  conquest. 


^  39.  MOHAMMEDANISM,  STATISTICS  AND  CHRON.  TABLE.   149 

786-809.  Haroun  al  Eashid,  Caliph  of  Bagdad.  Golden  era  of  Mohammed- 
anism.    (Correspondence  with  Charlemagne). 

1063.  Allp  Arslan,  Seljukian  Turkish  prince. 

1096.  The  First  Crusade.     Capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Godfrey  of  Bouillon. 

1187.  Saladin,  the  Sultan  of  Egypt  and  scourge  of  the  Crusaders,  conquers  at 
Tiberias  and  takes  Jerusalem,  (1187)  ;  is  defeated  by  Richard  Coeur 
de  Lion  at  Askelon,  and  dies  1193.     DecUne  of  the  Crusades. 

1288-1326.  Reign  of  Othman,  founder  of  the  Ottoman  (Turkish)  dynasty. 

1453.  Capture  of  Constantinople  by  Mohammed  II.,  "the  Conqueror,"  and 
founder  of  the  greatness  of  Turkey.  (Exodus  of  Greek  scholars  to 
Southern  Europe;  the  Greek  Testament  brought  to  the  West;  the 
revival  of  letters.) 

1492.  July  2.  Boabdil  (or  Abou  Abdallah)  defeated  by  Ferdinand  at  Granada  ; 
end  of  Moslem  rule  in  Spain.     (Discovery  of  America  by  Columbus). 

1517.  Ottoman  Sultan  Selim  I.  conquers  Egypt,  wrests  the  caliphate  from  the 
Arab  line  of  the  Koreish  through  Motawekkel  Billah,  and  transfers  it 
to  the  Ottoman  Sultans  ;  Ottoman  caliphate  never  acknowledged  by 
Persian  or  Moorish  Moslems.     (The  Reformation.) 

1521-1566.  Solyman  II. ,  "tlie  Magnificent,"  marks  tlie  zenith  of  the  military 
power  of  the  Turks;  takes  Belgrade (1521),  defeats  the  Hungarians 
(1526),  but  is  repulsed  from  Vienna  (1529  and  1532). 

1571.  Defeat  of  Selim  II.  at  the  naval  battle  of  Lepanto  by  the  Christian  powers 
under  Don  John  of  Austria.  Beginning  of  the  decline  of  the  Turkish 
power. 

1683.  Final  repulse  of  the  Turks  at  the  gates  of  Vienna  by  John  Sobieski, 
king  of  Poland,  Sept.  12 ;  Eastern  Europe  saved  from  Moslem  rule. 

1792.  Peace  at  Jassy  in  Moldavia,  which  made  the  Dniester  the  frontier  between 
Russia  and  Turkey. 

1827.  Annihilation  of  the  Turko- Egyptian  fieet  by  the  combined  squadrons  of 
England,  France,  and  Russia,  in  the  battle  of  Navarino,  October  20. 
Treaty  of  Adrianople,  1829.  Independence  of  the  kingdom  of  Greece, 
1832. 

1856.  End  of  Crimean  War  ;  Turkey  saved  by  England  and  France  aiding  the 
Sultan  against  the  aggression  of  Russia ;  Treaty  of  Paris ;  European 
agreement  not  to  interfere  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  Turkey. 

1878.  Defeat  of  the  Turks  by  Russia  ;  but  checked  by  tlie  interference  of  England 
under  the  lead  of  Lord  Beaconsfield.  Congress  of  the  European  pow- 
ers, and  Treaty  of  Berlin  ;  independence  of  Bulgaria  secured  ;  Anglo- 
Turkish  Treaty ;  England  occupies  Cyprus— agrees  to  defend  the  fron- 
tier of  Asiatic  Turkey  against  Russia,  on  condition  that  the  Sultan 
execute  fundamental  reforms  in  Asiatic  Turkey. 

1880.  Supplementary  Conference  at  Berlin.  Rectification  and  enlargement  of 
the  boundary  of  Montenegro  and  Greece. 


150  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

§  40.  Position  of  3Iohammedanism  in  Church  History. 

While  new  races  and  countries  in  Northern  and  Western 
Europe,  unknown  to  the  apostles,  were  added  to  the  Christian 
Chiu-ch,  we  behold  in  Asia  and  Africa  the  opposite  spectacle  of 
the  rise  and  progress  of  a  rival  religion  which  is  now  acknow- 
ledged by  more  than  one-tenth  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  globe. 
It  is  called  "Mohammedanism"  from  its  founder,  or  "Islam," 
from  its  chief  virtue,  which  is  absolute  surrender  to  the  one  true 
God.  Like  Christianity,  it  had  its  birth  in  the  Shemitic  race,  the 
y  L  parent  of  the  three  monotheistic  religions,  but  in  an  obscure  and 
•   gJfi^VQn  desert  district,  and  had  a  more  rapid,  though  less  enduring 

But  what  a  difference  in  the  means  employed  and  the  results 
reached !  Christianity  made  its  conquest  by  peaceful  missiona- 
ries and  the  power  of  persuasion,  and  carried  with  it  the  blessings 
of  home,  freedom  and  civilization.  Mohammedanism  conquered 
the  fairest  portions  of  the  earth  by  the  sword  and  cursed  them 
by  polygamy,  slavery,  despotism  and  desolation.  The  moving 
power  of  Christian  missions  was  love  to  God  and  man ;  the 
moving  power  of  Isl^m  was  fanaticism  and  brute  force.  Chris- 
tianity has  found  a  home  among  all  nations  and  climes ;  Moham- 
medanism, although  it  made  a  most  vigorous  effort  to  conquer 
the  world,  is  after  all  a  religion  of  the  desert,  of  the  tent  and  the 
caravan,  and  confined  to  nomad  and  savage  or  half-civilized 
nations,  chiefly  Arabs,  Persians,  and  Turks.  It  never  made  an 
impression  on  Europe  except  by  brute  force  ;  it  is  only  encamped, 
not  really  domesticated,  in  Constantinople,  and  Avheu  it  must 
withdraw  from  Europe  it  will  leave  no  trace  behind. 

Islam  in  its  conquering  march  took  forcible  possession  of  the 
^•A  ♦  T  lands  of  the  Bible,  and  the  Greek  church,  seized  the  throne  of 
Constantine,  overran  Spain,  crossed  the  Pyrenees,  and  for  a  long 
time  threatened  even  the  church  of  Rome  and  the  German  empire, 
until  it  was  finally  repulsed  beneath  the  walls  of  Vienna.  The 
Crusades  which  figure  so  prominently  in  the  history  of  medieval 


§  40.  POSITION  OF  MOHAMMEDANISM,  ETC.  151 

Christianity,  originated  in  the  desire  to  wrest  the  holy  land  from 
the  followers  of  "  the  false  prophet,"  and  brought  the  East  in 
contact  with  the  West.  The  monarchy  and  the  church  of  Spain, 
with  their  architecture,  chivalry,  bigotry,  and  inquisition,  emerged 
from  a  fierce  conflict  with  the  Moors.  Even  the  Reformation  in 
the  sixteenth  century  was  complicated  with  the  Turkish  question, 
which  occupied  the  attention  of  the  diet  of  Augsburg  as  much  as 
the  Confession  of  the  Evangelical  princes  and  divines.  Luther, 
in,  one  of  his  most  popular  hymns,  prays  for  deliverance  from 
"  the  murdering  Pope  and  Turk,"  as  the  two  chief  enemies  of 
the  gospel  * ;  and  the  Anglican  Prayer  Book,  in  the  collect  for 
Good  Friday,  invokes  God  "  to  have  mercy  upon  all  Turks," 
as  well  as  upon  "  Jews,  Infidels,  and  Heretics."  ^ 

The  danger  for  Western  Christendom  from  that  quarter  has 
long  since  passed  away ;  the  "  unspeakable  "  Turk  has  ceased  to 
be  unconquerable,  but  the  Asiatic  and  a  part  of  the  East  Euro- 
pean portion  of  the  Greek  church  are  still  subject  to  the  despotic 
rule  of  the  Sultan,  whose  throne  in  Constantinople  has  been  for 
more  than  four  hundred  years  a  standing  insult  to  Christendom. 

Mohammedanism  then  figures  as  a  hostile  force,  as  a  real  Ish- 
maelite  in  church  history ;  it  is  the  only  formidable  rival  which 
Christianity  ever  had,  the  only  religion  which  for  a  while  at  least 
aspired  to  universal  empire. 

And  yet  it  is  not  hostile  only.  It  has  not  been  without  bene- 
ficial eifect  upon  Western  civilization.  It  aided  in  the  develop- 
ment of  chivalry;  it  influenced  Christian  architecture;  it  stimu- 
lated the  study  of  mathematics,  chemistry,  medicine  (as  is  indicated 
by  the  technical  terms :  algebra,  chemistry,  alchemy) ;  and  the 
Arabic  translations  and  commentaries  on  Aristotle  by  the  Spanish 

*  "  Erhalt  un.%  Hen;  bei  deinem  Wort, 

Und  steur'  des  Papst's  und  Turken  3ford." 

*  The  words  "  all  Jews,  Turks,  Infidels,  and  Heretics,"  were  inserted  by  the 
framers  of  the  Prayer  Book  in  the  first  edition  (1547) ;  the  rest  of  the  collect  is 
translated  from  the  old  Latin  service.  In  the  middle  ages  the  word  "  infidel " 
denoted  a  Mohammedan.  The  Mohammetlans  in  turn  call  Christians,  Jews, 
and  all  other  religionists,  "infidels"  and  "dogs." 


152  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.D.  590-1049. 

Moors  laid  the  ])hilo.so|)liical  luundatiou  of  scholasticism.  Even 
the  conquest  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks  brought  an  in- 
estimable blessing  to  the  West  by  driving  Greek  scholars  with 
the  Greek  Testament  to  Italy  to  inaugurate  there  the  revival 
of  k'tters  which  i)repared  tlie  way  for  the  Protestant  Reformation. 
Viewed  in  its  relation  to  the  Eastern  Church  mIucIi  it  robbed 

/  of  the  fairest  dominions,  Mohammedanism  Avas  a  well-deserved 
divine  punisliment  for  the  unfruitful  speculations,  bitter  conten- 
tions, emi)ty  ceremonialism  and  virtual  idolatry  which  degraded 

S  and  disgraced  tlie  Christianity  of  the  East  after  the  fifth  century. 
The  essence  of  true  religion,  love  to  God  and  to  man,  was  eaten 
out  by  rancor  and  strife,  and  there  was  left  no  power  of  ultimate 
resistance  to  the  foreign  conqueror.  The  hatred  between  the 
orthodox  Eastern  church  and  the  Eastern  schismatics  driven 
from  her  communion,  and  the  jealousy  between  the  Greek 
and  Latin  churches  prevented  them  from  aiding  each  other  in 
efforts  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  common  foe.  The  Greeks 
detested  the  Latin  Filioque  as  a  heresy  more  deadly  than  Islam; 
while  the  Latins  cared  more  for  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope  than  the  / 
triumph  of  Christiauity,  and  set  up  during  the  Crusades  a  rival 
hierarchy  in  the  East.  Even  now  Greek  and  Latin  monks  in  ' 
Bethlehem  and  Jerusalem  are  apt  to  fight  at  Christmas  and  Eas- 
ter over  the  cradle  and  the  grave  of  their  common  Lord  and 
Redeemer,  unless  Turkish  soldiers  keep  them  in  order ! ' 

But  viewed  in  relation  to  the  heathenism  from  which  it  arose 
or  which  it  converted,  Mahommedanism  is  a  vast  progress,  and 

'  Anlil.isliop  Trench, /.c.  p.  54:  "We  can  regard  Mohammedanism  in  no 
otlier  llglit  than  as  a  scourge  of  God  upon  a  guilty  church.  He  will  not  give 
his  glory  to  anotlier.  He  will  not  suffer  the  Creator  and  the  creature  to  be 
confounded ;  and  if  those  who  should  have  been  witnesses  for  the  truth,  who 
had  been  ai)pointed  thereunto,  forsake,  forget,  or  deny  it,  He  will  raise  up  wit- 
nesses from  quarters  tlie  most  unlooked  for,  and  will  strengthen  their  hands  and 
give  victory  to  their  arms  e>on  against  those  who  bear  his  name,  but  have  for- 
gotten liis  truth."  Similarly  Dr.  Jessup,  I.  c.  p.  14:  "  The  Mohammedan  reli- 
gion arose,  in  tlie  providence  of  God,  as  a  scourge  to  the  idolatrous  Christianity, 
and  tlie  pagan  systems  of  Asia  and  Africa— a  protest  against  polytheism,  and  a 
preparation  for  the  future  conversion  to  a  pure  Christianity  of  the  multitude 


§  40.  POSITION  OF  MOHAMMEDANISM,  ETC.  153 

may  ultimately  be  a  stepping-stone  to  Christianity,  like  the  law  t 
of  Moses  which  served  as  a  schoolmaster  to  lead  men  to  the  gos-  I 
pel.  It  has  destroyed  the  power  of  idolatry  in  Arabia  and  a  large  ! 
part  of  Asia  and  Africa,  and  raised  Tartars  and  Negroes  from  the  ( 
rudest  forms  of  superstition  to  the  belief  and  worship  of  the  one  ; 
true  God,  and  to  a  certain  degree  of  civilization. 

It  should  be  mentioned,  however,  that,  according  to  the  testi- 
mony of  missionaries  and  African  travelers,  Mohammedanism 
has  inflamed  the  simple  minded  African  tribes  with  the  impure 
fire  of  fanaticism  and  given  them  greater  power  of  resistance  to 
Christianity.  Sir  William  Muir,  a  very  competent  judge,  thinks 
that  Mohammedanism  by  the  poisoning  influence  of  polygamy  J 
and  slavery,  and  by  crushing  all  freedom  of  judgment  in  religion  f 
has  interposed  the  most  eflectual  barrier  against  the  reception  of  / 
Christianity.  "  No  system,"  he  says,  "  could  have  been  devised 
with  more  consummate  skill  for  shutting  out  the  nations  over 
which  it  has  sway,  from  the  light  of  truth.  Idolatrous  Arabs 
might  have  been  aroused  to  spiritual  life  and  to  the  adoption  of 
the  faith  of  Jesus ;  Mahometan  Arabia  is,  to  the  human  eye, 
sealed  against  the  benign  influences  of  the  gospel.  .  .  .  The  sword 
of  Mahomet  and  the  Coran  are  the  most  fatal  enemies  of  civiliza- 
tion, liberty,  and  truth."  ^ 

This  is  no  doubt  true  of  the  past.  But  we  have  not  yet  seen 
the  end  of  this  historical  problem.  It  is  not  impossible  that  Islam 
may  yet  prove  to  be  a  necessary  condition  for  the  revival  of  a 
pure  Scriptiu-al  religion  in  the  East.  Protestant  missionaries  i 
from  England  and  America  enjoy  greater  liberty  under  the  Mo- 
hammedan rule  than  they  would  under  a  Greek  or  Eussian 

who  have  fallen  under  its  extraordinary  power."  Carlyle  calls  the  creed  of  Mo- 
hammed "a  kind  of  Christianity  better  than  that  of  those  miserable  Syrian 
Sects  with  the  head  full  of  worthless  noise,  the  heart  empty  and  dead.  The 
truth  of  it  is  imbedded  in  portentous  error  and  falsehood  ;  but  the  truth  makes 
it  to  be  believed,  not  the  falsehood :  it  succeeded  by  its  truth.  A  bastard  kmd 
of  Christianity,  but  a  living  kind;  with  a  heart-life  in  it ;  not  dead,  choppmg, 
barren  logic  merely." 

»  Life,  of  Mahomet,  IV.  321,  322. 


154  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

government.  The  ISIohammcdan  abhorrence  of  idolatry  and 
image  worshij),  ^lohammedau  simplicity  and  temperance  are 
points  of  contact  with  the  evangelical  type  of  Christianity,  which ' 
from  the  extreme  West  has  established  flourishing  missions  in  the 
most  important  parts  of  Turkey.  The  Greek  Church  can  do 
little  or  nothing  with  the  Mohammedans ;  if  they  are  to  be  con- 
verted it  must  be  done  by  a  Christianity  which  is  free  from  all 
appearance  of  idolatry,  more  simple  in  worship,  and  more  vigoroas 
in  life  tiian  that  which  they  have  so  easily  conquered  and  learned 
to  despise.  It  is  an  encouraging  fact  that  JNIohammedans  have 
great  respect  for  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  They  now  swear  by  the 
word  of  an  Englishman  as  much  as  by  the  beard  of  Mohammed. 
Islam  is  still  a  great  religious  power  in  the  East.  ,  It  rules 
supreme  in  Syria,  Palestine,  Asia  Minor,  Egypt,  North  Africa, 
and  makes  progress  among  the  savage  tribes  in  the  interior  of  the 
Dark  Continent.  It  is  by  no  means  simply,  as  Schlegel  charac- 
terized the  system,  "  a  prophet  without  miracles,  a  faith  without 
mysteries,  and  a  morality  without  love."  It  has  tenacity,  aggres- 
sive vitality  and  intense  enthusiasm.  Every  traveller  in  the  Ori- 
ent nuist  be  struck  w^ith  the  power  of  its  simple  monotheism  upon 
its  followers.  A  visit  to  the  Moslem  University  in  the  jMosque 
El  Azhar  at  Cairo  is  very  instructive.  It  dates  from  the  tenth 
century  (975),  and  numbers  (or  numbered  in  1877,  when  I  visited 
it)  no  less  than  ten  thousand  students  who  come  from  all  parts 
of  the  Mohammedan  world  and  present  the  appearance  of  a  huge 
Sunday  School,  seated  in  small  groups  on  the  floor,  studying  the 
Koran  as  the  beginning  and  end  of  all  wisdom,  and  then  at  the 
stated  hours  for  prayer  rising  to  perform  their  devotions  under 
the  lead  of  their  teachers.  They  live  in  primitive  simplicity, 
studying,  eating  and  sleeping  on  a  blanket  or  straw  mat  in  the 
same  mosque,  but  the  expression  of  their  feces  betrays  the  fanatic- 
al devotion  to  their  creed.  They  support  themselves,  or  are 
aided  by  the  alms  of  the  faithful.  The  teachers  (over  three  hun- 
dred) receive  no  salary  and  live  by  private  instruction  or  presents 
from  rich  scholars. 


?  41.  THE  HOME,  AND  THE  ANTECEDENTS  OF  ISLAM.    155 

Nevertheless  the  power  of  Islam,  like  its  symbol,  the  moon, 
is  disappearing  before  the  sun  of  Christianity  which  is  rising  once 
more  over  the  Eastern  horizon.  Xearly  one-third  of  its  follow- 
ers are  under  Christian  (mostly  English)  rule.  It  is  essentially 
a  politico- religions  system,  and  Turkey  is  its  stronghold.  The 
Sultan  has  long  been  a  "  sick  man,"  and  owes  his  life  to  the  for- 
bearance and  jealousy  of  the  Christian  powers.  Sooner  or  later 
he  will  be  driven  out  of  Europe,  to  Brusa  or  Mecca.  The  colos- 
sal empire  of  Russia  is  the  hereditary  enemy  of  Turkey,  and 
would  have  destroyed  her  in  the  wars  of  1854  and  1877,  if  Cath- 
olic France  and  Protestant  England  had  not  come  to, her  aid. 
In  the  meantime  the  silent  influences  of  European  civilization 
and  Christian  missions  are  undermining  the  foundations  of  Tur- 
key, and  preparing  the  way  for  a  religious,  moral  and  social 
regeneration  and  transformation  of  the  East.  "  God's  mills  grind 
slowly,  but  surely  and  wonderfully  fme."  A  thousand  years 
before  Him  are  as  one  day,  and  one  day  may  do  the  work  of  a 
thousand  years. 

§  41.   The  Home,  and  the  Antecedents  of  Islam. 

On  the  Aborigines  of  Arabia  and  its  religious  condition  before  Islam, 
compare  the  preliminary'  discourse  of  Sale,  Sect.  1  and  2;  MuiR, 
Vol.  I.  ch.  2d;  Spkengek,  I.  13-82,  and  Stobaet,  ch.  1. 

The  fatherland  of  Islam  is  Arabia,  a  peninsula  between  the 
Red  Sea,  the  Indian  Ocean  and  the  Persian  Gulf.  It  is  covered 
with  sandy  deserts,  barren  hills,  rock-bound  coasts,  fertile  wadies, 
and  rich  pastures.  It  is  inhabited  by  nomadic  tribes  and  traders 
who  claim  descent  from  five  patriarchal  stocks,  Cush,  Shem, 
Ishmael,  Keturah,  and  Esau.  It  was  divided  by  the  ancients 
into  Arabia  Deserta,  Arabia  Petraea  (the  Sinai  district  with  Petra 
as  the.  capital),  and  Arabia  Felix  (El- Yemen,  i.  e.  the  land  on 
the  right  hand,  or  of  the  South).  Most  of  its  rivers  are  swelled 
by  periodical  rains  and  then  lose  themselves  in  the  sandy  plains; 
few  reach  the  ocean ;  none  of  them  is  navigable.  It  is  a  land  of 
grim  deserts  and  strips  of  green  verdure,  of  drought  and  barren- 


156  FOUKTPI  PERIOD.    A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

ness  violent  raius,  clear  skie.s,  tropical  Iieat,  date  palms,  aromatic 
herbs,  coffee,  bal-sam,  myrrh,  frankincense,  and  dhurra  (which 
takes  the  place  of  grain).  Its  chief  animals  are  the  camel,  "  the 
ship  of  the  desert,"  an  excellent  breed  of  horses,  sheep,  and  goats. 
The  desert,  like  the  ocean,  is  not  without  its  grandeur.  It  cre- 
ates the  impression  of  infinitude,  it  fosters  silence  and  meditation 
on  God  and  eternity.  Man  is  there  alone  with  God.  The  Ara- 
bian desert  gave  birth  to  some  of  the  sublimest  compositions,  the 
ode  of  liberty  by  Miriam,  the  ninetieth  Psalm  by  Moses,  the 
book  of  Job,  which  Carlyie  calls  "  the  grandest  poem  written  by 
the  pen  of  man." 

The  Arabs  love  a  roaming  life,  are  simple  and  temperate,  cour- 
teous, respectful,  hospitable,  imaginative,  fond  of  poetry  and 
eloquence,  careless  of  human  life,  revengeful,  sensual,  and  fanatic- 
al. Arabia,  protected  by  its  deserts,  was  never  properly  con- 
quered by  a  foreign  nation. 

The  religious  capital  of  Islam,  and  the  birthplace  of  its  founder 
— its  Jerusalem  and  Rome — is  Mecca  (or  Mekka),  one  of  the 
oldest  cities  of  Arabia.  It  is  situated  sixty-five  miles  East  of 
Jiddali  on  the  Red  Sea,  two  hundred  and  forty-five  miles  South 
of  Medina,  in  a  narrow  and  sterile  valley  and  shut  in  by  bare 
hills.  It  numbered  in  its  days  of  prosperity  over  one  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  now  only  about  forty-five  thousand.  It 
stands  under  the  immediate  control  of  the  Sultan.  The  streets 
are  broad,  but  unpaved,  dusty  in  summer,  muddy  in  wauter. 
The  houses  are  built  of  brick  or  stone,  three  or  four  stories  high  ; 
the  rooms  better  furnished  than  is  usual  in  the  East.  They  are 
a  chief  source  of  revenue  by  being  let  to  the  pilgrims.  There  is 
scarcely  a  garden  or  cultivated  field  in  and  around  Mecca,  and 
only  lierc  and  there  a  thorny  acacia  and  stunted  brushwood 
relieves  the  eye.  The  city  derives  all  its  fruit — watermelons, 
dates,  cucuinl)ers,  limes,  grapes,  apricots,  figs,  almonds — from 
T4if  and  Wady  Fatiraa,  which  during  the  pilgrimage  season 
send  more  than  one  hundred  camels  daily  to  the  capital.  The 
inhabitants  arc  indolent,  though  avaricious,  and  make  their  living 


§  41.  THE  HOME,  AND  THE  ANTECEDENTS  OF  ISLAM.   157 

chiefly  of  the  pilgrims  who  annually  flock  thither  by  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  from  all  parts  of  the  Mohammedan  world. 
None  but  Moslems  are  allowed  to  enter  Mecca,  but  a  few  Chris- 
tian travellers — Ali  Bey  (the  assumed  name  of  the  Spaniard, 
Domingo  Badia  y  Leblich,  d.  1818),  Burckhardt  in  1814,  Bur- 
ton in  1852,  Maltzan  in  1862,  Keane  in  1880— have  visited  it  in 
Mussulman  disguise,  and  at  the  risk  of  their  lives.  To  them  we 
owe  our  knowledge  of  the  place.^ 

The  most  holy  place  in  jNIecca  is  Al-Kaaba,  a  small  ob- 
long temple,  so  called  irom  its  cubic  form."  To  it  the  faces 
of  millions  of  Moslems  are  devoutly  turned  in  prayer  five  times 
a  day.  It  is  inclosed  by  the  great  mosque,  which  corresponds  in 
importance  to  the  temple  of  Solomon  in  Jerusalem  and  St.  Peter's 
cathedral  in  Rome,  and  can  hold  about  thirty-five  thousand  per- 
sons. It  is  surrounded  by  colonnades,  chambers,  domes  and 
minarets.  Near  it  is  the  bubbling  well  Zemzem,  from  which 
Hagar  and  Ishmael  are  said  to  have  quenched  their  burning  thirst. 
The  Kaaba  is  much  older  than  Mecca.  Diodorus  Siculus  men- 
tions it  as  the  oldest  and  most  honored  temple  in  his  time.  •  It 
is  supposed  to  have  been  first  built  by  angels  in  the  shape  of  a 
tent  and  to  have  been  let  down  from  heaven ;  there  Adam  wor- 
shipped after  his  expulsion  from  Paradise;  Seth  substituted  a 
structure  of  clay  and  stone  for  a  tent;  after  the  destruction  by 
the  deluge  Abraham  and  Ishmael  reconstructed  it,  and  their 
footsteps  are  shown.^     It  was  entirely  rebuilt  in  1627.     It  con- 

»  See  Ali  Bey's  Travels  in  Asia  and  Africa,  1803-1S07  (1814,  3  vols.);  the 
works  of  Burckhardt,  and  Burton  mentioned  before ;  and  Muir,  I.  1-9. 

'  The  Cube-house  or  Square  house,  Maison  carree.  It  is  also  called  Beit  Ul- 
lah,  (Beth-el),  i.  e.  House  of  God.  It  is  covered  with  cloth.  See  a  description 
in  Burckhardt,  Travels,  Lond.,  1829,  p.  136,  Burton  11.  154,  Sprenger  II.  340, 
and  Khan  Bahador's  Essay  on  the  History  of  the  Holy  Mecca  (a  part  of  the  work 
above  quoted).  Burckhardt  gives  the  size:  18  paces  long,  14  broad,  35  to  40 
feet  high.     Burton :  22  paces  (=  55  English  feet)  long,  18  paces  (45  feet)  broad. 

'  Bahador  says,  I.  c. :  "  The  most  ancient  and  authentic  of  all  the  local  tradi- 
tions of  Arabia  . . .  represent  the  temple  of  the  Kaaba  as  having  been  constructed 
in  the  42d  century  A.  M.,  or  19th  century  B.  C,  by  Abraham,  who  was  assisted 
in  his  work  by  his  sou  Ishmael."     He  quotes  Gen.  xii.  7 ;  xiii.  18  in  proof  that 


158  FOURTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

tains  the  famous  Black  Stone/  in  the  North-Eastern  corner 
near  the  door.  This  is  probably  a  meteoric  stone,  or  of  volcanic 
origin,  and  served  originally  as  an  altar.  The  Arabs  believe 
that  it  fell  from  Paradise  with  Adam,  and  was  as  white  as 
milk,  but  turned  black  on  account  of  man's  sins.^  It  is  semi- 
circular in  shape,  measures  about  six  inches  in  height,  and 
eight  inches  in  breadth,  is  four  or  five  feet  from  the  ground, 
of  reddish  black  color,  polished  by  innumerable  kisses  (like  the 
foot  of  the  Peter-statue  in  St.  Peter's  at  Rome),  encased  in  silver, 
and  covered  with  black  silk  and  inscriptions  from  the  Koran. 
It  was  an  object  of  veneration  from  time  immemorial,  and  is 
still  devoutly  kissed  or  touched  by  the  Moslem  jiilgrims  on  each 
of  their  seven  circuits  around  the  temple.^ 

Mohammed  subsequently  cleared  the  Kaaba  of  all  relics  of 
idolatry,  and  made  it  the  place  of  pilgrimage  for  his  followers. 
He  invented  or  revived  the  legend  that  Abraham  by  divine 
command  sent  his  son  Ishmael  with  Hagar  to  Mecca  to  establish 
there  the  true  worship  and  the  pilgrim  festival.  He  says  in  the 
Koran :  "  God  hath  appointed  the  Kaaba,  the  sacred  house,  to 
be  a  station  for  mankind,"  and,  "  Remember  when  we  appointed 
the  sanctuary  as  man's  resort  and  safe  retreat,  and  said,  '  Take 
ye  the  station  of  Abraham  for  a  place  of  prayer.'  And  we  com- 
manded Abraham  and  Ishmael,  '  Purify  my  house  for  those  who 
shall  go  in  procession  round  it,  and  those  who  shall  bow  do^vn 
and  prostrate  themselves.'"* 

Abraham  raised  "  altars  for  God's  worship  on  every  spot  where  he  himself  had 
adored  Him."     But  tlie  Bible  nowhere  says  that  lie  ever  was  in  Mecca. 

'  It  is   called  in  Arabic  Ilhajera  el-Assouad,  the  Heavenly  Stone.     Muir 

n.  35. 

'  Bahador  discredits  this  and  other  foolish  traditions,  and  thinks  that  the 
Black  Stone  was  a  piece  of  rock  from  the  neighboring  Abba  Kobais  mountain, 
and  put  in  its  present  place  by  Ishmael  at  the  desire  of  Abraham. 

'  Sec  pictures  of  the  Kaaba  and  the  Black  Stone,  in  Bahador,  and  also  in 
Mnir,  II.  IS,  and  description,  II.  34  sqq. 

*  Rodwcll's  translation,  pp.  446  and  648.  Sprenger,  II.  279,  regards  the 
Moslem  legend  of  the  Abrahamic  origin  of  the  Kaaba  worship  as  a  pure  inven- 
tion of  Mohammed,  of  which  there  is  no  previous  trace. 


§  41.  THE  HOME,  AND  THE  ANTECEDENTS  OF  ISLAM.    159 

Arabia  had  at  the  time  when  Mohammed  appeared,  all  the 
elements  for  a  wild,  warlike,  eclectic  religion  like  the  one  which 
he  established.  It  was  inhabited  by  heathen  star-worshippers, 
Jews,  and  Christians. 

The  heathen  were  the  ruling  race,  descended  from  Ishmael, 
the  bastard  son  of  Abraham  (Ibrahim),  the  real  sons  of  the 
desert,  full  of  animal  life  and  energy.  They  had  their  sanctuary 
in  the  Kaaba  at  Mecca,  which  attracted  annually  large  numbers 
of  pilgrims  long  before  Mohammed. 

The  Jews,  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  were  scattered 
in  Arabia,  especially  in  the  district  of  Medina,  and  exerted  con- 
siderable influence  by  their  higher  culture  and  rabbinical  tra- 
ditions. 

The  Christians  belonged  mostly  to  the  various  heretical  sects 
which  were  expelled  from  the  Roman  empire  during  the  violent 
doctrinal  controversies  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries.  We 
find  there  traces  of  Arians,  Sabellians,  Ebionites,  Nestorians, 
Eutychians,  Monophysites,  Marianites,  and  Collyridians  or  wor- 
shijipers  of  Mary.  Anchorets  and  monks  settled  in  large  num- 
bers in  Wady  Feiran  around  Mount  Serbal,  and  Justinian  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  Convent  of  St.  Catharine  at  the  foot  of 
Mount  Sinai,  which  till  the  year  1859  harbored  the  oldest 
and  most  complete  uncial  manuscript  of  the  Greek  Scriptures  of 
both  Testaments  from  the  age  of  Constantine.  But  it  was  a 
very  superficial  and  corrupt  ChrLstianity  which  had  found  a 
home  in  those  desert  regions,  where  even  the  apostle  Paul  spent 
three  years  after  his  conversion  in  silent  preparation  for  his  great 
mission. 

These  three  races  and  religions,  though  deadly  hostile  to  each 
other,  alike  revered  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful,  as  their 
common  ancestor.  This  fact  might  suggest  to  a  great  mind  the 
idea  to  unite  them  by  a  national  religion  monotheistic  in  princi- 
ple and  eclectic  in  its  character.  This  seems  to  have  been  the 
original  project  of  the  founder  of  Islam. 

It  is  made  certain  by  recent  research  that  there  were  at  the 


160  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

time  and  before  the  call  of  Mohammed  a  considerable  number 
of  inquirers  at  Mecca  and  Medina,  who  had  intercourse  with 
Eastern  Christians  in  Syria  and  Abyssinia,  were  dissatisfied  with 
the  idolatry  around  them,  and  inclined  to  monotheism,  which 
they  traced  to  Abraham.  They  called  themselves  Hanyfs,  i.  e. 
Converts,  Puritans.  One  of  them,  Omayah  of  Taif,  we  know  to 
have  been  under  Christian  influence;  others  seem  to  have  de- 
rived their  monotheistic  ideas  from  Judaism.  Some  of  the  early 
converts  of  ]\lohammed  as,  Zayd  (his  favorite  slave),  Omayah, 
or  Umaijah  (a  popular  poet),  and  Waraka  (a  cousin  of  Chadijah 
and  a  student  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Jews  and  Christians) 
belonged  to  this  sect,  and  even  Mohammed  acknowledged  him- 
self at  first  a  Hanyf.'  Waraka,  it  is  said,  believed  in  him,  as 
long  as  he  was  a  Hanyf,  but  then  forsook  him,  and  died  a  Chris- 
tian or  a  Jew." 

Mohammed  consolidated  and  energized  this  reform-movement, 
and  gave  it  a  world-wide  significance,  under  the  new  name  of 
Isldm,  i.  e.  resignation  to  God ;  whence  3Ioslem  (or  Muslim), 
one  who  resigns  himself  to  God. 

§  42.  Life  and  Character  of  llohammed. 

Mohammed,  an  unschooled,  self-taught,  semi-barbarous  son  of 
nature,  of  noble  birth,  handsome  person,  imaginative,  energetic, 
brave,  the  ideal  of  a  Bedouin  chief,  was  destined  to  become  the 
political  and  religious  reformer,  the  poet,  prophet,  priest,  and 
king  of  Arabia. 

He  was  born  about  A.  D.  570  at  Mecca,  the  only  child  of  a 

'  Sprenger  I.  45 :  "  Die  bisher  unbekannt  gebliebenen  Hanyf  en  waren  die  Vor- 
Idufer  des  Mohammcul.  Er  nennt  sich  selbst  einen  Hanyf,  und  wdhrend  der  ersten 
Periode  seines  Lehramtes  hat  er  toenig  anderes  gethan,  als  ihre  Lehre  bestdtigt." 

*  According  to  Sprenger,  I.  91  sqq.,  he  died  a  Christian  ;  but  Deutsch,  I.  c,  p. 
77,  says:  "Whatever  Waraka  was  originally,  lie  certainly  lived  and  died  a 
Jew."  He  infers  this  from  the  fact  that  when  asked  by  Chadijah  for  his  opinion 
concerning  INIohamincd's  revelations,  he  cried  out:  "Koddm!  Koddus!  {{.  e., 
KcuJosh,  Holy).  Verily  this  is  the  Namibs  (i.  e.,  v6/io^,  Law)  which  came  to 
Moses.     He  will  be  the  prophet  of  his  people." 


§  42.  LIFE  AND  CHARACTEK  OF  MOHAMMED.  161 

young  widow  named  Amina.^  His  father  Abdallah  had  died  a 
few  months  before  in  his  twenty-fifth  year  on  a  mercantile  jour- 
ney in  Medina,  and  left  to  his  orphan  five  camels,  some  sheep 
and  a  slave  girl.^  He  belonged  to  the  heathen  family  of  the 
Hashim,  which  was  not  wealthy,  but  claimed  lineal  descent  from 
Ishmael,  and  was  connected  with  the  Koreish  or  Korashites,  the 
leading  tribe  of  the  Arabs  and  the  hereditary  guardians  of  the 
sacred  Kaaba.^  Tradition  surrounds  his  advent  in  the  Avorld 
with  a  halo  of  marvellous  legends :  he  was  born  circumcised 
and  with  his  navel  cut,  with  the  seal  of  prophecy  written  on  his 
back  in  letters  of  light;  he  prostrated  himself  at  once*  on  the 
ground,  and,  raising  his  hands,  prayed  for  the  pardon  of  his 
people ;  three  persons,  brilliant  as  the  sun,  one  holding  a  silver 
goblet,  the  second  an  emerald  tray,  the  third  a  silken  towel,  ap- 
peared from  heaven,  Avashed  him  seven  times,  then  blessed  and 
saluted  him  as  the'  "  Prince  of  Mankind."  He  was  nursed  by  a 
healthy  Bedouin  woman  of  the  desert.  When  a  boy  of  four 
years  he  was  seized  with  something  like  a  fit  of  epilepsy,  which 

^  We  know  accurately  the  date  of  Mohammed's  deatli  (June  8,  032),  but  the 
year  of  liis  birth  onK  by  reckoning  backwards ;  and  as  his  age  is  variously 
stated  from  sixty-one  to  sixty-five,  there  is  a  corresponding  difference  in  the 
statements  of  the  year  of  his  birth.  De  Sacy  fixes  it  April  20,  571,  von  Ham- 
mer 569,  Muir  Aug.  20,  570,  Sprenger  between  May  13,  567,  and  April  13,  571, 
but  afterwards  (I.  138),  April  20,  571,  as  most  in  accordance  with  early  tra- 
dition. 

"  According  to  Ibn  Ishak  and  Wackidi.  Bahador  adopts  this  tradition,  in 
the  last  of  his  essays  which  treats  of  "  the  Birth  and  Childhood  of  Mohammed." 
But  according  to  other  accounts,  Abdallah  died  several  months  (seven  or 
eighteen)  after  Mohammed's  birth.     Muir.  I.  11;  Sprenger,  I.  138. 

^  On  the  pedigree  of  Mohammed,  see  an  essay  in  the  work  of  Syed  Ahmed 
Khan  Bahador,  and  Muir  I.  242-271.  The  Koreish  were  not  exactly  priests, 
but  watched  the  temple,  kept  the  keys,  led  the  processions,  and  provided  for 
the  pilgrims.  Hashim,  Mohammed's  great-grandfather  (b.  A.  D.  442),  thus 
addressed  the  Koreish :  "  Ye  are  the  neighbors  of  God  and  the  keepers  of  his 
house.  The  pilgrims  who  come  honoring  the  sanctity  of  his  temple,  are  his 
guests;  and  it  is  meet  that  ye  should  entertain  them  above  all  other  guests. 
Yc  are  especially  chosen  of  God  and  exalted  unto  this  high  dignity;  wherefore 
honor  his  guests  and  refresh  them."  He  himself  set  an  example  of  munificent 
hospitality,  and  each  of  the  Koreish  contributed  according  to  his  ability.  Muir 
I.  CCXLVII. 
11 


152  FOUETH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Wackidi  and  other  historians  transformed  into  a  miraculous 
occurrence.  He  was  often  subject  to  severe  headaches  and  fever- 
ish convulsions,  in  which  he  fell  on  the  ground  like  a  drunken 
man  and  snored  like  a  camel.^  In  his  sixth  year  he  lost  his 
mother  on  the  return  from  Medina,  whither  she  had  taken  him 
on  camel's  back  to  visit  the  maternal  relations  of  his  father,  and 
was  carried  back  to  Mecca  by  his  nurse,  a  faithful  slave  gu*l. 
He  was  taken  care  of  by  his  aged  grandfather,  Abd  al  Motkalib, 
and  after  his  death  in  578  by  his  uncle  Abu  Talib,  who  had  two 
wives  and  ten  children,  and,  though  poor  and  no  believer  in  his 
nejjhew's  mission,  generously  protected  him  to  the  end. 

He  accompanied  his  uncle  on  a  commercial  journey  to  Syria, 
passing  through  the  desert,  ruined  cities  of  old,  and  Jewish  and 
Christian  settlements,  which  must  have  made  a  deep  impression 
on  his  youthful  imagination. 

!Mohammcd  made  a  scanty  living  as  an  attendant  on  caravans 
and  by  watching  sheep  and  goats.  The  latter  is  rather  a  disre- 
putable occupation  among  the  Arabs,  and  left  to  unmarried 
women  and  slaves ;  but  he  afterwards  gloried  in  it  by  appealing 
to  the  example  of  Moses  and  David,  and  said  that  God  never 
calls  a  prophet  who  has  not  been  a  shepherd  before.  According 
to  tradition — for,  owing  to  the  strict  prohibition  of  images,  we 
have  no  likeness  of  the  prophet — he  was  of  medium  size,  rather 
slender,  but  broad-shouldered  and  of  strong  muscles,  had  black 
eyes  and  hair,  an  oval-shaped  face,  white  teeth,  a  long  nose,  a 
patriarchal  beard,  and  a  commanding  look.  His  step  was  quick 
and  firm.  He  wore  wliite  cotton  stuff,  but  on  festive  occa- 
sions fine  linen  striped  or  dyed  in  red.  He  did  everything 
for  liimself ;  to  the  last  he  mended  his  own  clothes,  and  cobbled 
his  sandals,  and  aided  his  wives  in  sewing  and  cooking.  He 
laughed  and  smiled  often.  He  had  a  most  fertile  imagination 
and  a  genius  for  poetry  and  religion,  but  no  learning.  He  was 
an  "  illiterate  prophet,"  in  this  respect  resembling  some  of  the 

'  Sprenger  has  a  long  chapter  on  this  disease  of  Mohammed,  which  he  calls 
with  Schonlein,  hysteria  museularis,  I.  207-268. 


§  42.  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  MOHAMMED.  163 

prophets  of  Israel  and  the  fishermen  of  Galilee.  It  is  a  dis- 
puted question  among  Moslem  and  Christian  scholars  whether 
he  could  even  read  and  write.^  Probably  he  could  not.  He 
dictated  the  Koran  from  inspiration  to  his  disciples  and  clerks. 
What  knowledge  he  possessed,  he  picked  up  on  the  way  from 
intercourse  with  men,  from  hearing  books  read,  and  especially 
from  his  travels. 

In  his  twenty-fifth  year  he  married  a  rich  widow,  Chadijah 
(or  Chadidsha),  who  was  fifteen  years  older  than  himself,  and 
who  had  previously  hired  him  to  carry  on  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness of  her  former  husband.  Her  father  was  opposed  to  the 
match ;  but  she  made  and  kept  him  drunk  until  the  ceremony 
was  completed.  He  took  charge  of  her  caravans  with  great  suc- 
cess, and  made  several  journeys.  The  marriage  was  happy  and 
fruitful  of  six  children,  two  sons  and  four  daughters ;  but  all 
died  except  little  F4tima,  who  became  the  mother  of  innumera- 
ble legitimate  and  illegitimate  descendants  of  the  prophet.  He 
also  adopted  Ali,  whose  close  connection  with  him  became  so 
important  in  the  history  of  Islam.  He  was  faithful  to  Chadi- 
jah, and  held  her  in  grateful  remembrance  after  her  death.-  He 
used  to  say,  "  Chadijah  believed  in  me  when  nobody  else  did." 
He  married  afterwards  a  number  of  wives,  who  caused  him 
much  trouble  and  scandal.  His  favorite  wife,  Ayesha,  was  more 
jealous  of  the  dead  Chadijah  than  any  of  her  twelve  or  more 

^  Sprenger  discusses  the  question,  and  answers  it  in  the  affirmative,  Vol.  JI. 
398  sqq.  The  Koran  (29)  says:  "Formerly  [before  I  sent  down  the  book,  i.  e. 
the  Koran]  thou  didst  not  read  any  book  nor  write  one  with  thy  right  hand." 
From  this,  some  Moslems  infer  that  after  the  reception  of  the  Koran,  he  was 
supematurally  taught  to  read  and  write ;  but  others  hold  that  he  was  ignorant 
of  both.  Syed  Ahmed  Khan  Bahador  says :  "  Not  the  least  doubt  now  exists 
that  the  Prophet  was  wholly  unacquainted  with  the  art  of  writing,  being  also, 
as  a  matter  of  course  (?),  unable  to  read  the  hand- writing  of  others ;  for  which  rea- 
son, and  for  this  only,  he  was  called  Ummee"  (illiterate). 

'  Sprenger  attributes  his  faithfulness  to  Chadyga  (as  he  spells  the  name)  not 
to  his  merit,  but  to  his  dependence.  She  kept  her  fortune  under  her  own  con- 
trol, and  gave  him  only  as  much  as  he  needed. 


1(34  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

liviu*'-  rivals,  for  he  constantly  held  up  the  toothless  old  woman 
as  the  model  of  a  wife. 

On  his  commercial  journeys  to  Syria,  he  became  acquainted 
with  Jews  and  Christians,  and  acquired  an  imperfect  knowledge 
of  their  traditions.  He  spent  much  of  his  time  in  retirement, 
prayer,  fiistinfj,  and  meditation.  He  had  violent  convulsions 
and  epileptic  fits,  which  his  enemies,  and  at  first  he  himself, 
traced  to  demoniacal  possessions,  but  afterwards  to  the  over- 
powering presence  of  God.  His  soul  was  fired  with  the  idea  of 
the  divine  unity,  which  became  his  ruling  passion;  and  then  he 
awolcc  to  the  bold  thought  that  he  was  a  messenger  of  God, 
called  to  warn  his  countrymen  to  escape  the  judgment  and  the 
damnation  of  hell  by  forsaking  idolatry  and  worshipping  the 
only  true  God.  His  monotheistic  enthusiasm  was  disturbed, 
though  not  weakened,  by  his  ignorance  and  his  imperfect  sense 
of  the  difference  between  right  and  wrong. 

In  his  fortieth  year  (A.D.  610),  he  received  the  call  of  Ga- 
briel, the  archangel  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  who  announced 
the  birth  of  the  Saviour  to  the  Virgin  Mary.  The  first  revela- 
tion was  made  to  him  in  a  trance  in  the  wild  solitude  of  Mount 
Hira,  an  hour's  walk  from  Mecca.  He  was  directed  "  to  cry  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord."  He  trembled,  as  if  something  dreadful 
had  happened  to  him,  and  hastened  home  to  his  wife,  who  told 
him  to  rejoice,  for  he  Avould  be  the  prophet  of  his  people.  He 
waited  for  other  visions;  but  none  came.  He  went  up  to  Mount 
Hira  again — this  time  to  commit  suicide.  But  as  often  as  he 
approached  the  precij)icc,  he  beheld  Gabriel  at  the  end  of  the 
horizon  saying  to  him  :  "  I  am  Gabriel,  and  thou  art  Moham- 
med, the  prophet  of  God.  Fear  not !"  He  then  commenced 
his  career  of  a  prophet  and  founder  of  a  new  religion,  which 
coml)incd  various  elements  of  the  three  religions  represented 
in  Arabia,  but  was  animated  and  controlled  by  the  fiiith  in 
Allah,  as  an  almighty,  ever-present  and  working  Avill,  From 
this  time  on,  his  life  was  enacted  before  the  eyes  of  the  world, 
and  is  embodied  in  his  deeds  and  in  the  Koran. 


§  42.  LIFE  AND  CHAEACTER  OF  MOHAMMED.  165 

The  revelations  coutinued  from  time  to  time  for  more  than 
twenty  years.  When  asked  how  they  were  delivered  to  him, 
he  replied  (as  reported  by  Ayesha) :  "  Sometimes  like  the  sound 
of  a  bell — a  kind  of  communication  which  was  very  severe  for 
me ;  and  when  the  sounds  ceased,  I  found  myself  aware  of  the 
instructions.  And  sometimes  the  angel  would  come  in  the  form 
of  a  man,  and  converse  with  me,  and  all  his  words  I  remem- 
bered." 

After  his  call,  Mohammed  labored  first  for  three  years  among 
his  family  and  friends,  under  great  discouragements,  making 
about  forty  converts,  of  whom  his  wife  Chadijah  was  the  first, 
his  father-in-law,  Abu  Bakr,  and  the  young,  energetic  Omar 
the  most  important.  His  daughter  Fatima,  his  adopted  son  Ali, 
and  his  slave  Zayd  likewise  believed  in  his  divine  mission. 
Then  he  publicly  announced  his  determination  to  assume  by 
command  of  God  the  office  of  prophet  and  lawgiver,  preached 
to  the  pilgrims  flocking  to  Mecca,  attacked  IMeccan  idolatry, 
reasoned  with  his  opponents,  answered  their  demand  for  mira- 
cles by  producing  the  Koran  "  leaf  by  leaf,"  as  occasion  de- 
manded, and  provoked  persecution  and  civil  commotion.  He 
was  forced  in  the  year  622  to  flee  for  his  life  with  his  followers 
from  Mecca  to  Medina  (El-Medina  an-Nabi,  the  City  of  the  Pro- 
phet), a  distance  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  North,  or  ten 
days'  journey  over  the  sands  and  rocks  of  the  desert. 

This  flight  or  emigration,  called  Hegira  or  Hichhra,  marks 
the  beginning  of  his  wonderful  success,  and  of  the  Mohammedan 
era  (July  15,  622).  He  was  recognized  in  Medina  as  prophet 
and  lawgiver.  At  first  he  proclaimed  toleration :  "  Let  there 
be  no  compulsion  in  religion ;"  but  afterwards  he  revealed  the 
opposite  principle  that  all  unbelievers  must  be  summoned  to 
Islam,  tribute,  or  the  sword.  With  an  increasing  army  of  his 
enthusiastic  followers,  he  took  the  field  against  his  enemies, 
gained  in  624  his  first  victory  over  the  Koreish  with  an  army 
of  305  (mostly  citizens  of  Medina)  against  a  force  twice  as 
large,  conquered  several  Jewish  and  Christian  tribes,  ordered 


IQQ  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A. D.  590-1049. 

and  watched  in  person  the  massacre  of  six  hundred  Jews  in  one 
day/  while  their  wives  and  children  were  sold  into  slavery 
(627),  triumphantly  entered  Mecca  (630),  demolished  the  three 
hundred  and  sixty  idols  of  the  Kaaba,  and  became  master  of 
Arabia.  The  Koreish  were  overawed  by  his  success,  and  now 
shouted :  "  There  is  but  one  God,  and  Mohammed  is  his  prophet." 
The  various  tribes  were  melted  into  a  nation,  and  their  old 
hereditary  feuds  changed  into  a  common  fanatical  hatred  of  the 
infidels,  as  the  followers  of  all  other  religions  were  called.  The 
last  chapter  of  the  Koran  commands  the  remorseless  extermina- 
tion of  all  idolaters  in  Arabia,  unless  they  submit  within  four 
months. 

In  the  tenth  year  of  the  Hegira,  the  prophet  made-  his  last 
pilgrimage  to  INIecca  at  the  head  of  forty  thousand  Moslems, 
instructed  them  in  all  important  ordinances,  and  exhorted  them 
to  protect  the  weak,  the  poor,  and  the  women,  and  to  abstain 
from  usury.     He  planned  a  large  campaign  against  the  Greeks. 

But  soon  after  his  return  to  Medina,  he  died  of  a  violent  fever 
in  the  house  and  the  arms  of  Ayesha,  June  8,  632,  in  the  sixty- 
third  year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried  on  the  spot  where  he  died, 
which  is  now  enclosed  by  a  mosque.  He  suifered  great  pain, 
cried  and  wailed,  turned  on  his  couch  in  despair,  and  said  to  his 
wives  when  they  expressed  their  surprise  at  his  conduct :  "  Do 
ye  not  know  that  prophets  have  to  suifer  more  than  all  others? 
One  was  eaten  up  by  vermin ;  another  died  so  poor  that  he 
had  nothing  but  rags  to  cover  his  shame;  but  their  reward 
will  be  all  the  greater  in  the  life  beyond."  Among  his  last 
utterances -vvere :  "The  Lord  destroy  the  Jews  and  Christians! 
Let  his  anger  be  kindled  against  those  that  turn  the  tombs 
of  their  prophets  into  places  of  worship!  O  Lord,  let  not 
my  tomb  be  an  object  of  Avorship !  Let  there  not  remain  any 
faith  but  that  of  Islam  throughout  the  whole  of  Arabia.  .  .  . 
Gabriel,  come  close  to  me!     Lord,  grant  me  pardon  and  join 

■  So  Sprenger,  III.  221.     Others  give  seven  hundred  and  ninety  as  the  num- 
ber of  Jews  who  were  beheaded  in  a  ditch. 


5  42.  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  MOHAMMED.  167 

me  to  thy  companionship  on  high !  Eternity  in  paradise ! 
Pardon  !    Yes,  the  blessed  companionship  on  high !"  ^ 

Omar  would  not  believe  that  Mohammed  was  dead,  and  pro- 
claimed in  ^the  mosque  of  Medina :  "  The  prophet  has  only 
swooned  away;  he  shall  not  die  until  he  have  rooted  out  every 
hypocrite  and  unbeliever."  But  Abu  Bakr  silenced  him  and 
said :  "  Whosoever  worshij)S  Mohammed,  let  him  knoAV  that 
Mohammed  is  dead ;  but  whosoever  worships  God,  let  him 
know  that  the  Lord  liveth,  and  will  never  die."  Abu  Bakr, 
whom  he  had  loved  most,  was  chosen  Calif,  or  Successor  of 
Mohammed. 

Later  tradition,  and  even  the  earliest  biography,  ascribe  to  the 
prophet  of  Mecca  strange  miracles,  and  surround  his  name  with 
a  mythical  halo  of  glory.  He  was  saluted  by  walking  trees 
and  stones;  he  often  made  by  a  simple  touch  the  udders  of  dry 
goats  distend  with  milk ;  he  caused  floods  of  water  to  well  up 
from  the  parched  ground,  or  gush  forth  from  empty  vessels,  or 
issue  from  betwixt  the  fingers;  he  raised  the  dead;  he  made  a 
night  journey  on  his  steed  Borak  through  the  air  from  Mecca  to 
Jerusalem,  from  Jerusalem  to  paradise  and  the  mansions  of  the 
prophets  and  angels,  and  back  again  to  Mecca."  But  he  himself, 
in  several  passages  of  the  Koran,  expressly  disclaims  the  power 
of  miracles;  he  appeals  to  the  internal  proofs  of  his  doctrine, 
and  shields  himself  behind  the  providence  of  God,  M'ho  refuses 
those  signs  which  might  diminish  the  merit  of  faith  and  aggra- 
vate the  guilt  of  unbelief.^ 

^  See  Sprenger,  III.  552  sqq. ,  Muir,  IV.  270  sqq. 

^  This  absurd  story,  circumstantially  described  by  Abulfeda,  is  probably  based 
on  a  dream  which  Mohammed  himself  relates  in  the  Koran,  Sura  17,  entitled 
The  Night  Journey :  "  Glory  be  to  Him  who  carried  his  servant  by  night  from 
the  sacred  temple  of  Mecca  to  the  temple  that  is  remote"  [i.  e.  in  Jerusalem], 
In  the  Dome  of  the  Rock  on  Mount  Moriah,  the  hand-prints  of  the  angel  Ga- 
briel are  shown  in  the  mysterious  rock  which  attempted  to  follow  Mohammed 
to  its  native  quarry  in  Paradise,  but  was  kept  back  by  the  angel ! 

'See  an  interesting  essay  on  the  "Miracles  of  Mohammed"  in  Tholuck's 
3fisccllaneous  Essays  (1S39),  Vol.  I.,  pp.  1-27.  Also  Muir,  L,  pp.  65  sqq.; 
Sprenger,  II.  413  sqq. 


X68  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Character  of  Mohammed. 

The  Koran,  if  clironologically  arranged,  must  be  regarded  as 
the  best  commentary  on  his  character.  While  his  followers  re- 
gard him  to  this  day  as  the  greatest  prophet  of  God,  he  was  long 
abhorred  in  Christendom  as  a  wicked  impostor,  as  the  antichrist, 
or  tlie  false  prophet,  predicted  in  the  Bible,  and  inspired  by  the 
father  of  lies. 

The  calmer  judgment  of  recent  historians  inclines  to  the  be- 
lief that  he  combined  the  good  and  bad  qualities  of  an  Oriental 
chief,  and  that  in  the  earlier  part  of  his  life  he  was  a  sincere 
reformer  and  enthusiast,  but  after  the  establishment  of  his  king- 
dom a  slave  of  ambition  for  conquest.  He  was  a  better  man  in 
the  period  of  his  adversity  and  persecution  at  Mecca,  than  during 
liis  prosperity  and  triumph  at  Medina.  History  records  many 
examples  of  characters  rising  from  poverty  and  obscurity  to 
greatness,  and  tlien  decaying  under  the  sunshine  of  wealth  and 
power.  He  degenerated,  like  Solomon,  but  did  not  repent,  like 
the  preaclier  of  "vanity  of  vanities."  He  had  a  melancholic 
and  nervous  temperament,  liable  to  fantastic  hallucinations  and 
alternations  of  liigli  excitement  and  deep  depression,  bordering 
at  times  on  despair  and  suicide.  The  story  of  his  early  and  fre- 
quent epileptic  fits  throws  some  light  on  his  revelations,  during 
which  he  sometimes  growled  like  a  camel,  foamed  at  his  mouth, 
and  streamed  M'ith  perspiration.  He  ])elieved  in  evil  spirits, 
omens,  charms,  and  dreams.  His  mind  was  neither  clear  nor 
sharji,  but  strong  and  fervent,  and  under  the  influence  of  an  exu- 
berant imagination.  He  was  a  poet  of  high  order,  and  the  Koran 
is  the  first  classic  in  Arabic  literature.  He  believed  himself 
to  be  a  pro])het,  irresistibly  impelled  by  supernatural  influence 
to  teach  and  warn  his  fellow-men.  He  started  with  the  over- 
powering conviction  of  the  unity  of  God  and  a  horror  of  idola- 
try, and  wished  to  rescue  his  countrymen  from  this  sin  of  sins 
and  from  the  terrors  of  the  judgment  to  come ;  but  gradually  he 
rose  above  the  office  of  a  national  reformer  to  that  of  the  founder 


2  42.  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  MOHAMMED.  169 

of  a  universal  religion,  which  was  to  absorb  the  other  religions, 
and  to  be  propagated  by  violence.  It  is  difficult  to  draw  the 
line  in  such  a  character  between  honest  zeal  and  selfish  ambition, 
the  fear  of  God  and  the  love  of  power  and  glory. 

He  despised  a  throne  and  a  diadem,  lived  with  his  wives  in 
a  row  of  low  and  homely  cottages  of  unbaked  bricks,  and  aided 
them  in  their  household  duties;  he  was  strictly  temperate  m  eat- 
ing and  drinking,  his  chief  diet  being  dates  and  water;  he  was 
not  ashamed  to  milk  his  goats,  to  mend  his  clothes  and  to  cobble 
his  shoes;  his  personal  property  at  his  death  amounted  to  some 
confiscated  lands,  fourteen   or  fifteen  slaves,  a  few  camels  and 
mules,  a  hundred  sheep,  and  a  rooster.     This  simplicity  of  a 
Bedouin  Sheikh  of  the  desert  contrasts  most  favorably  with  the 
luxurious  style  and  gorgeous  display  of  Mohammed's  successors, 
the  Califs  and  Sultans,  who  have  dozens  of  palaces  and  harems 
filled  with  eunuchs  and  women  that  know  nothing  beyond  the 
vanities  of  dress    and   etiquette  and   a   little  music.     He  was 
easy  of  access  to  visitors  who  approached  him  with  faith  and 
reverence;    patient,    generous,    and    (according    to    Ayesha)    as 
modest  and  bashful   "as  a   veiled   virgin."     But  towards  his 
enemies  he  was  cruel  and  revengeful.     He  did  not  shrink  from 
perfidy.     He  believed  in  the  use  of  the  sword  as  the  best  mis- 
sionarv,  and  was  utterly  unscrupulous  as  to  the  means  of  success. 
He  had  great  moral,  but  little  physical  courage;  he  braved  for_ 
thirteen  years  the  taunts  and  threats  of  the  people,  but  never 
exposed  himself  to  danger  in  battle,  although  he  always  accom- 

panied  his  forces.  . 

Mohammed  was  a  slave  of  sensual  passion.  Ayesha,  who  knew 
him  best  in  his  private  charaeter  and  habits,  used  to  say:  Ihe 
prophet  loved  three  things,  .vomen,  perfumes  and  food,-^he  had 
his  heart's  desire  of  the  two  first,  but  not  of  the  last.  The  mo- 
tives of  his  excess  in  polygamy  were  his  scnsnallty  wh.ch  grew 
with  his  years,  and  his  desire  for  male  offspring.  H.s  followers 
exeused  or  justified  him  by  the  examples  of  Abraham,  David 
and  Solomon,  and  by  tire  diffieulties  of  his  prophetic  office,  which 


170  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

were  so  great  tliat  God  gave  him  a  compensation  in  sexual  en- 
joyment, and  endowed  him  with  greater  capacity  than  thirty 
ordinary  men.  For  twenty-four  years  he  had  but  one  wife,  his 
beloved  Chadijah,  Avho  died  in  619,  aged  sixty-five,  but  only  two 
months  after  her  death  he  married  a  widow  named  Sawda  (April 
619),  and  gradually  increased  his  harem,  especially  during  the 
last  two  years  of  his  hfe.  When  he  heard  of  a  pretty  woman, 
says  Sprenger,  he  asked  her  hand,  but  was  occasionally  refused. 
He  had  at  least  fourteen  legal  wives,  and  a  number  of  slave  con- 
cubines besides.  At  his  death  he  left  nine  widows.  He  claimed 
special  revelations  which  gave  him  greater  liberty  of  sexual  indul- 
gence than  ordinary  Moslems  (who  are  restricted  to  four  wives), 
and  exempted  him  from  the  prohibition  of  marrying  near  rela- 
tives.' He  married  by  divine  command,  as  he  alleged,  Zeynab, 
the  wife  of  Zayd,  his  adopted  son  and  bosom-friend.  His  wives 
were  all  widows  except  Ayesha.  One  of  them  was  a  beautiful 
and  rich  Jewess ;  she  was  despised  by  her  sisters,  who  sueeringly 
said:  "  Pshaw,  a  Jewess!"  He  told  her  to  reply:  "Aaron  is  my 
father  and  Moses  my  uncle!"  Ayesha,  the  daughter  of  Abil 
Bakr,  was  his  especial  favorite.  He  married  her  when  she  was 
a  girl  of  nine  years,  and  he  fifty-three  years  old.  She  brought 
her  dc^ll-babies  with  her,  and  amused  and  charmed  the  j^rophet 
by  her  playfulness,  vivacity  and  wit.  She  could  read,  had  a  co-py 
of  the  Koran,  and  knew  more  about  theology,  genealogy  and 
poetry  than  all  the  other  widows  of  Mohammed.  He  announced 
that  she  would  be  his  wife  also  in  Paradise.  Yet  she  was  not 
free  from  suspicion  of  unfaithfulness  until  ho  received  a  revela- 

^  He  speaks  freely  of  this  subject  in  the  Koran,  Sur.  4,  and  33.  In  the  latter 
(Rodman's  transl.,  p.  568)  this  scandalous  passage  occurs:  "O  Prophet!  we 
allow  thee  thy  wives  whom  thou  hast  dowered,  and  the  slaves  whom  thy  right 
liand  possesseth  out  of  the  booty  which  God  hath  granted  thee,  and  the  daugh- 
ters of  thy  uncle,  and  of  tliv  paternal  and  maternal  aunts  who  fled  with  thee  to 
Medina,  and  any  believing  woman  who  hath  given  herself  up  to  the  Prophet, 
if  the  Propliet  desired  to  wed  her,  a  privilege  for  thee  above  the  rest  of  the  faith- 
ful." Afterwards  in  the  same  Sura  (p.  569)  he  says :  "  Ye  must  not  trouble  the 
Apostle  of  God,  nor  marry  his  wives  after  him  forever.  This  would  be  a  grave 
ofience  with  God." 


?  43.  THE  CONQUESTS  OF  ISLAM.  171 

tion  of  her  innocence.  After  his  death  she  was  the  most  sacred 
person  among  the  Moslems  and  the  highest  authority  on  religious 
and  legal  questions.  She  survived  her  husband  forty-seven 
years  and  died  at  Medina,  July  13,  678,  aged  sixty-seven  years.^ 

In  his  ambition  for  a  hereditary  dynasty,  Mohammed  was 
sadly  disappointed :  he  lost  his  two  sons  by  Chadijah,  and  a  third 
one  by  Mary  the  Egyptian,  his  favorite  concubine. 

To  compare  such  a  man  with  Jesus,  is  preposterous  and  even 
blasphemous.  Jesus  was  the  sinless  Saviour  of  sinners ;  Moham- 
med was  a  sinner,  and  he  knew  and  confessed  it.  He  falls  far 
below  Moses,  or  Elijah,  or  any  of  the  prophets  and  apostles  in 
moral  purity.  But  outside  of  the  sphere  of  revelation,  he  ranks 
with  Confucius,  and  Cakya  Muni  the  Buddha,  among  the 
greatest  founders  of  religions  and  lawgivers  of  nations. 

§  43.  The  Conquests  of  Islam. 

"  The  sword,"  says  Mohammed,  "  is  the  key  of  heaven  and 
hell ;  a  drop  of  blood  shed  in  the  cause  of  Allah,  a  night  spent 
in  arms,  is  of  more  avail  than  two  months  of  fasting  or  prayer : 
whosoever  falls  in  battle,  his  sins  are  forgiven,  and  at  the  day  of 
judgment  his  limbs  shall  be  supj^lied  by  the  Avings  of  angels  and 
cherubim."  This  is  the  secret  of  his  success.  Idolaters  had  to 
choose  between  Islam,  slavery,  and  death ;  Jews  and  Christians 
were  allowed  to  pm-chase  a  limited  toleration  by  the  payment  of 
tribute,  but  were  otherwise  kept  in  degrading  bondage.     History 

^  Sprenger,  III.  61-87,  gives  a  full  account  of  fourteen  wives  of  Mohammed, 
and  especially  of  Ayesha,  according  to  the  list  of  Zohry  and  Ibn  Saad.  Sprenger 
says,  p.  37:  "Der  Prophet  hatte  keine  Wohnung  fiir  sichselbst.  Sei7i  Hauptqicartier 
war  in  der  Hiitte  der  Ayischa  und  die  offcntlichen  Ge^chafte  verrichtete  er  in  der 
Moschee,  aber  er  hrachte  jede  Nacht  bei  einer  seiner  Frcmen  zu  und  war,  ivie  es 
scheint,  auch  ihr  Gast  beim  Essen.  Er  ging  aber  taglich,  wenn  er  bei  gvter  Laxine 
war,  bei  alien  seinen  Frauen  umher,  gab  jeder  einen  Kuss,  sprach  einige  Worte  und 
spielte  mil  ih\  Wir  haben  gesehen,  dass  seine  Familie  neun  Hi'dten  besass ;  dies 
war  auch  die  Anzahl  der  Frauen,  welche  er  bei  seinem  Tode  kinterliess.  Doch  gab 
es  Zeiten,  zu  denen  sein  Harem  starker  war.  Er  brachte  dann  einige  seiner  Schonen 
in  den  Hdnsern  von  Nachbarn  unter.  Es  kam  auch  vor,  dass  zivei  Frauen  eine 
Hiitte  bewohnten.    Stiefkinder  ivohnten,  so  lange  siejung  waren,  bei  ihren  Miittem." 


272  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

records  no  soldiers  of  greater  bravery  inspired  by  religion  than 
the  ^loslem  conquerors,  except  CromAvell's  Ironsides,  and  the 
Scotch  Covenanters,  who  fought  with  pui'er  motives  for  a  nobler 

cause. 

The  Califs,  Mohammed's  successors,  who  like  him  united  the 
priestly  and  kingly  dignity,  carried  on  his  conquests  with  the 
battle-cry :  "  Before  you  is  paradise,  behind  you  are  death  and 
hell."  Inspu-ed  by  an  intense  fanaticism,  and  aided  by  the  w^eak- 
ness  of  the  Byzantine  empire  and  the  internal  distractions  of  the 
Greek  Church,  the  wild  sous  of  the  desert,  who  were  content  with 
the  plainest  food,  and  disciplined  in  the  school  of  war,  hardship 
and  recklessness  of  life,  subdued  Palestine,  Syria,  and  Egypt, 
embracing  the  classical  soil  of  primitive  Christianity.  Thousands 
of  Christian  churches  in  the  patriarchal  dioceses  of  Jerusalem, 
Antioch  and  Alexandria,  were  ruthlessly  destroyed,  or  converted 
into  mosques.  Twenty-one  years  after  the  death  of  INIohammed  the 
Crescent  ruled  over  a  realm  as  large  as  the  Roman  Empire.  Even 
Constantinople  was  besieged  twice  (GG8  and  717),  although  in 
vain.  The  terrible  efficacy  of  the  newly  invented  "  Greek  fire," 
and  the  unusual  severity  of  a  long  winter  defeated  the  enemy, 
and  saved  Eastern  and  Northern  Europe  from  the  blight  of 
the  Koran.  A  large  number  of  nominal  Christians  who  had  so 
fiercely  quarreled  with  each  other  about  unfruitful  subtleties  of 
their  creeds,  surrendered  their  faith  to  the  conqueror.  In  707 
the  North  African  2)rovinces,  where  once  St.  Augustin  had 
directed  the  attention  of  the  church  to  the  highest  problems  of 
theology  and  religion,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Arabs. 

In  711  they  crossed  from  Africa  to  Spain  and  established  an 
independent  Califate  at  Cordova.  The  moral  degeneracy  and 
dissensions  of  the  "Western  Goths  facilitated  their  subjugation. 
Encouraged  by  such  success,  the  Arabs  crossed  the  Pyrenees  and 
boasted  that  they  would  soon  stable  their  horses  in  St.  Peter's 
cathedral  in  Rome,  but  the  defeat  of  Abd-er  Rahman  by  Charles 
!Martel  between  Poitiers  and  Tours  in  732 — one  hundred  and  ten 
years  after  the  Hegira — checked  their  progress  in  the  West,  and 


2  43.  THE  CONQUESTS  OF  ISLAM.  173 

\j^  1492 — the  same  year  iu  which  Columbus  discovered  a  new 
Coutiueut — Ferdinand  defeated  the  last  Moslem  army  in  Spain 
at  the  gates  of  Granada  and  drove  them  back  to  Africa.  The 
palace  and  citadel  of  the  Alhambra,  with  its  court  of  lions,  its 
delicate  arabesques  and  fretwork,  and  its  aromatic  gardens  and 
groves,  still  remains,  a  gorgeous  ruin  of  the  power  of  the  Moor- 
ish kings. 

In  the  East  the  Moslems  made  new  conquests.  In  the  ninth 
century  they  subdued  Persia,  Afghanistan,  and  a  large  part  of 
India.  They  reduced  the  followers  of  Zoroaster  to  a  few  scattered 
communities,  and  conquered  a  vast  territory  of  Brahminism  and 
Buddhism  even  beyond  the  Ganges.  The  Seliuk  Turks  in  the 
eleventh  century,  and  the  Mongols  in  the  thirteenth,  adopted  the 
religion  of  the  Califs  whom  they  conquered.  Constantinople 
fell  at  last  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks  in  1453,  and  the  magni- 
ficent church  of  St.  Sophia,  the  glory  of  Justinian's  reign,  was 
turned  into  a  mosque  where  the  Koran  is  read  instead  of  the 
Gospel,  the  reader  holding  the  drawn  scimetar  in  his  hand.  From 
Constantinople  the  Turks  threatened  the  German  empire,  and  it 
was  not  till  1683  that  they  were  finally  defeated  by  Sobieski  at 
the  gates  of  Vienna  and  driven  back  across  the  Danube. 

With  the  senseless  fury  of  fanaticism  and  pillage  the  Tartar 
Turks  have  reduced  the  fairest  portions  of  Eastern  Em-ope  to 
desolation  and  ruin.  With  sovereign  contempt  for  all  other 
religions,  they  subjected  the  Christians  to  a  condition  of  virtual 
servitude,  treating  them  like  "  dogs,"  as  they  call  them.  They  did 
not  intermeddle  with  their  internal  aifairs,  but  made  merchandise 
of  ecclesiastical  offices.  The  death  penalty  was  suspended  over 
every  attempt  to  convert  a  INIussulman.  Apostasy  from  the  fiiith 
is  also  treason  to  the  state,  and  merits  the  severest  punishment  in 
this  world,  as  well  as  everlasting  damnation  in  the  world  to  come. 

After  the  Crimean  war  in  1856,  the  death  penalty  for  apostasy 
was  nominally  abolished  in  the  dominions  of  the  Sultan,  and  in 
the  Berlin  Treaty  of  1878  liberty  of  religion  (more  than  mere 
toleration)  was  guaranteed  to  all  existing  sects  in  the  Turkish 


174  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

empire,  but  the  old  fanaticism  will  yield  only  to  superior  force ; 
and  the  guarantee  of  liberty  is  not  understood  to  imply  the  liberty 
of  propaganda  among  Moslems.  Christian  sects  have  liberty  to 
prey  on  each  other,  but  woe  to  them  if  they  invade  the  sacred 
province  of  Islam.^ 

A  Mohammedan  tradition  contains  a  curious  prophecy  that 
Christ,  the  son  of  Mary,  will  retui-n  as  the  last  Calif  to  judge 
the  world.2  -pije  impression  is  gaining  ground  among  the  Mos- 
lems that  they  Avill  be  unable  ultimately  to  withstand  the  steady 
progress  of  Christianity  and  Western  civilization.  The  Sultan, 
the  successor  of  the  Califs,  is  a  mere  shadow  on  the  throne 
trembling  for  his  life.  The  dissolution  of  the  Turkish  empirej 
which  may  be  looked  for  at  no  distant  future,  will  break  the 
backbone  of  Islam,  and  open  the  way  for  the  true  solution  of 
the  Eastern  question — the  moral  regeneration  of  the  Lands  of 
the  Bible  by  the  Christianity  of  the  Bible. 

§  44.  The  Koran,  and  the  Bible, 

"  Mohammed's  truth  lay  in  a  sacred  Book, 
Christ's  in  a  holy  Life." — Milnes  [Palm-Leaves). 

The  Koran  ^  is  the  sacred  book,  the  Bible  of  the  Mohamme- 
dans. It  is  their  creed,  their  code  of  laws,  their  liturgy.  It 
claims  to  be  the  product  of  divine  inspiration   by  the  arch- 

'  If  Protestant  missionaries  enjoy  more  toleration  and  liberty  in  Turkey  than 
in  Roman  Catholic  Austria  and  in  Greek  Catholic  Russia,  it  must  be  understood 
with  the  above  limitation.  Turkish  toleration  springs  from  proud  contempt  of 
Christianity  in  all  its  forms ;  Russian  and  Austrian  intolerance,  from  despotism 
and  bigoted  devotion  to  a  particular  form  of  Christianity. 

'  Among  the  traditional  sayings  of  Mohammed  is  this  (Gerock,  I.  c,  p.  132) : 
"  I  am  nearest  to  Jesus,  both  as  to  the  beginning  and  the  end ;  for  there  is  no 
propliet  between  me  and  Jesus ;  and  at  the  end  of  time  he  will  be  my  repre- 
sentative and  my  successor.  The  prophets  are  all  brethren,  as  they  have  one 
father,  though  their  mothers  are  different.  The  origin  of  all  their  religions  is 
the  same,  and  between  me  and  Jesus  there  is  no  other  prophet." 

'  Arabic  qurdn,  i.  e.  the  reading  or  that  which  should  be  read,  the  book.  It 
is  read  over  and  over  again  in  all  the  mosques  and  schools. 


I  44.  THE  KOEAN,  AND  THE  BIBLE.  175 

angel  Gabriel,  who  performed  the  function  assigned  to  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  Scriptures.^  The  Mohammedans  distinguish 
two  kinds  of  revelations:  those  which  were  literally  delivered  as 
spoken  by  the  angel  (called  Wahee  Matloo,  or  the  word  of  God), 
and  those  which  give  the  sense  of  the  inspired  instruction  in  the 
prophet's  own  words  (called  Wahee  Ghaw  Matloo,  or  Hadees). 
The  prophet  is  named  only  five  times,  but  is  addressed  by 
Gabriel  all  through  the  book  with  the  word  Say,  as  the  reci- 
pient and  sacred  penman  of  the  revelations.  It  consists  of  114 
Suras  ==  and  6,225  verses.  Each  Sura  (except  the  ninth)  begins 
with  the  formula  (of  Jewish  origin) :  "  In  the  name  of  Allah, 
the  God  of  Mercy,  the  Merciful."  ^ 

1  Sura  53  (Kodwell,  p.  64) : 
"The  Koran  is  no  other  than  a  revelation  revealed  to  him: 
One  terrible  in  power  [Gabriel,  i.  e.  the  Strong  one  of  God]  taught  it  him. 
Endued  with  wisdom,  with  even  balance  stood  he 
In  the  highest  part  of  the  horizon. 
He  came  nearer  and  approached, 
And  was  at  the  distance  of  two  bows,  or  even  closer, — 
And  he  revealed  to  his  servant  what  he  revealed." 

1  add  the  view  of  a  learned  modern  Mohammedan,  Syed  Ahmed  Khan  Ba- 
hador,  who  says  {l.  c,  Essay  on  the  Holy  Koran) :  "The  Holy  Koran  was  deli- 
vered to  Mohammed  neither  in  the  form  of  graven  tablets  of  stone,  nor  in  that 
of  cloven  tongues  of  lire;  nor  was  it  necessary  that  the  followers  of  Mohammed, 
like  those  of  Moses,  should  be  furnished  with  a  copy  or  counterpart,  in  case  the 
original  should  be  lost.  No  mystery  attended  the  delivery  of  it,  for  it  was  on 
Moliammed's  heart  that  it  was  engraven,  and  it  was  with  his  tongue  that  it  was 
communicated  to  all  Arabia.  The  heart  of  Mohammed  was  the  Sinai  where  he 
received  the  revelation,  and  his  tablets  of  stone  were  the  hearts  of  true  believers." 

2  Sura  means  either  revelation,  or  chapter,  or  part  of  a  chapter.  The  Mo- 
hammedan commentators  refer  it  primarily  to  the  succession  of  subjects  or  parts, 
like  the  rows  of  bricks  in  a  wall.  The  titles  of  the  Suras  are  generally  taken 
from  some  leading  topic  or  word  in  each,  as  "The  Sun,"  "The  Star,"  "The 
Charges,"  "The  Scattering,"  "The  Adoration,"  "The  Spider,"  "Women, 
"Hypocrites,"  "Light,"  "Jonas,"  "The  Cave,"  "The  Night  Journey,"  "The 
Cow,"  "The  Battle,"  "The  Victory." 

3  "Bismillahi  Wrahonani  'rrahim."  According  to  the  Ulama  (the  professors 
of  religion  and  law),  "God  of  mercy"  means  merciful  in  great  thmgs;  "the 
Merciful"  means  merciful  in  small  things.  But,  according  to  E.  W.  Lane, 
"the  first  expresses  an  occasional  sensation,  the  second  a  constant  quality."  In 
other  words,  the  one  refers  to  acts,  the  other  to  a  permanent  attribute. 


176  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  Koran  is  composed  in  imperfect  metre  and  rhyme  (which 
is  as  natural  and  easy  in  the  Arabic  as  in  the  Italian  language). 
Its  language  is  considered  the  purest  Arabic.  Its  poetry  some- 
what resembles  Hebrew  poetry  in  Oriental  imagery  and  a  sort 
of  parallelism  or  correspondence  of  clauses,  but  it  loses  its  charm 
in  a  translation;  while  the  Psalms  and  Prophets  can  be  repro- 
duced in  any  language  without  losing  their  original  force  and 
beautv.  The  Koran  is  held  in  superstitious  veneration,  and  was 
reo-arded  till  recently  as  too  sacred  to  be  translated  and  to  be 
sold  like  a  common  book.^ 

Mohammed  prepared  and  dictated  the  Koran  from  time  to 
time  as  he  received  the  revelations  and  progressed  in  his  career, 
not  for  readers,  but  for  hearers,  leaving  much  to  the  suggestive 
action  of  the  public  recital,  either  from  memory  or  from  cof)ies 
taken  down  by  his  friends.  Pleuce  its  occasional,  fragmentary 
character.  About  a  year  after  his  death,  at  the  direction  of 
Abu-Bakr,  his  father-in-law  and  immediate  successor,  Zayd, 
the  chief  ansar  or  amanuensis  of  the  Prophet,  collected  the 
scattered  fragments  of  the  Koran  "from  palm-leaves,  and  tab- 
lets of  white  stone,  and  from  the  breasts  of  men,"  but  ^^•ithout 
any  regard  to  chronological  order  or  continuity  of  subjects. 
Abu-Bakr  committed  this  copy  to  the  custody  of  Haphsa,  one 
of  JNlohammed's  widoAvs.  It  remained  the  standard  during  the 
ten  years  of  Omar's  califate.  As  the  different  readings  of 
copies  occasioned  serious  disputes,  Zayd,  with  several  Korcish, 
was  commissioned  to  secure  the  purity  of  the  text  in  the  IMeccan 
dialect,  and  all  previous  copies  were  called  in  and  burned.  The 
recension  of  Zayd  has  been  handed  doM'u  with  scrupulous  care 
unaltered  to  this  day,  and  various  readings  are  almost  ludvuown ; 
the  differences  being  confined  to  the  vowel-points,  which  were 

'  Tliese  scruples  are  gradually  giving  way,  at  least  in  India,  wliere  "printed 
copies,  with  inter-lineal  vrrsions  in  Persian  and  Urdoo— too  literal  to  be  intel- 
ligihle— are  commonly  used."  IMuir,  The  Cor&n,  p.  48.  The  manuscript  copies 
in  tiie  mosques,  in  the  library  of  the  Khedive  in  Cairo,  and  in  many  European 
libraries,  are  equal  in  caligraphic  beauty  to  the  finest  mediaeval  manuscripts  of 
the  Bible. 


g  44.  THE  KORAN,  AND  THE  BIBLE.  177 

invented  at  a  later  period.  The  Koran  contains  many  inconsis- 
tencies and  contradictious;  but  tlie  expositors  hold  that  the  later 
command  supersedes  the  earlier. 

The  restoration  of  the  chronological  order  of  the  Suras  is  neces- 
sary for  a  proper  understandingV  the  gradual  development  of 
Islam  in  the  mind  and  character  a/  its  author.'  There  is  a  con- 
siderable difference  betAA^een  the  Suras  of  the  earlier,  middle,  and 
later  periods.  In  the  earlier,  the  poetic,  wild,  and  rhapsodical  ele- 
ment predominates;  in  the  middle,  the  prosaic,  narrative,  and 
missionary;  in  the  later,  the  official  and  legislative.  Mohammed 
began  with  descriptions  of  natm-al  objects,  of  judgment,  oriieaven 
and  hell,  impassioned,  fragmentary  utterances,  mostly  in  brief 
sentences ;  he  went  on  to  dogmatic  assertions,  historical  statements 
from  Jewish  and  Christian  sources,  missionary  appeals  and  per- 
suasions ;  and  he  ended  with  the  dictatorial  commands  of  a 
legislator  and  warrior.  "  He  who  at  INIecca  is  the  admonisher 
and  persuader,  at  Medina  is  the  legislator  and  the  warrior,  who 
dictates  obedience,  and  uses  other  weapons  than  the  pen  of  the 
poet  and  the  scribe.  When  business  pressed,  as  at  Medina, 
poetry  makes  way  for  prose,^  and  although  touches  of  the  poeti- 
cal element  occasionally  break  forth,  and  he  has  to  defend  him- 
self up  to  a  very  late  period  against  the  charge  of  being  merely 
a  poet,  yet  this  is  rarely  the  case  in  the  Medina  Suras;  and  we 
are  startled  by  finding  obedience  to  God  and  the  Apostle,  God's 
gifts  and  the  Apostle^ s,  God's  pleasure  and  the  Apostle's,  spoken 
of  in  the  same  breath,  and  epithets,  and  attributes,  applied  to 
Allah,  openly  applied  to  Mohammed,  as  in  Sura  IX." '^ 

^  The  present  order,  says  Miiir  {Cordn,  p.  41),  is  almost  a  direct  inversion  of 
the  natural  chronological  order ;  the  longest  which  mostly  belong  to  the  later 
period  of  Mohammed,  being  placed  first,  and  the  shortest  last.  "Weil,  Sprenger, 
and  Muir  have  paid  much  attention  to  the  chronological  arrangement.  N61- 
deke  also,  in  his  Geschichte  des  Qorans,  has  fixed  the  order  of  the  Suras,  with  a 
reasonable  degree  of  certainty  on  the  basis  of  Mohammedan  traditions  and  a 
searching  analysis  of  the  text;  and  he  has  been  mainly  followed  by  Rodwell  in 
his  English  version. 

^  Tlie  ornament  of  metre  and  rhyme,  however,  is  preserved  throughout. 

s  Rodwell,  p.  X.    Couip.  Deutsch,  I.  c,  p.  121. 
12 


178  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049, 

The  materials  of  tlic  Koran,  as  far  as  they  are  not  productions 
of  tlic  author's  own  imagination,  were  derived  from  the  floating 
traditions  of  Arabia  and  Syria,  from  rabbinical  Judaism,  and  a 
corrupt  Christianity,  and  adjusted  to  his  purposes. 

Mohammed  had,  in  his  travels,  come  in  contact  with  profes- 
sors of  different  religions,  and  on  his  first  journey  with  camel- 
drivers  he  fell  in  with  a  Ncstorian  monk  of  Bostra,  wdio  goes 
by  different  names  (Bohari,  Bahyra,  Sergius,  George),  and  wel- 
comed the  youthful  prophet  with  a  presage  of  his  future  great- 
ness.^ His  wife  Chadijah  and  her  cousin  Waraka  (a  reputed 
convert  to  Christianity,  or  more  probably  a  Jew)  are  said  to 
have  been  well  acquainted  with  the  sacred  books  of  the  Jews 
and  the  Christians. 

The  Koran,  especially  in  the  earlier  Suras,  speaks  often  and 
highly  of  the  Scriptures;  calls  them  "the  Book  of  God,"  "the 
Word  of  God,"  "the  Tourat"  (Thora,  the  Pentateuch),  "the 
Gospel"  (Ynyil), and  describes  the  Jews  and  Christians  as  "the 
people  of  the  Book,"  or  "of  the  Scripture,"  or  "of  the  Gospel." 
It  finds  in  the  Scriptures  prophecies  of  Mohammed  and  his  suc- 
cess, and  contains  narratives  of  the  fall  of  Adam  and  Eve,  Noah 
and  the  Deluge,  Abraham  and  Lot,  the  destruction  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah,  Moses  and  Joseph,  John  the  Baptist,  the  Virgin 
Mary  and  Jesus,  sometimes  in  the  words  of  the  Bible,  but  mostly 
distorted  and  interspersed  with  rabbinical  and  apocryphal  fables.^ 

It  is  quite  probable  that  portions  of  the  Bible  were  read  to  Mo- 
hammed ;  but  it  is  very  improbable  that  he  read  it  himself;  for 
according  to  the  prevailing  Moslem  tradition  he  could  not  read 
at  all,  and  there  were  no  Arabic  translations  before  the  Moham- 
medan conquests,  which  spread  the  Arabic  language  in  the  con- 
quered countries.  Besides,  if  he  had  read  the  Bible  wdtli  any 
degree  of  care,  he  could  not  have  made  such  egregious  blunders. 

1  Muir,  Life  of  Moh.,  I.  35 ;  Stanley,  p.  366. 

'  See  a  collection  of  these  correspondences  in  the  original  Arabic  and  in 
English  in  Sir  'WiHiam  Muir's  Goran,  pp.  66  sqq.  Muir  concludes  that  Mo- 
hammed knew  the  Bible,  and  believed  in  its  divine  origin  and  authority. 


2  44.  THE  KORAN  AND  THE  BIBLE.  179 

The  few  allusions  to  Scripture  phraseology — as  "giving  alms  to 
be  seen  of  men,"  "  none  forgiveth  sins  but  God  only  " — may 
be  derived  from  personal  intercom-se  and  popular  traditions. 
Jesus  [Isa)  is  spoken  of  as  "  the  Son  of  INIary,  strengthened 
by  the  Holy  Spirit."  Noah  {Nah),  Abraham  {Ib7^ahym),  Moses 
(3Iusa),  Aaron  (Hanm),  are  often  honorably  mentioned,  but 
apparently  always  from  imperfect  traditional  or  apocryphal 
sources  of  information.^ 

The  Koran  is  unquestionably  one  of  the  great  books  of  the 
world.  It  is  not  only  a  book,  but  an  institution,  a  code  of  civil 
and  religious  laws,  claiming  divine  origin  and  authority.  It 
has  left  its  impress  upon  ages.  •  It  feeds  to  this  day  the  devo- 
tions, and  regulates  the  private  and  public  life,  of  more  than  a 
hundred  millions  of  human  beings.  It  has  many  passages  of 
poetic  beauty,  religious  fervor,  and  wise  counsel,  but  mixed  with 
absurdities,  bombast,  unmeaning  images,  low  sensuality.  It 
abounds  in  repetitions  and  contradictions,  which  are  not  removed 
by  the  convenient  theory  of  abrogation.  It  alternately  attracts 
and  repels,  and  is  a  most  wearisome  book  to  read.  Gibbon  calls 
the  Koran  "a  glorious  testimony  to  the  unity  of  God,"  but  also, 
very  properly,  an  "endless,  incoherent  rhapsody  of  fable  and 
precept  and  declamation,  which  seldom  excites  a  sentiment  or 
idea,  which  sometimes  crawls  in  the  dust,  and  is  sometimes  lost 

1  Muir  {Life,  II.  313,  278)  and  Stanley  (p.  366)  adduce,  as  traces  of  a  faint 
knowledge  of  the  Canonical  Gospels,  the  account  of  the  birth  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist in  the  Koran,  and  the  assumption  by  Mohammed  of  the  name  of  Paradetus 
under  the  distorted  form  of  Peridytus,  the  Illustrious.  But  the  former  does  not 
strike  me  as  being  taken  from  St.  Luke,  else  he  could  not  have  made  such  a 
glaring  chronological  mistake  as  to  identify  Mary  with  Miriam,  the  sister  of 
Moses.  And  as  to  the  promise  of  the  Paraclete,  which  only  occurs  in  St.  John, 
it  certainly  must  have  passed  into  popular  tradition,  for  the  word  occurs  also 
in  the  Talmud.  If  Mohammed  had  read  St.  John,  he  must  have  seen  that  the 
Paraclete  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  would  have  identified  him  with  Gabriel, 
rather  than  with  himself.  Palmer's  opinion  is  that  Mohammed  could  neither 
read  nor  write,  but  acquired  his  knowledge  from  the  traditions  which  were 
then  current  in  Arabia  among  Jewish  and  Christian  tribes.  The  Qu.r'dn,  I., 
p.  xlvii. 


180  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

in  the  clouds." '  Reiske  "^  denounces  it  as  the  most  absui-d  book 
and  a  scourge  to  a  reader  of  sound  common  sense.  Goethe,  one 
of  the  best  judges  of  literary  and  poetic  merit,  characterizes  the 
style  as  severe,  great,  terrible,  and  at  times  truly  sublime. 
"  Detailed  injunctions,"  he  says,  "  of  things  allowed  and  forbid- 
den, legendary  stories  of  Jewish  and  Christian  religion,  amplifi- 
cations of  all  kinds,  boundless  tautologies  and  repetitions,  form 
the  body  of  this  sacred  volume,  which  to  us,  as  often  as  we 
approach  it,  is  repellent  anew,  next  attracts  us  ever  anew,  and 
fills  us  with  admiration,  and  finally  forces  us  into  veneration." 
He  finds  the  kernel  of  Islam  in  the  second  Sura,  where  belief 
and  unbelief  with  heaven  and  hell,  as  their  sure  reward,  are 
contrasted.  Carlyle  calls  the  Koran  "the  confused  ferment  of 
a  great  rude  human  soul;  rude,  untutored,  that  cannot  even 
read,  but  fervent,  earnest,  struggling  vehemently  to  utter  itself 
in  words ;"  and  says  of  Mohammedanism :  "  Call  it  not  false, 
look  not  at  the  falsehood  of  it;  look  at  the  truth  of  it.  For 
these  twelve  centuries  it  has  been  the  religion  and  life-guidance 
of  tlie  fifth  part  of  the  whole  kindred  of  mankind.  Above 
all,  it  has  been  a  religion  heartily  believed."  But  with  all  his 
admiration,  Carlyle  confesses  that  the  reading  of  the  Koran  in 
English  is  "as  toilsome  a  task"  as  he  ever  undertook.  "A 
wearisome,  confused  jumble,  crude,  incondite;  endless  iterations, 
long-windedness,  entanglement ;  insupportable  stupidity,  in 
short,  nothing  but  a  sense  of  duty  could  carry  any  European 
through  the  Koran.  We  read  it,  as  we  might  in  the  State- Paper 
Office,  unreadable  masses  of  lumber,  that  we  may  get  some 
glimpses  of  a  remarkable  man."  And  yet  there  are  Mohamme- 
dan doctors  who  are  reported  to  have  read  the  Koran  seventy- 
thousand  times!  What  a  difierence  of  national  and  religious 
taste !  Emanuel  Deutsch  finds  the  grandeur  of  the  Koran  chiefly 
in  its  Arabic  diction,  "  the  peculiarly  dignified,  impressive,  sono- 
rous nature  of  Semitic  sound  and   parlance;  its  sesquipedalia 

'  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  R.  E.,  Cli.  50. 
^  As  quoted  by  Tholuck. 


I   44.  THE  KORAN  AND  THE  BIBLE.        181 

verba,  with  their  crowd  of  prefixes  and  affixes,  each  of  them 
affirming  its  own  position,  while  consciously  bearing  upon  and 
influencing  the  central  root,  which  they  envelop  like  a  garment 
of  many  folds,  or  as  chosen  courtiers  move  round  the  anointed 
person  of  the  king."  E.  H.  Palmer  says  that  the  claim  of  the 
Koran  to  miraculous  eloquence,  however  absurd  it  may  sound 
to  Western  ears,  was  and  is  to  the  Arab  incontrovertible,  and  he 
accounts  for  the  immense  influence  which  it  has  always  exercised 
upon  the  Arab  mind,  by  the  fact,  "  that  it  consists  not  merely 
of  the  enthusiastic  utterances  of  an  individual,  but  of  the  popu- 
lar sayings,  choice  pieces  of  eloquence,  and  favorite  legends  cur- 
rent among  the  desert  tribes  for  ages  before  this  time.  Arabic 
authors  speak  frequently  of  the  celebrity  attained  by  the  ancient 
Arabic  orators,  such  as  Shaiban  Wail;  but  unfortunately  no 
specimens  of  their  works  have  come  down  to  us.  The  Qur'an, 
however,  enables  us  to  judge  of  the  speeches  which  took  so 
strong  a  hold  upon  their  countrymen."^ 

Of  all  books,  not  excluding  the  Yedas,  the  Koran  is  the  most 
powerful  rival  of  the  Bible,  but  falls  infinitely  below  it  in  con- 
tents and  form. 

Both  contain  the  moral  and  religious  code  of  the  nations 
which  own  it;  the  Koran,  like  the  Old  Testament,  is  also  a 
civil  and  political  code.  Both  are  oriental  in  style  and  imagery. 
Both  have  the  fresh  character  of  occasional  composition  growing 
out  of  a  definite  historical  situation  and  specific  wants.  But  the 
Bible  is  the  genuine  revelation  of  the  only  true  God  in  Christ, 
reconciling  the  world  to  himself;  the  Koran  is  a  mock-revela- 
tion without  Christ  and  without  atonement.  Whatever  is  true 
in  the  Koran  is  borrowed  from  the  Bible ;  what  is  original,  is 
false  or  frivolous.  The  Bible  is  historical  and  embodies  the 
noblest  aspirations  of  the  human  race  in  all  ages  to  the  final 
consummation ;  the  Koran  begins  and  stops  with  Mohammed. 
The  Bible  combines  endless  variety  with  unity,  universal  appli- 

^  The  Qur'an,  Introd.  I.,  p.  1, 


J 82  FOURTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

cability  with  local  adaptation ;  the  Koran  is  uniform  and  mono- 
tonous, confined  to  one  country,  one  state  of  society,  and  one 
class  of  minds.  The  Bible  is  the  book  of  the  world,  and  is 
constantly  travelling  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  carrying  spiritual 
food  to  all  races  and  to  all  classes  of  society;  the  Koran  stays 
in  the  Orient,  and  is  insipid  to  all  who  have  once  tasted  the 
true  word  of  the  living  God.^  Even  the  poetry  of  the  Koran 
never  rises  to  the  grandeur  and  sublimity  of  Job  or  Isaiah,  the 
lyric  beauty  of  the  Psalms,  the  sweetness  and  loveliness  of  the 
Song  of  Solomon,  the  sententious  wisdom  of  the  Proverbs,  and 
Ecclesiastes. 

A  few  instances  must  suffice  for  illustration. 

The  first  Sura,  called  "  the  Sura  of  Praise  and  Prayer,"  which 
is  recited  by  the  Mussulmans  several  times  in  each  of  the  five 
daily  devotions,  fills  for  them  the  place  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and 
contains  the  same  number  of  petitions.  We  give  it  in  a  rhymed, 
and  in  a  more  literal  translation : 

"In  the  name  of  Allah,  the  Merciful,  the  Compassionate  I 
Praise  be  to  Allah,  who  the  three  worlds  made, 
The  Merciful,  the  Compassionate, 
The  King  of  the  day  of  Fate, 

Thee  alone  do  we  worship,  and  of  Thee  alone  do  we  ask  aid. 
Guide  us  to  the  path  that  is  straight — 
The  path  of  those  to  whom  Thy  love  is  great, 
Not  those  on  whom  is  hate, 
Nor  they  that  deviate!  Amen." * 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  the  Compassionate,  the  Merciful. 
Praise  be  to  God,  Lord  of  the  worlds ! 
The  Compassionate,  the  Merciful ! 
King  on  the  day  of  judgment ! 

Thee  niihi  do  we  worship,  and  to  Thee  do  we  cry  for  help. 
Guide  Thou  us  on  the  right  path, 
Tlie  i)ath  of  those  to  whom  Thou  art  gracious  ; 
Not  of  those  with  whom  Thou  art  angered, 
Nor  of  those  who  go  astray."  ^ 

•  On  this  rliflTerence  Ewald  makes  some  good  remarks  in  the  first  volume  of 
his  Bibliad  Theology  (1871),  p.  418. 

*  Translated  liy  Lieut.  Burton. 

»  Rodwell,  The  Koran  (2nd  ed.,  1876),  p.  10. 


2  45.  THE  MOHAMMEDAN  KELIGION.  183 

We  add  the  most  recent  version  in  prose : 

"  In  the  name  of  the  merciful  and  compassionate  God. 

Praise  belongs  to  God,  the  Lord  of  the  worlds,  the  merciful,  the 
compassionate,  the  ruler  of  the  day  of  judgment !  Thee  we  serve  and 
Thee  we  ask  for  aid.  Guide  us  in  the  right  path,  the  path  of  those  Thou 
art  gracious  to ;  not  of  those  Thou  art  wroth  with  ;  nor  of  those  who  err."  ^ 

As  this  Sura  invites  a  comparison  with  the  Lord's  Prayer  infi- 
nitely to  the  advantage  of  the  latter,  so  do  the  Koran's  descrip- 
tions of  Paradise  when  contrasted  with  St.  John's  vision  of  the 
heavenly  Jerusalem : 

"Joyous  on  that  day  shall  be  the  inmates  of  Paradise  in  their  employ; 
In  shades,  on  bridal  couches  reclining,  they  and  their  spouses : 
Therein  shall  they  have  fruits,  and  whatever  they  require — 
'  Peace !'  shall  be  the  word  on  the  part  of  a  merciful  Lord. 
But  be  ye  separated  this  day,  O  ye  sinners!"  ^ 

****** 
"  The  sincere  servants  of  God 

A  stated  banquet  shall  they  have 

Of  fruits ;  and  honored  shall  they  be 

In  the  gardens  of  delight, 

Upon  couches  face  to  face. 

A  cup  shall  be  borne  round  among  them  from  a  fountain, 

Limpid,  delicious  to  those  who  drink  ; 

It  shall  not  oppress  the  sense,  nor  shall  they  therewith  be  drunken, 

And  with  them  are  the  large-eyed  ones  with  modest  refraining  glances, 
fair  like  the  sheltered  egg."  ^ 

§  45.   The  Mohammedan  Religion. 

Isl4m  is  not  a  new  religion,  nor  can  we  expect  a  new  one  after 
the  appearance  of  that  religion  which  is  perfect  and  intended  for 
all  nations  and  ages.  It  is  a  compound  or  mosaic  of  preexisting 
elements,  a  rude  attempt  to  combine  heathenism,  Judaism  and 
Christianity,  which  Mohammed  found  in  Arabia,  but  in  a  very 

^  E.  H.  Palmer,  The  Qur'dn,  Oxford,  1880,  Part  I.,  p.  1. 
2  Sura  36  (in  Kodwell,  p.  128). 

^  The  ostrich  egg  carefully  protected  from  dust.  Sura  37  (in  Eodwell,  p. 
69).     Brides  and  wives  always  figure  in  the  Mohammedan  Paradise. 


184  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

inipertect  form.'  It  is  professedly  a  restoration  of  the  faith  of 
Abraliani,  the  common  father  of  Isaac  and  of  Ishmael.  But  it 
is  not  the  genuine  faith  of  Abraham  with  its  Messianic  hopes 
and  a.-pirations  looking  directly  to  the  gospel  dispensation  as  its 
goal  and  fultilment,  but  a  bastard  Judaism  of  Ishmael,  and  the 
post-Christian  and  anti- Christian  Judaism  of  the  Talmud.  Still 
less  did  jSIohammed  know  the  pure  religion  of  Jesus  as  laid  down 
in  the  New  Testament,  but  only  a  perversion  and  caricature  of 
it,  such  as  we  find  in  the  A\Tetched  apocryphal  and  heretical 
Gospels.  This  ignorance  of  the  Bible  and  the  corruptions  of 
Eastern  Christianity  with  which  the  Mohammedans  came  in  con- 
tact, furnish  some  excuse  for  their  misbelief  and  stubborn  preju- 
dices. And  yet  even  the  poor  pseudo- Jewish  and  pseudo-Chris- 
tian elements  of  the  Koran  were  strong  enough  to  reform  the 
old  heathenism  of  Arabia  and  Africa  and  to  lift  it  to  a  much 
higher  level.  The  great  and  unquestionable  merit  of  Islam  is 
the  breaking  up  of  idolatry  and  the  diffusion  of  monotheism. 

The  creed  of  Islam  is  simple,  and  consists  of  six  articles :  God, 
predestination,  the  angels  (good  and  bad),  the  books,  the  pro- 
phets, the  resurrection  and  judgment  with  eternal  reward  and 
eternal  punishment. 

GOD. 

Monotheism  is  the  corner-stone  of  the  system.  It  is  expressed 
in  the  ever-repeated  sentence :  "  There  is  no  god  but  God  (Allah, 

'  Luther  said  of  the  religion  of  the  Turks:  "Also  isti's  ein  Glaub  zummmen- 
geflicht  aus  der  Judcn,  Christen  und  Heiden  Glauhe."  Milman  (II.  139)  calls 
Mohaininodanism  ''  the  republication  of  a  more  comprehensive  Judaism  with 
some  depraved  forms  of  Christianity."  Renan  describes  it  as  "the  least  ori- 
ginal" of  the  religious  creations  of  humanity.  Geiger  and  Deutsch  (both  He- 
brews) give  prominence  to  the  Jewish  element.  "  It  is  not  merely  parallelisms," 
says  Deutsch,  "  reminiscences,  allusions,  technical  terms,  and  the  like,  of  Juda- 
ism, its  lore  and  dogma  and  ceremony,  its  Halacha  and  Haggadah  (which  may 
most  briefly  be  rendered  by  'Law'  and  'Legend'),  Avhich  we  find  in  the 
Koran  ;  but  we  think  Ishlin  neither  more  nor  less  than  Judaism  as  adapted  to 
Arabia — plus  the  apostleship  of  Jesus  and  Mohammed.  Nay,  we  verily  believe 
that  a  great  deal  of  such  Christianity  as  has  found  its  way  into  the  Koran,  has 
found  it  through  Jewish  channels"  (/.  c.  p.  64). 


2  45.  THE  MOHAMMEDAN  RELIGION.  185 

i.  e.,  the  true,  the  only  God),  and  Mohammed  is  his  prophet  (or 
apostle)."  ^  Gibbon  calls  this  a  "  compound  of  an  eternal  truth 
and  a  necessary  fiction."  The  first  clause  certainly  is  a  great  and 
mighty  truth  borrowed  from  the  Old  Testament  (Deut.  6:4:); 
and  is  the  religious  strength  of  the  system.  But  the  ISIoham- 
medan  (like  the  later  Jewish,  the  Socinian,  and  the  Unitarian) 
monotheism  is  abstract,  monotonous,  divested  of  inner  life  and 
fulness,  anti-trinitarian,  and  so  far  anti-Christian.  One  of  the 
last  things  which  a  Mohammedan  will  admit,  is  the  divinity  of 
Christ.  Many  of  the  divine  attributes  are  vividly  apprehended, 
emphasized  and  repeated  in  prayer.  But  Allah  is  a  Gt>d  of  infi- 
nite power  and  wisdom,  not  a  God  of  redeeming  love  to  all 
mankind ;  a  despotic  sovereign  of  trembling  subjects  and  slaves, 
not  a  loving  Father  of  trustful  children.  He  is  an  object  of 
reverence  and  fear  rather  than  of  love  and  gratitude.  He  is  the 
God  of  fate  who  has  unalterably  foreordained  all  things  evil  as 
well  as  good ;  hence  unconditional  resignation  to  him  (this  is  the 
meaning  of  Islam)  is  true  wisdom  and  piety.  He  is  not  a  hid- 
den, imknowable  being,  but  a  God  who  has  revealed  himself 
through  chosen  messengers,  angelic  and  human.  Adam,  Noah, 
Abraham,  Moses,  and  Jesus  are  his  chief  prophets.^  But  Mo- 
hammed is  the  last  and  the  greatest. 

CHRIST. 

The  Christology  of  the  Koran  is  a  curious  mixture  of  facts 
and  apocryphal  fictions,  of  reverence  for  the  man  Jesus  and 
denial  of  his  divine  character.  He  is  called  "  the  Messiah  Jesus 
Son  of  Mary,"  or  "  the  blessed  Son  of  Mary."  ^  He  was  a  ser- 
vant and   apostle   of  the  one  true  God,  and  strengthened   by 

^  Ld  ildha  iW  Allah,  tea  Muhammeda  rrasula  'llah.  Allah  is  composed 
of  the  article  al,  ''  the,"  and  ildh,  "  a  god,"  and  is  equivalent  to  the  Hebrew  El 
and  Elohim.  He  was  known  to  the  Arabs  before  Mohammed,  and  regarded  as 
the  chief  god  in  their  pantheon. 

'  A  similar  idea  is  presented  in  the  pseudo-Clementine  Homilies. 

*  Mesich  Isa  ben  Mariam. 


18G  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

tlie  Holy  Spirit,  i.  c,  the  angel  Gabriel  (Dshebril),  who  after- 
wards couve}'ed  the  divine  revelations  to  Mohammed.  But  he 
is  not  the  Son  of  God ;  for  as  God  has  no  wife,  he  can  have  no 
son.^  He  is  ever  alone,  and  it  is  monstrous  and  blasphemous  to 
associate  another  being  with  Allah. 

Some  of  the  Mohammedan  divines  exempt  Jesus  and  even  his 
mother  from  sin,  and  first  proclaimed  the  dogma  of  the  immacu- 
late conception  of  Mary,  for  which  the  apocryphal  Gospels  pre- 
pared the  way."  By  a  singular  anachronism,  the  Koran  confounds 
the  Virgin  Mary  with  Mu-iam,  "  the  sister  of  Aaron  "  (Harun), 
and  Moses  (Ex.  xv.  20 ;  Num.  xxi.  1).  Possibly  Mohammed 
mav  have  meant  another  Aaron  (since  he  calls  Mary  "  the  sister 
of  Aaron,"  but  not  ''  of  Moses ") ;  some  of  his  commentators, 
however,  assume  that  the  sister  of  Moses  was  miraculously  pre- 
served to  give  birth  to  Jesus.^ 

According  to  the  Koran  Jesus  was  conceived  by  the  Virgin 
Mary  at  the  appearance  of  Gabriel  and  born  under  a  palm  tree 
beneath  which  a  fountain  opened.  This  story  is  of  Ebionite 
origin.*     Jesus  preached  in  tlie  cradle  and  performed   miracles 

'  In  rude  misconception  or  wilful  perversion,  Mohammed  seems  to  have 
understood  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  trinity  to  be  a  trinity  of  Father,  Mary, 
and  Jesus.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  identified  with  Gabriel.  ''  God  is  only  one 
God !  Far  be  it  from  his  glory  that  he  should  have  a  son  !"  Sura  4,  ver.  169  ; 
comp.  5,  ver.  77.  The  designation  and  worship  of  Mary  as  ",the  mother  of 
God"  may  have  occasioned  this  strange  mistake.  There  was  in  Arabia  in  the 
fourth  century  a  sect  of  fanatical  women  called  Collyridians  {Ko?.?ivpi6eg),  who 
rendered  divine  worship  to  Mary.     Epiphanius,  Uaer.  79. 

'  As  the  Protevangdium  Jacobi,  the  Evang.  de  Nativitaie  Marice,  the  Evang. 
Infantum  Sen-atoris,  etc.  Gibbon  (ch.  50)  and  Stanley  (p.  367)  trace  the  doctrine 
of  the  immaculate  conception  directly  to  the  Koran.  It  is  said  of  Mary  :  "  Re- 
member when  the  angel  said :  '  O  Mary !  verily  hath  God  chosen  thee,  and 
purified  thee,  and  chosen  thee  above  the  women  of  the  worlds.' "  But  this 
does  not  necessarily  mean  more  than  Luke  i.  28.  The  Koran  knows  nothing 
of  original  sin  in  the  Christian  sense. 

'  Gerok,  I.  c.  pp.  22-28.  This  would  be  a  modification  of  the  rabbinical  fable 
that  ordinary  death  and  corruption  had  as  little  power  over  Miriam  as  over 
Moses,  and  that  botli  died  by  the  breath  of  Jehovah. 

*  Rosch  (/.  c,  p.  439) :  ''  Die  Geburtsgeschichte  Jesa  hn  Koran  ist  nichis  anderes 


?  45.  THE  MOHAMMEDAN  KELIGION.  187 

iu  His  infancy  (as  in  the  apocryphal  Gospels),  and  during  His 
public  ministry,  or  rather  Allah  wrought  miracles  through  Him. 
Mohammed  disclaims  the  miraculous  power,  and  relied  upon  the 
stronger  testimony  of  the  truth  of  his  doctrine.  Jesus  proclaimed 
the  pure  doctrine  of  the  unity  of  God  and  disclaimed  divine 
honors. 

The  crucifixion  of  Jesus  is  denied.  He  was  delivered  by  a 
miracle  from  the  death  intended  for  Him,  and  taken  up  by  God 
into  Paradise  with  His  mother.  The  Jews  slew  one  like  Him, 
by  mistake.  This  absurd  docetic  idea  is  supposed  to  be  the  com- 
mon belief  of  Christians.^ 

Jesus  predicted  the  coming  of  Mohammed,  w^hen  he  said :  "O 
children  of  Israel !  of  a  truth  I  am  God's  apostle  to  you  to  con- 
firm the  law  which  was  given  before  me,  and  to  announce  an 
apostle  that  shall  come  after  me  whose  name  shall  be  Ahmed !"  ^ 
Thus  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  "  the  other  Paraclete," 
(John  xiv.  16)  was  applied  by  Mohammed  to  himself  by  a  sin-  | 
gular  confusion  of  Pamdetos  {7Tapdx?:^Toc)  with  Peridytos  {Trepc-  \ 
xhjToz,  heard  all  round ,  famous)  or  Ahmed  [the  glorified,  theillus- 
trious),  one  of  the  prophet's  names.^ 

Owing  to  this  partial  recognition  of  Christianity  Mohammed 

(ds  ein  mythologischer  Mijthus  mis  Ezech.  47  mit  eingewobenen  judischen  Zilgen,  der 
seine  Heimath  im  Ebionis7nus  hat." 

1  Sura  4.  This  view  of  the  crucifixion  is  no  doubt  derived  from  apocryphal 
sources.  The  Gnostic  sect  of  Basilides  supposed  Simon  of  Cyrene,  the  Evangel. 
Barrab(B,  Judas,  to  have  been  that  other  person  who  was  crucified  instead  of 
Jesus.  Mani  {Epi^t.  Fund.)  says  that  the  prince  of  darkness  was  nailed  to 
the  cross,  and  wore  the  crown  of  thorns. 

^  Sura  61. 

^  The  Moslems  refer  also  some  other  passages  of  Scripture  to  Mohammed 
and  his  religion,  e.  g.  Gen.  xvi.  10;  xvii.  20;  xxi.  12,  13;  xxvii.  20  (the  pro- 
mise of  God  to  bless  Hagar  and  Ishmael) ;  Deut.  xviii.  15,  18  (the  promise  to 
raise  up  a  prophet  like  Moses) ;  Isa.  xxi.  67  (where  Mohammed  is  supposed 
to  be  meant  by  the  "rider  on  the  camel,"  as  distinct  from  Jesus,  "the  rider  on 
the  ass  ");  John  iv.  21 ;  1  John  iv.  23  (where  he  is  the  spirit  that  is  of  God, 
because  he  proclaimed  that  Jesus  was  a  true  man,  not  God)  ;  Deut.  xxxii.  2 
(where  Sinai  is  said  to  mean  the  Jewish,  Seir  the  Christian,  and  Paran  the 
Mohammedan  revelation). 


188  FOURTH  PEEIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

was  originally  regarded  not  as  the  founder  of  a  new  religion,  but 
as  one  of  the  chief  lieretics/  The  same  opinion  is  expressed  by 
several  modern  writers,  Catholic  and  Protestant.  Dollino-er  says : 
"  Islam  must  be  considered  at  bottom  a  Christian  heresy,  the 
bastard  otfspring  of  a  Christian  father  and  a  Jewish  mother  and 
is  indeed  more  closely  allied  to  Christianity  than  Mauich^ism 
which  is  reckoned  a  Christian  sect."  ^  Stanley  calls  Islam  an 
"  eccentric  heretical  form  of  Eastern  Christianity/'  and  Ewald 
more  correctly,  "  the  last  and  most  powerful  oifshoot  of  Gnosti- 
cism." ^ 

THE    ETHICS    OF    ISLAM. 

Eesignation  (Islam)  to  the  omnipotent  will  of  Allah  is  the 
chief  virtue.  It  is  the  most  powerful  motive  both  in  action  and 
suti'ering,  and  is  carried  to  the  excess  of  fatalism  and  apathy. 

The  use  of  pork  and  wine  is  strictly  forbidden;  prayer,  fast- 
ing (especially  during  the  whole  month  of  Raraadhan),  and  alms- 
giving are  enjoined.  Prayer  carries  man  half-Avay  to  God,  fasting 
brings  him  to  the  door  of  God's  palace,  alms  secure  admittance. 
The  total  abstinence  from  strong  drink  by  the  whole  people, 
even  in  countries  where  the  vine  grows  in  abundance,  reveals  a 
remarkable  power  of  self-control,  which  puts  many  Christian 
nations  to  shame.  Mohannnedauism  is  a  great  temperance  society. 
Herein  lies  its  greatest  moral  force. 

POLYGAMY. 

But  on  the  other  hand  the  heathen  vice  of  polygamy  and  con- 
cubinage is  perpetuated  and  encouraged  by  the  example  of  the 
prophet.  He  restrained  and  regulated  an  existing  practice,  and 
gave  it  the  sanction  of  religion.  Ordinary  believers  are  restricted 
to  four  wives  (exclusive  of  slaves),  and  generally  have  only  one 

'  Ro  l.y  .John  of  Damas.  =,s  and  the  mediaeval  writers  against  Islam.  Peter 
of  CluL^ny  speaks  of  '^  hcrcse,  Saracemrum  doe  IsmaeUturum."  Comp  Gass 
Gennndius  unci  Plctho,  p.  109.  ^'  ' 

'  Lectures  on  the  Reunion  of  Churches,  p.  7  (transl.  by  Oxenham,  1872) 
Die  Lehre  der  Bibcl  von  Qott,  Vol.  I.  (1871),  p.  418. 


§  45.  THE  MOHAMMEDAN  RELIGION.  189 

or  two.  But  Califs  may  fill  their  harems  to  the  extent  of  their 
wealth  and  lust.  Concubinage  with  female  slaves  is  allowed  to 
all  without  limitation.  The  violation  of  captive  women  of  the 
enemy  is  the  legitimate  reward  of  the  conqueror.  The  laws  of 
divorce  and  prohibited  degrees  are  mostly  borrowed  from  the 
Jews,  but  divorce  is  facilitated  and  practiced  to  an  extent  that 
utterly  demoralizes  married  life. 

Polygamy  and  servile  concubinage  destroy  the  dignity  of  wo- 
.  man,  and  the  beauty  and  peace  of  home.  In  all  INIoliammedan 
countries  woman  is  ignorant  and  degraded ;  she  is  concealed  from 
public  sight  by  a  veil  (a  sign  of  degradation  as  well  as  protec- 
tion); she  is  not  commanded  to  pray,  and  is  rarely  seen  in  the 
mosques;  it  is  even  an  open  question  whether  she  has  a  soul,  but 
she  is  necessary  even  in  jjaradise  for  the  gratification  of  man's 
passion.  A  Moslem  would  feel  insulted  by  an  inquiry  after  the 
health  of  his  wife  or  wives.  Polygamy  affords  no  protection 
against  unnatural  vices,  which  are  said  to  prevail  to  a  fearful 
extent  among  Mohammedans,  as  they  did  among  the  ancient 
heathen.^ 

In  nothing  is  the  infinite  superiority  of  Christianity  over 
Islam  so  manifest  as  in  the  condition  of  woman  and  family  life. 
Woman  owes  everything  to  the  religion  of  the  gospel. 

The  sensual  element  pollutes  even  the  Mohammedan  picture 
of  heaven  from  which  chastity  is  excluded.  The  believers  are 
promised  the  joys  of  a  luxuriant  paradise  amid  blooming  gardens, 
fresh  fountains,  and  beautiful  virgins.  Seventy-two  Houris,  or 
black-eyed  girls  of  blooming  youth  will  be  created  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  meanest  believer ;  a  moment  of  pleasure  will  be  pro- 
longed to  a  thousand  years ;  and  his  faculties  will  be  increased 
a  hundred  fold.  Saints  and  martyrs  will  be  admitted  to  the 
spiritual  joys  of  the  divine  vision.  But  infidels  and  those  who 
refuse  to  fight  for  their  faith  will  be  cast  into  hell. 

The  Koran  distinguishes  seven  heavens,  and  seven  hells  (for 

^  Rom.  i.  24  sqq.     See  the  statements  of  Dr.  Jessup  of  Beirut,  I.  c,  p-  47. 


190  FOUETH  PEEIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

wicked  or  apostate  ^Mohammedans,  Cliristians,  Jews,  Sabians, 
Magians,  idolaters,  hypocrites).  Hell  (Jaheunem==Gehenna)  is 
beneath  the  lowest  earth  and  seas  of  darkness;  the  bridge  over 
it  is  finer  than  a  hair  and  sharper  than  the  edge  of  a  sword; 
the  pious  pass  over  it  in  a  moment,  the  wicked  fall  from  it  into 
the  abyss. 

SLAVERY. 

Slavery  is  recognized  and  sanctioned  as  a  normal  condition  of 
society,  and  no  hint  is  given  in  the  Koran,  nor  any  effort  made 
by  Mohammedan  rulers  for  its  final  extinction.  It  is  the  twin- 
sister  of  polygamy ;  every  harem  is  a  slave-pen  or  a  slave-palace. 
"  The  Koran,  as  a  universal  revelation,  would  have  been  a  per- 
petual edict  of  servitude."  Mohammed,  by  ameliorating  the 
condition  of  slaves,  and  enjoining  kind  treatment  upon  the  mas- 
ters, did  not  pave  the  way  for  its  abolition,  but  rather  riveted 
its  fetters.  The  barbarous  slave-trade  is  still  carried  on  in  all 
its  horrors  by  Moslems  among  the  negroes  in  Central  Africa. 

w  A  R . 

War  against  unbelievers  is  legalized  by  the  Koran.  The 
fighting  men  are  to  be  slain,  the  women  and  children  reduced  to 
slavery.  Jews  and  Christians  are  dealt  with  more  leniently  than 
idolaters;  but  they  too  must  be  thoroughly  humbled  and  forced 
to  pay  tribute. 

§  46.  Mohammedan   Worship. 

"  A  simple,  unpartitioned  room, 
Surmounted  by  an  ample  dome, 
Or,  in  some  lands  that  favored  lie, 
With  centre  open  to  the  sky. 
But  roofed  with  arched  cloisters  round, 
That  mark  the  consecrated  bound, 
And  shade  the  niche  to  Mecca  turned. 
By  which  two  massive  lights  are  burned ; 
With  pulpit  whence  the  sacred  word 


2  46.  MOHAMMEDAN  WORSHIP.  191 

Expounded  on  great  days  is  heard ; 

With  fountains  fresh,  where,  ere  they  pray, 

Men  wash  the  soil  of  eartli  away ; 

With  shining  minaret,  thin  and  high, 

From  whose  fine  trellised  balcony, 

Announcement  of  the  hour  of  prayer 

Is  uttered  to  the  silent  air : 

Such  is  the  Mosque — the  holy  place, 

Where  faithful  men  of  every  race 

Meet  at  their  ease  and  face  to  face." 

(From  MiLNES,  ^^ Palm  Leaves^) 

In  worship  the  prominent  feature  of  Islam  is  its  extreme  icon- 
oclasm  and  puritanism.  In  this  respeet,  it  resemblSs  the  ser- 
vice of  the  synagogue.  The  second  commandment  is  literally 
understood  as  a  prohibition  of  all  representations  of  living  crea- 
tures, whether  in  churches  or  elsewhere.  The  only  ornament 
allowed  is  the  "Arabesque,"  which  is  always  taken  from  inani- 
mate nature/ 

The  ceremonial  is  very  simple.  The  mosques,  like  Catholic 
churches,  are  always  open  and  frequented  by  worshippers,  who 
perform  their  devotions  either  alone  or  in  groups  with  covered 
head  and  bare  feet.  In  entering,  one  must  take  oif  the  shoes 
according  to  the  command :  "  Put  oif  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet, 
for  the  place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy  ground."  Slippers 
or  sandals  of  straw  are  usually  provided  for  strangers,  and  must 
be  paid  for.  There  are  always  half  a  dozen  claimants  for 
"backsheesh" — the  first  and  the  last  word  which  greets  the  tra- 
veller in  Egypt  and  Syria.  Much  importance  is  attached  to 
preaching.^ 

Circumcision  is  retained  from  the  Jews,  although  it  is  not 
mentioned  in  the  Koran.  Friday  is  substituted  for  the  Jewish 
Sabbath  as  the  sacred  day  (perhaps  because  it  was  previously  a 

^  The  lions  in  the  court  of  the  Alhambra  form  an  exception. 

2  For  an  interesting  description  of  a  sermon  from  the  pulpit  of  Mecca,  see 
Burton's  Pilgrimage,  II.  314;  III.  117,  quoted  by  Stanley,  p-  379.  Burton 
says,  he  had  never  and  nowhere  seen  so  solemn,  so  impressive  a  religious  spec- 
tacle.   Perhaps  he  ha.s  not  heard  many  Christian  sermons. 


192  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

day  fur  religious  assemblage).  It  is  called  the  prince  of  days, 
the  most  excellent  day  on  Avhich  man  was  created,  and  on  which 
the  last  judgment  will  take  place;  but  the  observance  is  less 
strict  than  that  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath.  On  solemn  occasions 
sacrifice,  mostly  in  the  nature  of  a  thank-offering,  is  offered  and 
combined  with  an  act  of  benevolence  to  the  poor.  But  there  is 
no  room  in  Islam  for  the  idea  of  atonement;  God  forgives 
sins  directly  and  arbitrarily,  without  a  satisfaction  of  justice. 
Hence  there  is  no  priesthood  in  the  sense  of  a  hereditary  or 
perpetual  caste,  offering  sacrifices  and  mediating  between  God 
and  the  people.^  Yet  there  are  Mufties  and  Dervishes,  who 
are  as  powerful  as  any  class  of  priests  and  monks.  The  Mus- 
sulmans have  their  saints,  and  pray  at  their  white  tombs.  In 
this  respect,  they  approach  the  Greeks  and  Roman  Catholics; 
yet  they  abhor  the  worship  of  saints  as  idolatry.  They  also 
make  much  account  of  religious  processions  and  pilgrimages. 
Their  chief  place  of  pilgrimage  is  Mecca.  Many  thousands  of 
Moslems  from  Egypt  and  all  parts  of  Turkey  pass  annually 
through  the  Arabian  desert  to  worshij)  at  the  holy  Kaaba,  and 
are  received  in  triumph  on  their  return.  The  supposed  tomb 
of  Moses,  also,  which  is  transferred  to  the  Western  shore  of 
the  Dead  Sea,  is  visited  by  the  INIoslems  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
neighboring  country  in  the  month  of  April. 

Prayer  with  prostrations  is  reduced  to  a  mechanical  act  which 
is  performed  with  the  regularity  of  clock  work.  AVashing  of 
hands  is  enjoined  before  prayer,  but  in  the  desert,  sand  is  per- 
mitted as  a  substitute  for  water.  There  are  five  stated  seasons 
for  prayer :  at  day-break,  near  noon,  in  the  afternoon,  a  little 
after  sunset  (to  avoid  the  appearance  of  sun-Avorship),  and  at 
night-fall,  besides  two  night  prayers  for  extra  devotion.  The 
mueddin  or  muezzin  (crier)  announces  the  time  of  devotion  from 
the  minaret  of  the  mosque  by  chanting  the  "Adan"  or  call  to 
prayer,  in  these  Avords  : 

'  Gibbon's  statement  tlirit  "  the  Mohammedan  religion  has  no  priest  and  no 
Bacrifice,"  is  substantially  correct. 


§  46.  MOHAMMEDAN  WOESHIIP.  193 

"  God  is  great!"  (four  times).  "I  bear  witness  that  there  is  no  god 
but  God  "  (twice).  "I  bear  witness  that  Mohammed  is  the  Apostle  of 
God"  (twice).  "Come  hither  to  prayers!"  (twice).  "Come  hither  to 
salvation!"  (twice).  "God  is  great!  There  is  no  other  God!"  And 
in  the  early  morning  the  crier  adds :  "  Prayer  is  better  than  sleep  !" 

A  devout  Mussulman  is  never  ashamed  to  perform  his  devo- 
tion in  public,  whether  in  the  mosque,  or  in  the  street,  or  on 
board  the  ship.  Regardless  of  the  surroundings,  feeling  alone 
with  God  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd,  his  face  turned  to  Mecca, 
his  hands  now  raised  to  heaven,  then  laid  on  the  lap,  his  fore- 
head touching  the  ground,  he  goes  through  his  genuflexipns  and 
prostrations,  and  repeats  the  first  Sura  of  the  Koran  and  the 
ninety-nine  beautiful  names  of  Allah,  which  form  his  rosary.^ 
The  mosques  are  as  well  filled  with  men,  as  many  Christian 
churches  are  with  women.  Islam  is  a  religion  for  men ;  women 
are  of  no  account ;  the  education  and  elevation  of  the  female 
sex  would  destroy  the  system. 

With  all  its  simplicity  and  gravity,  the  Mohammedan  wor- 
ship has  also  its  frantic  excitement  of  the  Dervishes.  On  the 
celebration  of  the  birthday  of  their  prophet  and  other  festivals, 
they  work  themselves,  by  the  constant  repetition  of  "  Allah, 
Allah,"  into  a  state  of  unconscious  ecstacy,  "  in  which  they  plant 
swords  in  their  breasts,  tear  live  serpents  with  their  teeth,  eat 
bottles  of  glass,  and  finally  lie  prostrate  on  the  ground  for  the 
chief  of  their  order  to  ride  on  horseback  over  their  bodies."  ^ 

^  They  are  given  in  Arabic  and  English  by  Palmer,  I.  c.  I.,  Intr.,  p.  Ixvii.  sq. 
The  following  are  the  first  ten :  ^ 

1.  ar-Ra'hraan,  the  Merciful. 

2.  ar-Ra'him,  the  Compassionate. 

3.  al-Malik,  the  Ruler. 

4.  al-Quaddus,  the  Holy. 

5.  as-Salam,  Peace. 

6.  al-Mu'min,  the  Faithful. 

7.  al-Muhaimun,  the  Protector. 

8.  al-Haziz,  the  Mighty. 

9.  al-Gabbar,  the  Repairer. 

10.  al-Mutakabbir,  the  Great. 

^  Description  of  Dean  Stanley  from  his  own  observation  in  Cairo,  /.  c,  p.  385. 
13 


194  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

I  will  add  a  brief  description  of  the  ascetic  exercises  of  the 
"  Daucino- "  aud  "  Howling  "  Dervishes  which  I  witnessed  in 
their  convents  at  Constantinople  and  Cairo  in  1877. 

The  Dancing  or  Turning  Dervishes  in  Pera,  thirteen  in  num- 
ber some  looking  ignorant  aud  stupid,  others  devout  and  in- 
tensely fanatical,  went  first  through  prayers  and  prostrations, 
then  threAV  oif  their  outer  garments,  and  in  white  flowing  gowns, 
with  high  hats  of  stiff  woolen  stuff,  they  began  to  dance  to  the 
sound  of  strange  music,  whirling  gracefully  and  skilfully  on  their 
toes,  rino-  within  ruig,  without  touching  each  other  or  moving  out 
of  their  circle,  performing,  in  four  different  acts,  from  forty  to 
fifty  turnings  in  one  minute,  their  arms  stretched  out  or  raised  to 
heavcu,  their  eyes  half  shut,  their  mind  apparently  lost  in  a  sort 
of  Xirwana  or  j^antheistic  absorption  in  Allah.  A  few  hours 
afterward  I  witnessed  the  rare  spectacle  of  one  of  these  very 
Dervishes  reeling  to  and  fro  in  a  state  of  intoxication  on  the 
street  and  the  lower  bridge  of  the  Golden  Horn. 

The  Howling  Dervishes  in  Scutari  present  a  still  more  extra- 
ordinary sight,  and  a  higher  degree  of  ascetic  exertion,  but  des- 
titute of  all  grace  and  beauty.  The  performance  took  place  in  a 
small,  plain,  square  room,  and  lasted  nearly  two  hours.  As  the 
monks  came  in,  they  kissed  the  hand  of  their  leader  and  repeated 
Avith  liiin  long  prayers  from  the  Koran.  One  recited  with  melo- 
dious voice  an  Arabic  song  in  praise  of  ISIohammed.  Then, 
standing  in  a  row,  bowing,  and  raising  their  heads,  they  con- 
tinued to  howl  the  fundamental  dogma  of  Mohammedanism,  La 
ilalui  Ur  Allah,  for  nearly  an  hour.  Some  were  utterly  exhausted 
and  wet  with  perspiration.  The  exercises  I  saw  in  Cairo  w^ere 
less  protracted,  but  more  dramatic,  as  the  Dervishes  had  long 
hair  and  stood  in  a  circle,  swinging  their  bodies  backward  and 
forward  in  constant  succession,  and  nearly  touching  the  ground 
with  tiieir  flowing  liair.  In  astounding  feats  of  asceticism  the 
Moslems  are  fully  equal  to  the  ancient  Christian  anchorites  and 
the  fakirs  of  India. 


2  47.  CHRISTIAN  POLEMICS  AGAINST  MOHAMMEDANISM.  195 

§  47.   Christian  Polemics   against   Mohammedanism.     Note  on 

3Iormonism. 

See  the  modern  Lit.  in  |  38,  p.  143. 

For  a  list  of  earlier  works  against  Mohammedanism,  see  J.  Alb.  Fabri- 
CIUS :  Delectus  argumentorum  et  syllabus  scriptorum,  qui  veritatem 
Christ,  adv.  Atheos,  .  .  .  Judceos  et  Muhamviedanos  .  .  ,  asseruerunt. 
Hamb.,  1725,  pp.  119  sqq.,  735  sqq.  J.  G.  Walch  :  Bibliotheca  The- 
olog.  Selecta  (Jenae,  1757),  Tom.  I.  611  sqq.  Appendix  to  Pri- 
DEAUX's  Life  of  Mahomet. 

Theod.  Bibliander,  edited  at  Basle,  in  1543,  and  again  in  1550,  with 
the  Latin  version  of  the  Koran,  a  collection  of  the  more  important 
works  against  Mohammed  under  the  title :  Machumetis  Saracenorum 
prineipis  ejusque  successorum  vitm,  doctrince,  ac  ipse  Alcoran.,  I  vol.  fol. 

RiCHARDUS  (about  1300) :   Confutatio  Alcorani,  first  publ.  in  Paris,  1511. 

JOH.  DE  TuRRECREMATA :  Tractatus  contra  principales  errores  perfdi 
Mahometis  et  Turcorum.    Rom.,  1606. 

LUD.  Maraccius  (Maracci)  :  Prodromus  ad refutationem  Alcorani;  in  quo, 
per  IV.  prcecipuas  verce  religionis  notas,  mahumetance  sectae  falsitas 
osfendifur,  christiance  religionis  Veritas  comprobatur.  Rom.  (typis 
Congreg.  de  Propaganda  Fide),  1691.  4  vols.,  small  oct. ;  also  Pref. 
to  his  Alcorani  textus  universus,  Petav.,  1698,  2  vols.  fol. 

Hadr.  Relaistd  :  De  Religione  Mohammedica.  Utrecht,  1705 ;  2nd  ed. 
1717;  French  transl.,  Hague,  1721. 

W.  Gass  :  Gennadius  und  Pletho.  Breslau,  1844,  Part  I.,  pp.  106-181. 
[Die  Bestreitung  des  Islam  im  Mittelalter.) 

The  argument  of  Mohammedanism  against  other  religions  was 
the  sword.  Christian  Europe  replied  with  the  sword  in  the 
crusades,  but  failed.  Greek  and  Latin  divines  refuted  the  false 
prophet  with  superior  learning,  but  without  rising  to  a  higher 
providential  view,  and  without  any  perceptible  eifect.  Christian 
polemics  against  Mohammed  and  the  Koran  began  in  the  eighth 
century,  and  continued  with  interruptions  to  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth. 

John  of  Damascus,  who  lived  among  the  Saracens  (about 
A.  D.  750),  headed  the  line  of  champions  of  the  cross  against  the 
crescent.  He  was  followed,  in  the  Greek  Church,  by  Theodor 
of  Abukara,  who  debated  a  good  deal  with  Mohammedans  in 
Mesopotamia,  by  Samonas,  bishop  of  Gaza,  Bartholomew  of 
Edessa,  John  Kantakuzenus  (or  rather  a  monk  Meletius,  for- 


296  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

merly  a  ^Mohammedan,  who  justified  his  conversion,  with  the  aid 
of  the  emperor,  in  four  apologies  and  four  orations),  Euthymius 
Zio-abenus,  Gennadius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople.  Prominent 
in  the  Latin  church  were  Peter,  Abbot  of  Clugny  (twelfth 
century),  Thomas  Aquinas,  Alanus  ab  Insulis,  Eaimundus  Lul- 
lus,  Xicolaus  of  Cusa,  Ricold  or  Richard  (a  Dominican  monk 
who  lived  long  in  the  East),  Savonarola,  Joh.  de  Turrecremata. 
The  mediaeval  writers,  both  Greek  and  Latin,  represent  Mo- 
hammed as  an  impostor  and  arch-heretic,  who  wove  his  false 
relio-ion  chiefly  from  Jewish  (Talmudic)  fables  and  Christian 
heresies.  They  find  him  foretold  in  the  Little  Horn  of  Daniel, 
and  the  False  Prophet  of  the  Apocalypse.  They  bring  him  in 
connection  with  a  Nestorian  luonk,  Sergius,  or  according  to 
others,  with  the  Jacobite  Bahira,  who  instructed  Mohammed, 
and  might  have  converted  him  to  the  Christian  religion,  if  ma- 
lignant Jews  liad  not  interposed  with  their  slanders.  Thus  he 
became  the  shrewd  and  selfish  prophet  of  a  pseudo-gospel, 
which  is  a  mixture  of  apostate  Judaism  and  apostate  Christianity 
with  a  considerable  remnant  of  his  native  Arabian  heathenism. 
Dante  places  him,  disgustingly  torn  and  mutilated,  among  the 
chief  heretics  and  schismatics  in  the  ninth  gulf  of  Hell, 

"  Where  is  paid  the  fee 
By  those  who  sowing  discord  win  tlieir  burden."  ^ 

*  Inferno,  Canto  XXVIII.  22  sqq.  (Longfellow's  translation) : 
"  A  cask  by  losing  centre-piece  or  cant 

Wsis  never  shattered  so,  as  I  saw  one 

Rent  from  the  chin  to  where  one  breaketli  wind. 
Between  his  legs  were  hanging  down  his  entrails ; 

His  heart  was  visible,  and  tlie  dismal  sack 

That  maketh  excrement  of  wliat  is  eaten. 
"While  I  was  all  absorbed  in  seeing  him, 

He  looked  at  me,  and  opened  with  his  hands 

His  bosom,  saying:  'See  now  how  I  rend  me; 
How  mutilated,  see,  is  Mahomet ; 

In  front  of  me  doth  Ali  weeping  go, 

Cleft  in  the  face  from  forelock  unto  cliin  ; 
And  all  the  others  whom  thou  here  beholdest, 

Sowers  of  scandal  and  of  schism  have  been 

While  living,  and  tlierefore  are  tlnis  cleft  asunder.'" 


2  47.  CHRISTIAN  POLEMICS  AGAINST  MOHAMMEDANISM.  197 

This  mediaeval  view  was  based  in  part  upon  an  entire  igno- 
rance or  perversion  of  facts.  It  was  then  believed  that  Moham- 
medans were  pagans  and  idolaters,  and  cursed  the  name  of 
Christ,  while  it  is  now  known,  that  they  abhor  idolatry,  and 
esteem  Christ  as  the  highest  prophet  next  to  Mohammed. 

The  Reformers  and  older  Protestant  divines  took  substantially 
the  same  view,  and  condemn  the  Koran  and  its  author  without 
qualification.  We  must  remember  that  down  to  the  latter  part 
of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Turks  were  the  most  dangerous 
enemies  of  the  peace  of  Eurcjpe.  Luther  published,  at  "Witten- 
berg, 1540,  a  German  translation  of  Richard's  Confutaiio  Alco- 
rani,  with  racy  notes,  to  show  "what  a  shameful,  lying,  abomi- 
able  book  the  Alcoran  is."  He  calls  Mohammed  "a  devil  and 
the  first-born  child  of  Satan."  He  goes  into  the  question,  whe- 
ther the  Pope  or  Mohammed  be  worse,  and  comes  to  the  con- 
clusion, that  after  all  the  Pope  is  worse,  and  the  real  Anti-Christ 
[Endechnst).  "  Wohlan,"  he  winds  up  his  epilogue,  "God  grant 
us  his  grace  and  punish  both  the  Pope  and  Mohammed,  together 
with  their  devils.  I  have  done  my  part  as  a  true  prophet  and 
teacher.  Those  who  won't  listen  may  leave  it  alone."  Even  the 
mild  and  scholarly  Melanchthon  identifies  Mohammed  with  the 
Little  Horn  of  Daniel,  or  rather  with  the  Gog  and  Magog  of 
the  Apocalypse,  and  charges  his  sect  with  being  a  compound  of 
"  blasphemy,  robbery,  and  sensuality."  It  is  not  very  strange 
that  in  the  heat  of  that  polemical  age  the  Romanists  charged  the 
Lutherans,  and  the  Lutherans  the  Calvinists,  and  both  in  turn 
the  Romanists,  with  holding  Mohammedan  heresies.^ 

^  Maracci,  Vivaldus,  and  other  Roman  writers  point  out  thirteen  or  more 
heresies  in  which  Mohammedanism  and  Lutheranism  agree,  such  as  iconoclasm, 
the  rejection  of  tlie  worship  of  saints,  polygamy  fin  the  case  of  Philip  of  Hesse), 
etc.  A  fanatical  Lutheran  wrote  a  book  to  prove  that  "  the  damned  Calvinists 
hold  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  tlieses  (the  apocalyptic  number)  in  common 
with  the  Turks!"  The  Calvinist  Reland,  on  the  other  hand,  finds  analogies  to 
Romish  errors  in  the  Mohammedan  prayers  for  the  dead,  visiting  the  graves 
of  prophets,  pilgrimages  to  Mecca,  intercession  of  angels,  fixed  fasts,  meritorious 
almsgiving,  etc. 


198  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-10-19. 

In  the  eit'-hteeutli  century  this  view  was  gradually  corrected. 
The  learned  Dean  Prideaux  still  represented  Mohammed  as 
a  vulgai'  impostor,  but  at  the  same  time  as  a  scourge  of  God 
in  just  punishment  of  the  sins  of  the  Oriental  chiu-ches  who 
turned  our  holy  religion  "into  a  firebrand  of  hell  for  contention, 
strife  and  violence."  He  undertook  his  "  Life  of  Mahomet"  as 
a  part  of  a  "History  of  the  Eastern  Church,"  though  he  did  not 
carry  out  his  design. 

Voltaire  and  other  Deists  likewise  still  viewed  Mohammed  as 
an  impostor,  but  from  a  disposition  to  trace  all  religion  to  priest- 
craft and  deception.  Spanheim,  Sale,  and  Gagnier  began  to 
take  a  broader  and  more  favorable  view.  Gibbon  gives  a  calm 
historical  narrative ;  and  in  summing  up  his  judgment^  he  hesi- 
tates whether  "  the  title  of  enthusiast  or  impostor  more  properly 
belongs  to  that  extraordinary  man.  .  .  .  From  enthusiasm  to 
imposture  the  step  is  perilous  and  slippery ;  the  daemon  of  Soc- 
rates affords  a  memorable  instance  how  a  wise  man  may  deceive 
himself,  how  a  good  man  may  deceive  others,  how  the  conscience 
may  slumber  in  a  mixed  and  middle  state  between  self-illusion 
and  voluntary  fraud." 

Dean  Milman  suspends  his  judgment,  saying:  "  To  the  ques- 
tion whether  Mohammed  was  hero,  sage,  impostor,  or  fanatic, 
or  blended,  and  blended  in  what  proportions,  these  conflicting 
elements  in  his  character?  the  best  reply  is  the  reverential  phrase 
of  Islam  :  '  God  knows.' "  ' 

Goethe  and  Carlyle  swung  from  the  orthodox  abuse  to  the 
opposite  extreme  of  a  pantheistic  hero-worshiping  over-estimate 
of  Mohammed  and  the  Koran  by  extending  the  sphere  of  reve- 
lation and  inspiration,  and  obliterating  the  line  which  separates 
Christianity  from  all  other  religions.  Stanley,  R.  Bosworth 
Smith,  Emamicl  Dcutsch,  and  others  follow  more  or  less  in  the 
track  of  this  broad  aiid  charitable  liberalism.  Many  errors  and 
prejudices  have  been  dispelled,  and  the  favorable  traits  of  Islam 
and   its   folloAvers,  their  habits  of  devotion,  temperance,  and 

^  Lat.  Chridianily,  IT.  120. 


§  47.  CHRISTIAN  POLEMICS  AGAINST  MOHAMMEDANISM.  199 

resignation,  were  held  up  to  the  shame  and  admiration  of  the 
Christian  world.  Mohammed  himself,  it  is  now  generally  con- 
ceded, began  as  an  honest  reformer,  suffered  much  persecution 
for  his  faith,  effectually  destroyed  idolatry,  was  free  from  sordid 
motives,  lived  in  strict  monogamy  during  twenty -four  years  of 
his  youth  and  manhood,  and  in  great  simplicity  to  his  death. 
The  polygamy  which  disfigured  the  last  twelve  years  of  his  life 
was  more  moderate  than  that  of  many  other  Oriental  despots, 
Califs  and  Sultans,  and  prompted  in  part  by  motives  of  benevo- 
lence towards  the  widows  of  his  followers,  who  had  suffered  in 
the  service  of  his  religion.^ 

But  the  enthusiasm  kindled  by  Carlyle  for  the  prophet  of 
Mecca  has  been  considerably  checked  by  fuller  information  from 
the  original  sources  as  brought  out  in  the  learned  biographies 
of  Weil,  Noldeke,  Sprenger  and  Muir.  They  furnish  the  au- 
thentic material  for  a  calm,  discriminating  and  impartial  judg- 
ment, which,  however,  is  modified  more  or  less  by  the  religious 
standpoint  and  sympathies  of  the  historian.  Sprenger  represents 
Mohammed  as  the  child  of  his  age,  and  mixes  praise  and  censure, 
without  aiming  at  a  psychological  analysis  or  philosophical  view. 
Sir  William  Muir  concedes  his  original  honesty  and  zeal  as  a 
reformer  and  warner,  but  assumes  a  gradual  deterioration  to  the 
judicial  blindness  of  a  self-deceived  heart,  and  even  a  kind  of 
Satanic  inspiration  in  his  later  revelations.  "  We  may  readily 
admit,"  he  says,  "  that  at  the  first  Mahomet  did  believe,  or  per- 
suaded himself  to  believe,  that  his  revelations  were  dictated  by 
a  divine  agency.  In  the  Meccan  period  of  his  life,  there  cer- 
tainly can  be  traced  no  personal  ends  or  unworthy  motives  to 

^  The  Mohammedan  apologist,  Syed  Ameer  Ali  ( The  Life  and  Teachings  of 
Mohammed,  London,  1873,  pp.  228  sqq.),  makes  much  account  of  this  fact,  and 
entirely  justifies  Mohammed's  polygamy.  But  the  motive  of  benevolence  and 
generosity  can  certainly  not  be  shown  in  the  marriage  of  Ayesha  (the  virgin- 
daughter  of  Abu-Bakr),  nor  of  Zeynab  (the  lawful  wife  of  liis  freedman  Zeyd), 
nor  of  Safiya  (the  Jewess).  Ali  himself  must  admit  that  "some  of  Moham- 
med's marriages  may  possibly  have  arisen  from  a  desire  for  male  ofispring." 
The  motive  of  sensuality  he  entirely  ignores. 


200  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

belie  thi-s  conclusion.  The  Prophet  ^vas  there,  what  he  professed 
to  be,  '  a  simple  Preacher  and  a  Warner ;'  he  was  the  despised 
and  rejected  teacher  of  a  gainsaying  people ;  and  he  had  appa- 
rently no  ulterior  object  but  their  reformation.  .  .  .  But  the 
scene  altogether  changes  at  Medina.  There  the  acquisition  of 
temporal  power,  aggrandizement,  and  self-glorification  mingled 
with  the  grand  object  of  the  Prophet's  previous  life;  and  they 
were  sought  after  and  attained  by  precisely  the  same  instrument- 
ality. JNIessages  from  heaven  were  freely  brought  forward  to 
justify  his  political  conduct,  equally  Avith  his  religious  precejDts. 
Battles  were  fought,  wholesale  executions  inflicted,  and  territo- 
ries annexed,  under  pretext  of  the  Almighty's  sanction.  Nay, 
even  baser  actions  were  not  only  excused,  but  encouraged,  by 
the  pretended  divine  approval  or  command.  .  .  .  The  student 
of  history  will  trace  for  himself  how  the  pure  and  lofty  aspira- 
tions of  Mahomet  w'ere  first  tinged,  and  then  gradually  debased 
by  a  half  unconscious  self-deception,  and  how  in  this  process 
truth  merged  into  falsehood,  sincerity  into  guile, — these  opposite 
principles  often  co-existing  even  as  active  agencies  in  his  conduct. 
The  reader  will  observe  that  simultaneously  with  the  anxious 
desire  to  extinguish  idolatry  and  to  promote  religion  and  virtue 
in  the  world,  there  "was  nurtured  by  the  Prophet  in  his  own 
heart  a  licentious  self-indulgence ;  till  in  the  end,  assuming  to 
be  the  favorite  of  Heaven,  he  justified  himself  by  'revelations' 
from  God  in  the  most  flagrant  breaches  of  morality.  He  will 
remark  that  while  Mahomet  cherished  a  kind  and  tender  dispo- 
sition, '  weeping  with  them  that  wept,'  and  binding  to  his  person 
the  hearts  of  his  followers  by  the  ready  and  self-denying  ofiices 
of  love  and  friendship,  he  could  yet  take  pleasure  in  cruel  and 
perfidious  assassination,  could  gloat  over  the  massacre  of  entire 
tribes,  and  savagely  consign  the  innocent  babe  to  the  fires  of 
hell.  Inconsistencies  such  as  these  continually  present  them- 
selves from  the  jieriod  of  Mahomet's  arrival  at  ]\Iedina ;  and  it 
is  ])y  the  study  of  these  inconsistencies  that  his  character  must 
be  rightly  comprehended.     The  key  to  many  difficulties  of  this 


I  47.  CHRISTIAN  POLEMICS  AGAINST  MOHAMMEDANISM.  201 

description  may  be  found,  I  believe,  in  the  chapter  'on  the  be- 
lief of  Mahomet  in  his  own  insjiiratiou.'  When  once  he  had 
dared  to  forge  the  name  of  the  Most  High  God  as  the  seal  and 
authority  of  his  own  words  and  actions,  the  germ  was  laid  from 
which  the  errors  of  his  after  life  freely  and  fatally  developed 
themselves."  ^ 

Note  on  llormonism. 

S  O  U  R  C^  E  S  . 

The  Book  of  Mormon.  First  printed  at  Palmyra,  N.  Y.,  1830.  Written 
by  the  Prophet  Mormon,  three  hundred  years  after  Christ,  upon  plates 
of  gold  in  the  "  Eeformed  Egyptian  "  ( ?  )  language,  and  translated  by 
the  Prophet  Joseph  Smith,  Jan.,  with  the  aid  of  Urim  and  Thummim, 
into  English.  As  large  as  the  Old  Testament.  A  tedious  historical 
romance  on  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  American  Continent, 
whose  ancestors  emigrated  from  Jerusalem  B.  C.  600,  and  whose 
degenerate  descendants  are  the  red  Indians.  Said  to  have  been 
written  as  a  book  of  fiction  by  a  Presbyterian  minister,  Samuel 
Spalding. 

The  Doctrixes  and  Covenants  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
OF  THE  Latter  Day  Saints.  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah  Territory. 
Contains  the  special  revelations  given  to  Joseph  Smith  and  Brigham 
Young  at  different  times.  Written  in  similar  style  and  equally  insipid 
as  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

A  Catechism  for  Children  by  Elder  John  Jaques.  Salt  Lake 
City.     25th  thousand,  1877. 

We  cannot  close  this  chapter  on  Oriental  Mohammedanism  without 
some  remarks  on  the  abnormal  American  phenomenon  of  Mormonism, 
which  arose  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  presents  an  instructive  analogy 
to  the  former.  Joseph  Smith  (born  at  Sharon,  Vt,,  1805  ;  shot  dead  at 
Nauvoo,  in  Illinois,  1844),  the  first  founder,  or  rather  Brigham  Young 
(d.  1877),  the  organizer  of  the  sect,  may  be  called  the  American  Moham- 
med, although  far  beneath  the  prophet  of  Arabia  in  genius  and  power. 

The  points  of  resemblance  are  numerous  and  striking :  the  claim  to  a 
supernatural  revelation  mediated  by  an  angel ;  the  abrogation  of  previous 
revelations  by  later  and  more  convenient  ones ;  the  embodiment  of  the 
revelations  in  an  inspired  book ;  the  eclectic  character  of  the  system, 
which  is  compounded  of  Jewish,  heathenish,  and  all  sorts  of  sectarian 
Christian  elements ;  the  intense  fanaticism  and  heroic  endurance  of  the 

*  Life  o/Mah.,  IV.  317,  322. 


202  FOUETH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

early  Mormons  amidst  violent  abuse  and  persecution  from  state  to  state, 
till  they  found  a  refuge  in  the  desert  of  Utah  Territory,  which  they  turned 
into  a  "-arden ;  the  missionary  zeal  in  sending  apostles  to  distant  lands 
and  importing  proselytes  to  their  Eldorado  of  saints  from  the  ignorant 
poi)ulation  of  England,  Wales,  Norway,  Germany,  and  Switzerland ;  the 
union  of  religion  with  civil  government,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  Ame- 
rican separation  of  church  and  state ;  the  institution  of  polygamy  in  defi- 
ance of  the  social  order  of  Christian  civilization.  In  sensuality  and  ava- 
rice Brio-ham  Young  surpassed  Mohammed ;  for  he  left  at  his  death  in 
Salt  Lake  City  seventeen  wives,  sixteen  sons,  and  twenty-eight  daughters 
(having  had  in  all  fifty-six  or  more  children),  and  property  estimated  at 
two  millions  of  dollars.^ 

The  government  of  the  United  States  cannot  touch  the  Mormon  reli- 
gion ;  but  it  can  regulate  the  social  institutions  connected  therewith,  as 
lono-  as  Utah  is  a  Territory  under  the  immediate  jurisdiction  of  Congress. 
Polygamy  has  been  prohibited  by  law  in  the  Territories  under  its  con- 
trol, and  President  Hayes  has  given  warning  to  foreign  governments  (in 
1879)  that  Mormon  converts  emigrating  to  the  United  States  run  the 
risk  of  punishment  for  violating  the  laws  of  the  land.  President  Garfield 
(in  his  inaugural  address,  March  4,  1881)  took  the  same  decided  ground 
on  the  Mormon  question,  saying :  "  The  Mormon  church  not  only  offends 
the  moral  sense  of  mankind  by  sanctiouing  polygamy,  but  prevents  the 
administration  of  justice  through  the  ordinary  instrumentalities  of  law. 
In  my  judgment  it  Is  the  duty  of  Congress,  while  resj^ecting  to  the  utter- 
most the  conscientious  convictions  and  religious  scruples  of  every  citizen, 
to  proliibit  within  its  jurisdiction  all  criminal  practices,  especially  of  that 
class  which  destroy  tlie  family  relations  and  endanger  social  order.  Nor 
can  any  ecclesiastical  organization  be  safely  permitted  to  usurp  in  the 
smallest  degree  the  functions  and  powers  of  the  National  Government." 

His  successor,  President  Arthur,  in  his  last  message  to  Congress,  Dec. 
1884,  again  recommends  that  Congress  "  assume  absolute  political  control 
of  the  Territory  of  Utah,"  and  says :  "  I  still  believe  that  if  that  abomin- 
able practice  [polygamy]  can  be  suppressed  by  law  it  can  only  be  by  the 
most  radical  legislation  consistent  with  the  restraints  of  the  Constitu- 
tion." The  secular  and  religious  press  of  America,  with  few  exceptions, 
supports  these  sentiments  of  the  chief  magistrate. 

Since  tlie  annexation  of  Utah  to  the  United  States,  after  the  Mexican 
war,  "  Gentiles,"  as  the  Christians  are  called,  have  entered  the  Mormon 
settlement,  and  half  a  dozen  churches  of  different  denominations  have 
been  organized  in  Salt  Lake  City.  But  the  "Latter  Day  Saints"  are 
vastly  in  the  majority,  and  are  spreading  in  the  adjoining  Territories. 
Time  will  sliow  whether  the  Mormon  problem  can  be  solved  without 
resort  to  arms,  vr  a  new  em'gration  of  the  ^.lormons. 

'  As  stated  in  the  NavYor.'i  Tribuie  for  Sept.  3,  1877. 


2  48.  GENERAL  LITERATURE  ON  THE  PAPACY.        203 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  PAPAL  HIERARCHY  AND  THE  HOLY  ROMAN  EMPIRE. 

§  48.   General  Literature  on  the  Papacy. 

*Bullarium  Magnum  Eomanum  a  Lewie  M.  usque  ad  Benedidum  XIV. 
Luxemb.,  1727-1758.  19  vols.,  fol.  Another  ed.,  of  superior  typog- 
raphy, under  the  title :  Bullarum  .  .  .  Romanorum  Pontificum  am- 
plissima  Collectio,  opera  et  studio  C.  Cocquelines,  Rom.,  1738-1758,  14 
Tomi  in  28  Partes  fol. ;  new  ed.,  1847-72,  24  vols.  Bullarn  Eoniani 
continuatb,  ed.  A.  A.  Barberi,  from  Clement  XIII.  to  Gregory  XVI., 
Rom.,  1835-1857,  18  vols. 

* Monumenta  Germanice  Historica  hide  ab  anno  Christi  quingentesimo  usque 
ad  annum  mUlesimum  et  quingentesimum ;  ed.  by  G.  H.  Pertz  (royal 
librarian  at  Berlin,  d.  1876),  continued  by  G.  Waitz.  Hannoverae, 
1826-1879,  24  vols.  fol.  A  storehouse  for  the  authentic  history  of 
the  German  empire. 

*Anastasius  (librarian  and  abbot  in  Rome  about  870) :  Liber  Pontificalis 
(or,  De  Vitis  Roman.  Pontificum).  The  oldest  collection  of  biogra- 
phies of  popes  down  to  Stephen  VI.,  A.  D.  885,  but  not  all  by  Anas- 
tasius.  This  book,  together  with  later  collections,  is  inserted  in 
the  third  volume  of  Muratori,  Berum  Ital.  Scriptores  (Mediol.,  1723- 
'51,  in  25  vols,  fol.) ;  also  in  Migne,  Patrol.  L.    Tom.  cxxvii.  (1853). 

Archibald  Bower  (b.  1686  at  Dundee,  Scotland,  d.  1766) :  The  History 
of  the  Popes,  from  the  foundation  of  the  See  of  Rome  to  the  present  time. 
3rd  ed.  Lond.,  1750-66.  7  vols-,  4to.  German  transl.  by  Rambach, 
1770.  Bower  changed  twice  from  Protestantism  to  Romanism,  and 
back  again,  and  wrote  in  bitter  hostility  to  the  papacy,  but  gives 
very  ample  material.     Bp.  Douglas  of  Salesbury  wrote  against  him. 

Chr.  F.  Walch  :  Entwurf  einer  vollstdndigen  Historie  der  riimischen 
Pdpste.     Gottingen,  2d  ed.,  1758. 

G.  J.  Planck  :  Geschichte  des  Papstthums.     Hanover,  1805.     3  vols. 

L.  T.  Spittler:  Geschichte  des  Papstthums;  with  Notes  by  J.  Gurlitt, 
Hamb.,  1802,  new  ed.  by  H.  E.  G.  Paulus.     Heidelberg,  1826. 

J.  E.  Riddle  :  The  History  of  the  Papacy  to  the  Period  of  the  Reforma- 
tion.    London,  1856.     2  vols. 

F.  A.  Gfrorer:  Geschichte  der  Karolinger.  (Freiburg,  1848.  2  vols.) ; 
AUgemeine  Kirchengeschichte  (Stuttgart,  1841-'46,  4  vols.);  Gregor 
VII.  und  sein  Zeitalter  (Schaffhausen,  1859-'64,  8  vols.).  Gfrorer 
began  as  a  rationalist,  but  joined  the  Roman  church,  1853,  and  died 
in  1861. 


204  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.D,  590-1049. 

*PuiL.  Jaffe:  Ecgesta  Pontijicum  Roman,  ad  annum  1198.    Berol.,  1851  ; 

revised  ed.  by  Wattexbach,  etc.     Lips.  1881  sqq.     Coutinued  by 

PoTTHAST  from  1198-1304,  and  supplemented  by  Harttuxg  (see 

below).     Im])ortunt  for  the  chronology  and  acts  of  the  popes. 
J.  A.  Wylie  :   21ie  Papacy.     Lond.,  1852. 
*Leopold  Ranke  :  Die  romischen  Pclpsfe,  Hire  Kirche  unci  ihr  Sfaat  im 

16  und  nten  Jakrhundert.    4  ed.,  Berlin,  1857.    3  vols.    Two  English 

translations,  one  hy  Sarah  Austin  (Lond.,  1840),  one  by  E.  Foster 

(Lond.,  1847).     Comp.  the  famous  review  of  Macaulay  in  the  Edinb. 

Review. 
DOLLIXGER  (R.  C):  Die  Papstfahehi  des  Mittelalters.     Miiucheu,  1863. 

English  translation  by  A.  Plummer,  and  ed.  with,  notes  by  H.  B. 

Smith.     New  York,  1872. 
*W.  GlESEBRECHT :   Geschichte  der  Deutschen  Kaiserzeit.     Braunschweig, 

1855.     3rd  ed.,  1863  sqq.,  5  vols.     A  political  history  of  the  German 

empire,  but  with  constant  reference  to  the  papacy  in  its  close  contact 

with  it. 
*Thomas  Greenwood  :   Cathedra  Petri.     A  Political  History  of  the  great 

Latin  Patriarchate.     London,  1856-72,  6  vols. 
C.  DE  Cherrier:  Histoire  de  la  lutte  des  2^apes  et  des  empei'eurs  de  la 

malson  de  swabe,  de  ces  causes  et  des  ses  effets.     Paris,  1858.     3  vols. 
*RUD.  Baxmann  :  Die  Politih  der  Pdpste  von  Gregor  I.  his  Gregor  VII. 

Elberfeld,  1868,  '69.     2  vols. 
*F.  Gregorovius  :   Geschichte  der  Stadt  Rom-  im  Mittelalter,  vom  5.  bis 

mm  16.  Jahrh.     8  vols.     Stuttgart,  1859-1873.     2  ed.,  1869  ff. 
A.  V.  Reumont  :  Geschichte  der  Stadt  Rom.     Berlin,  1867-'70,  3  vols. 
C.  Hofler  (R.  C.):  Die  Avignonischen  Pdpste,  ihre  Machtfiille  und  ihr 

Untcrgang.     Wien,  1871. 
R.  Zopffel  :  Die  Papstwahlen  und  die  mit  ihnen  im  ndchsten  Zusammen- 

hange  stehenden  Ceremonien  in  ihrer  EntwicMung  vom  11  bis  14.  Jahr- 

hundert.     Gottingen,  1872. 
*James  Bryce  (Prof,  of  Civil  Law  in  Oxford) :  Tlie  Holy  Roman  Empire, 

London,  3rd  ed.,  1871,  8th  ed.  enlarged,  1880. 
W.  Wattexbach  :  Geschichte  des  romischen  Papstthums.     Berlin,  1876. 
*  Jul.  vox  Pfltjgk-Harttuxg  :   Acta  Pontificum  Bomanorum  inedita. 

Bd.   I.     Urhmden  der  Pdpste  A.  D.  748-1198.     Gotha,   1880. 
O.  J.  Reichel  :   The  See  of  Rome  in  the  Middle  Ages.     Lond.  1870. 
Maxdkll  Crkightox  :    History  of  the  Pajjacy  during  the  Reformation. 

London  1882.        2  vols. 
J.  N.  Murphy  (R.  C.) :   The  Chair  of  Peter,  or  the  Papacy  and  its  Bene- 
fits.   London  1883. 


?  49.  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  POPES,  ETC.     205 

§  49.  Chronological  Table  of  the  Popes,  Anti-Popes,  and  Roman 
Emperors  from   Gregory  I.  to  Leo  XIII. 

We  present  here,  for  convenient  reference,  a  complete  list  of 
the  Popes,  Anti-Popes,  and  Roman  Emperors,  from  Pope  Gre- 
gory I.  to  Leo  XIII.,  and  from  Charlemagne  to  Francis  II., 
the  last  of  the  German- Roman  emperors  :  ^ 


ANTI-POPES. 


EMPERORS. 


590-604 

604-606 

607 
608-615 
615-618 
619-625 
625-638 
638(?)-640 
640-642 
642-649 

649-053  [G55] 

654-657 
657-672 
672-676 
676-678 
678-681 
682-683 
683-685 
685-686 
686-687 
687-692 

687 
687-701 
701-705 
705-707 

708 
708-715 
715-731 
731-741 


St.  Gregory  I. 
(the  Great). 
Sabinianus. 
Boniface  III. 
Boniface  IV. 
Deusdedit. 
Boniface  V. 
Honorius  I. 
Severinus. 
Jolin  IV. 
Theodorus  I. 
St.  Martin  I. 
Eugenius  I. 
Vitalianus. 
Adeodatns. 
Donus  or  Dom 
Agatho. 
Leo  II. 
Benedict  II. 
John  V. 
Conon. 

Theodoras. 
Sergins  I. 
John  VI. 
John  VII. 
Sisinnius. 
Constantine  I. 
Gregory  II. 
Gregory  III. 


nus  I. 


Paschal. 


741-752      Zacharias 


(GREEK  emperors) 

Maurice. 

Pliocas. 


Heraclius. 


Constantine  III. 
Constans  II. 

Constantine  IV. 
(Pogonatus.) 


Justinian  II. 

Leontius. 

Tiberius  III. 

Justinus  II.  restored 

PhilippicusBardanes 

Anastasius  II. 

Tlieodosius  III. 

Leo  III.  (the  Isau- 
rian). 

(Charles  Martel,  d. 
741,  defeated  the 
Saracens  at  Tours, 
732.) 

(Pepin  the  Short, 


582 
602 


610 

641 
668 

685 

694 
697 
705 
711 
713 
716 

718 


1  This  list  is  compiled  from  Jaffe  [Regesta],  Potthast  {Bibl.  Hist.  Medii  jEvi, 
Supplement,  259-267),  and  other  sources.  The  whole  number  of  popes  from 
the  Apostle  Peter  to  Leo  XIII.  is  263. 

The  emperors  marked  with  an  asterisk  were  crowned  by  the  pope;  the 
others  were  simply  kings  and  emperors  of  Germany. 


20G 


FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 


752 
752-757 
757-7G7 
767-7G8 

7G8 
76S-772 
772-795 
795-816 
810-817 
817-824 
824-827 

827 
827-844 

844 
84^847 
847-855 

855-858 

855 
858-867 
867-872 
872-882 
882-884 
884-885 
885-891 
891-89G 

896 
896-897 

897 

897 
898-900 
900-903 

903 
903-904 
904-911 
911-913 
913-914 
914-928 
928-929 
929-931 
931-936 
936-939 
939-942 
942-946 
946-955 
955-963 
963-965 

964 
965-972 
972-974 
974-983 
983-984 
984-985 


Steplien  II. 
Stephen  III.  (11.) 

iPaul  I. 
Constantine  II. 
Thilippns. 
j Stephen  IV. 
Adrian  I. 
iLeo  III. 
Steplien  V. 
[Pasclial  I. 
Eugenius  11. 
j  Valentinus. 
i Gregory  IV. 

jSergius  II. 
iLeo  IV. 

The  mythical 
Benedict  III. 

Nicola.s  I. 
Adrian  II. 
John  VIII. 
Marinus  I. 
Adrian  III. 
Stephen  VI. 
Formosus. 
j  Boniface  VI. 
(Stephen  VII. 
'Romanns. 
I  Theodoras  II. 
jJohn  IX. 
Benedict  IV. 
JLeo  V. 
iChristophorus 
[Sergins  III. 
|Ana.stasins  III. 
Lando. 
Ljohn  X. 
Leo  VI. 
Stephen  VIII. 
John  XI. 
Leo  VII. 
Stephen  IX. 
Marinus  II. 
Agapetns  II. 
John  XII. 
Leo  VIII. 
Benedict  V. 
John  XIII. 
Benedict  VI. 
Benedict  VII. 
John  XIV. 
Boniface  VII. 


ANTI-POPES. 


John  (diaconus) 


papess  Joan  or  John 

VIII. 
Anastasius. 


murdered). 


(deposed). 


I  (deposed), 
(deposed). 


(Boniface  Vn.?) 

j  (murdered). 


EMPEKORS. 


Roman(Patricius). 


KOMAX    EMPERORS. 


*(yharlemagne. 
Crowned  emperor  at 

Rome, 
*Louis  the  Pious, 
(le  Debonnaircj. 
Crowned  em.  at  Rlieimt- 

*Lotliaire  I.  (crown- 
ed 823). 
(Louis  the  German, 
King  of  Germany, 

840-876.) 

"Louis  II.  (in  Italy) 


*Charles  the  Bald. 
*Charles  the  Fat. 

*Arnulf. 

Crowned  emperor, 


(Louis  the  Child.) 

Louis    III.    of    Pro- 
vence (in  Italy). 
Conrad  I.  (of  Fran- 
conia),  King  of 
Germany. 
Berengar  (in  Italy). 
Henry  I.  (the  Fow- 
ler), King  of  Ger- 
many. The  House 
of  Saxony. 
*Otto  I.  (the  Great). 
Crowned  emperor, 


*Otto  II. 

*Otto  III. 

Crowned  emperor, 


A.  D. 


741 


768-814 

800 

814-840 
816 

840-855 


855-875 


875-881 
881-887 

887-899 


899 


901 


911-918 
915 


918-926 

936-973 

962 


973-983 

983-1002 
996 


2  49.  CHEONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  POPES,  ETC.    207 


985-996 
996-999 
997-998 
998-1003 

1003 
1003-1009 
1009-1012 
1012-1024 

1012 
1021-1033 
1033-1046 
1044-1046 
1043-1046 
101(5-1047 
1047-1048 
1048-1054 
1054-1057 
1057-105S 
1058-1059 
1058-1061 
1061-1073 

1061 
1073-1085 

1080-1100 
1086-1087 
1088-1099 
1099-1118 

1100 

1102 
1105-1111 
1118-1119 
1118-1121 
1119-1124 

1124 
1124-1130 
1130-1143 
1130-1138 

1138 
1143-1144 
1144-1145 
1145-1153 

1153-1154 
1154-1159 
1159-1181 
1159-1164 


John  XV. 
Gregory  V. 

Silvester  II. 
John  XVII. 
John  XVIII. 
Sergius  IV. 
Benedict  VIII. 

John  XIX. 
Benedict  IX. 

Gregory  VI. 
Clement  II. 
Damasus  II. 
Leo  IX. 
Victor  II. 
Stephen  X. 
Benedict  X. 
Nicolas  II. 
Alexander  II. 

Gregory  VII. 
(Hildebrand). 

Victor  III. 
Urban  II. 
Paschal  II. 


Gelasius  II. 

Calixtus  II. 

Honorius  II. 
Innocent  II. 


Celestine  II. 
Lncius  II. 
Eugenius  III. 

Anastasins  IV. 
Adrian  IV. 
Alexander  III, 


ANTI-POPES. 


EMPEROR.S. 


Calabritanus  John  XVI 


Gregory. 

(deposed). 
Silvester  III. 


(deposed). 

Cadalous  (Honorius  11.) 

Wibeitus(ClementIII.) 


Theodoricus. 

Albertus. 

Maginulfns  (Silves- 
ter IV.). 

Burdinus  (Gregory 
VIIL). 

Theobaldus  Buccape- 
cus  (Celestine). 


Anacletus,  II. 
Gregory  (Victor  IV.). 


*HenryIL  (the  Saint 
the    last   of  the 
Saxon  empe'rs).  1002-1024 
Crowned  emperor,  [     1014 
1 
*Conrad      II.      The| 
Honse  of  Franconia.^  1024-1039 
Crowned  emperor,,     1027 

i 
*Henry  III.  ,1039-1056 

Crowned  emperor,      1046 


1164-1168 
1168-1178 
1178-1180 

1181-1185  Lucius  IIL 
1185-1187  Urban  IIL 


Octavianus  (Victor  IV.) 
Guide  Cremensis 

(Paschal  III.). 
Johannes  de  Struma. 

(Calixtus  III.). 
Landus  Titinus 

(Innocent  III.). 


*Henry  IV. 
Crowned  by  the  An- 
tipope  Clement. 

(Rudolf  of    Swabia, 
rival). 

(Hermann   of    Lux- 
emburg, rival). 


*Henry  V. 


*Lothaire  II. (the  Saxon 

*Conrad  III.  The 
House  of  Hohen- 
staufen.  (TheSwa- 
bian  emperors.) 

Crowned  Em.  at  Aix 


*Frederick   I.  (Bar- 

barossa). 

Crowned  emperor, 


1056-1106 
1084 

1077 

1081 

1106-1125 
1125-1137 

1138-1152 


1152-1190 
1155 


208 


FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 


1187  Gregory  VIII. 

1187-1191  IClement  HI. 


1191-1198 
1198-1216 


1216-1227 

1227-1241 

1241 

1241-1254 


1254-1261 


1261-1264 
1265-1268 

1271-1276 


1276 
1276 
1276-127; 


Celestine  HI. 
Innocent  III. 


Honorius  III. 
Gregory  IX. 
Celestine  IV. 

Innocent  IV. 


Alexander  IV. 


Urban  IV. 
Clement  IV. 

Gregory  X. 


ANTI-POPES. 


EMPERORS. 


Innocent  V.      ' 
Adrian  V. 
.John  XXI. 

1277-1280: Nicolas  III. 

1281-1285, Martin  IV. 

128-5-1 287  iHonorius  IV. 

1288-1292  Nicolas  IV. 

1294  jSt.  Celestine  V. 

1294-1303  Boniface  VIII. 

1303-1304  Benedict  XL 
1305-1314  Clement  V.^ 


1316-1.334  .John  XXII. 
1334-1342  Benedict  XII. 
1342-1352Clement  VI. 

1352-13621  Innocent  VI. 

1362-1370  Urban  V. 
1370-1378  Gregory  XI. 
1378-1389,Urban  VI. 


(abdicated). 


*Henry  VI. 

Philip  of  Swabia,  and 
Otto  IV.  (rivals). 
*Otto  IV. 
^Frederick  II. 
Crowned  emperor. 

(Henry  Easpe,  rival) 
(William  of  Holland 

rival). 
Conrad  IV. 


1190-1197 


1198 

1209-1215 
1215-1260 
1220 


1250-12.54 


Interregnum.  1254-1273 

Richard  (Earl  of  Corn- 
wall). 
Alfonso  (King  of  Cas-  ,-^_ 
tiie)— (rivals).  1257 


Rudolf  I.  (of  HapS' 
burg).  House  of 
Austria. 


Adolf  (of  Nassau). 

Albert  I.  (of  Haps- 
burg). 

*Henry  VII.  (of 
Luxemburg). 

*Lewis  IV.  (of  Bava- 
ria). 

(Frederick  the  Fair 
of  Austria,  rival, 
1314-1330.) 

*Charles  IV.  (of 
Luxemburg). 
(Giinther  of 
Schwarzburg,  rival). 


1272-1291 

1292-1298 

1298-1308 

1308-1313 
1314-1347 

1347-1437 


'  Clement  V.  moved  the  papal  see  to  Avignon  in  1309,  and  his  successors 
continued  to  reside  there  for  seventy  years,  till  Gregorv  XT.  After  that  date 
arose  a  forty  years'  schism  between  the  Roman  popes  and  the  Avignon  popes. 


§  49.  CHEONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  POPES,  ETC.    209 


1378-1394 
1389-1404 
1394-1423 


POPES. 


Boniface  IX. 


1404-1406  Innocent  VII. 
1406-1409  Grei'orv  XII. 


1410-1415 
1410-1415 


Alexander  V. 
John  XXIII. 


1417-1431 
1431-1447 

1439-1449 

1447-1455 

1455-1458 

1458-1464 

1464-1471 

1471-1484 

1484-1492' 

1492-1503 

1503 

1503-1513 

1513-1521 

1522-1523 

1523-1534 

1534-1549 

1550-1555 

1555 

1555-1559 


Martin  V. 
Eugene  IV. 


Nicolas  V. 
Calixtus  IV. 
Pius  II. 
Paul  II. 
,Sixtus  IV. 
Innocent  VIII 
Alexander  VI 
Pius  III. 
Julius  II. 
Leo  X. 

Hadrian  VI. 
Clement  VII. 
Paul  III. 
Julius  III. 
Marcellus  11. 
Paul  IV. 


1559-1565 

1566-1572 

1572-1585 

1585-1590 

1590 

1590-1591 

1591 

1592-1605 

1605 

1605-1621 

1621-1623 

1623-1644 

1644-1655 

1655-1667 

1667-1669 


ANTI-POPES. 


Clement  VII. 

Benedict  XIII. 
(deposed,  1409) 

(deposed). 

(deposed). 

Clement  VIII. 
Felix  V. 


Pius  IV. 
Pius  V. 
Gregory  XIII 
Sixtus  V. 
Urban  VII. 
Gregory  XIV 
Innocent  IX. 
Clement  VIII 
Leo  XI. 
PaulV. 
Gregory  XV. 
Urban  VIII. 
Innocent  X. 
Alexander  VII 
Clement  IX 


EMPEKORS. 


Wenzel  (of  Luxem- 
burg). 

Rupert  (of  the  Pala- 
tinate). 

*Sigismund  (of  Lux- 
emburg). 

(Jobst  of  Moravia, 
rival.) 

Albert  II.  (of  Haps- 

burg). 

*Frederick  III.^ 
Crowned  emperor. 


Maximilian  I. 


*Charles  V. 
Crowned  emperor  at 
Bologna  not  in  Rome 


Ferdinand  I. 


Maximilian  II. 


Rudolf  II. 

Matthias. 
Ferdinand  II. 

Ferdinand  III. 

Leopold  I. 


1378-1400 

1400-1410 
1410-1437 

1438-1439 

1440-1493 
1452 

1493-1519 

1519-1558 
1530 

1558-1564 

1564-1576 

1576-1612 

1612-1619 
1619-1637 

1637-1657 

1657-1705 


»  Frederick  III.  was  the  last  emperor  crowned  in  Rome.    All  his  successors, 
except  Charles  VII.  and  Francis  L,  were  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg. 
14 


210 


FOUKTH  PEKIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 


ANTI-POPES. 


1607-1676  Clement  X. 
1676-1689  Innocent  XI. 
16S9-169llAlex'derVIir 
1691-1700|Innocent  XII. 
1700-1721  Clement  XL 

1721-1724  Innocent  XIII 
1724-1730  Benedict  XIII 
1730-1740  Clement  XII. 
1740-1758  Benedict  XIV. 


17o8-17G9|Cleraent  XIII 
1769-1774|Clement  XIV, 
1775-1799.Pius  VI. 


1800-1823 

1823-1829 
1829-1830 
1831-1846 
1846-1878 


1878 


Pius  VII. 

Leo  XII. 
Pius  VIII. 
Gregory  XVI. 
Pius  IX.  (long- 
est reign). 


Leo  XIII. 


EMPERORS. 


Joseph  I. 

Charles  VI. 

Charles  VII.  (of  Ba- 
varia). 

Francis  I.  (of  Lor- 
raine). 

Joseph  11. 


Leopold  II. 
Francis  II. 

Abdication  of  Fran- 
cis II. 

(Francis  L,  Emperor 

of  Austria). 
[German  Confederation 

North  German  Con- 
federation. 
[New  German  Empire. 
Williiun  I.  of  Prussia. 


1705-1711 
1711-1740 

1742-1745 

1745-1765 

1765-1790 


1790-1792 
1792-1806 


1806 


1814-1866 

1866-1870 

1870 
1870] 


2  50.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT.    A-D.  590-604.  211 

§  50.   Gregory  the  Great.     A.D.  590-604. 

LITEfiATURE. 

I,  Gregorii  M.  Opera.  The  best  is  the  Benedictine  ed.  of  Dom.  de  Ste 
Marthe  (Dionysius  Sammarthanus  e  congregatione  St.  Mauri),  Par., 
1705,  4  vols.  foL  Reprinted  in  Venice,  1768-76,  in  17  vols.  4to.; 
and,  with  additions,  in  Migne's  Patrologia,  1849,  in  5  vols.  (Torn. 
75-79). 

Especially  valuable  are  Gregory's  Epistles,  nearly  850  (in  third  vol.  of 
Migne's  ed.).    A  new  ed.  is  being  prepared  by  Paul  Ewald. 

II.'  Biographies  of  Gregory  L 

(1)  Older  biographies:  in  the  " Liber  Fontijicalis ;^'  by  Patjlus  Diaconus 

(t797),  in  Opera  I.  42  (ed.  Migne) ;  by  Johakxes  DiACOirtJS  (9th 
cent.),  ibid.,  p.  59,  and  one  selected  from  his  writings,  ibid.,  p.  242. 
Detailed  notices  of  Gregory  in  the  writings  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  Bede, 
Isidorus  Hispal.,  Paul  Warnefried  (730). 

(2)  Modern  biographies : 

G.  Lau  :    Gregor  I.  nach  seinem  Leben  und  nach  seiner  Lehre.   Leipz.,  1845. 
BoHRINGER :  Die  Kirche    Christi  und  ihre  Zcugen.     Bd.  I.,  Abth.  IV. 

Zurich,  1846. 
G.  Pfahler  :   Gregor  der  Gr.  und  seine  Zeif.     Frkf  a.  M.,  1852. 
James    Baraiby  :    Gregory   the    Great.     London,    1879.     Also   his   art. 

"Gregorius  I."  in  Smith  &  Wace,  "Diet,  of  Christ.  Biogr.,"  II.  779 

(1880). 
Comp.  Jaffe,  Neander,  MilmAN  (Book  III.,  ch.  7,  vol.  II.,  39  sqq.); 

Greenwood  (Book  III.,  chs.  6  and  7);  Montalembert  {Lesmoines 

d' Occident,  Bk.  V.,  Engl,  transl.,  vol.  II.,  69  sqq.);  Baxmann  [Poli- 

iik  der  Pdpste,  I.  44  sqq.) ;    Zopffel  (art.  Gregor  I.  in  the.  new  ed. 

of  Herzog). 

"Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  popes  of  earlier  times/' 
says  Ranke/  "  they  always  had  great  interests  in  view :  the  care 
of  oppressed  religion,  the  conflict  with  heathenism,  the  spread 
of  Christianity  among  the  northern  nations,  the  founding  of  an 
independent  hierarchy.  It  belongs  to  the  dignity  of  human  ex- 
istence to  aim  at  and  to  execute  something  great ;  this  tendency 
the  popes  kept  in  upward  motion." 

This  commendation  of  the  earlier  popes,  though  by  no  means 
applicable  to  all,  is  eminently  true  of  the  one  who  stands  at  the 
beginning  of  our  period. 

^  Die  Romischen  Pdpste  des  16  und  llten  Jahrhunderts,  Th.  I.,  p.  44  (2nd  ed.). 


212  FOUKTII  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Gregory  the  First,  or  the  Great,  the  last  of  the  Latin 
fathers  and  the  first  of  the  popes,  connects  the  ancient  with  the 
mediaeval  churdi,  the  Graeco-Roman  with  the  Romano-Germanic 
type  of  Christianity.  He  is  one  of  the  best  representatives  of 
mediaeval  Catholicism:  monastic,  ascetic,  devout  and  supersti- 
tions ;  hierarchical,  haughty,  and  ambitious,  yet  humble  before 
God ;  indifferent,  if  not  hostile,  to  classical  and  secular  culture, 
but  friendly  to  sacred  and  ecclesiastical  learning;  just,  humane, 
and  liberal  to  ostentation;  full  of  missionary  zeal  in  the  interest 
of  Christianity  and  the  Roman  see,  which  to  his  mind  were 
inseparably  connected.  He  combined  great  executive  ability 
with  untiring  industry,  and  amid  all  his  official  cares  he  never 
forgot  the  claims  of  personal  piety.  In  genius  he  Avas  surpassed 
by  Leo  L,  Gregory  VIL,  Innocent  III.;  but  as  a  man  and  as 
a  Christian,  he  ranks  with  the  j)urest  and  most  useful  of  the 
popes.  Goodness  is  the  highest  kind  of  greatness,  and  the 
church  lias  done  riglit  in  according  the  title  of  the  Great  to  him 
rather  than  to  other  popes  of  superior  intellectual  })()wer. 

The  times  of  his  pontificate  (A.  D.  Sept.  3,  590  to  March  12, 
604)  were  full  of  trouble,  and  required  just  a  man  of  his  train- 
ing and  character.  Italy,  from  a  Gothic  kingdom,  liad  become 
a  province  of  the  Byzantine  empire,  but  was  exhausted  by  war 
and  overrun  by  the  savage  Lombards,  who  were  still  heathen 
or  Arian  heretics,  and  burned  churches,  slew  ecclesiastics,  robbed 
monasteries,  violated  nuns,  reduced  cultivated  fields  into  a  wil- 
derness. Rome  was  constantly  exposed  to  plunder,  and  wasted 
l)y  ])estilence  and  famine.  All  Europe  was  in  a  chaotic  state, 
and  bordering  on  anarchy.  Serious  men,  and  Gregory  himself, 
thought  that  the  end  of  the  world  was  near  at  hand.  "  AVhat 
is  it,"  says  he  in  one  of  his  sermons,  "  that  can  at  this  time  de- 
light ns  in  this  world?  Everywhere  we  see  tribulation,  every- 
where we  hear  lamentation.  The  cities  are  destroyed,  the  castles 
torn  down,  the  fields  laid  waste,  the  land  made  desolate.  Vil- 
lages are  empty,  few  inhabitants  remain  in  the  cities,  and  even 
these  poor  remnants  of  humanity   are  daily   cut  down.     The 


I  50.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT.    A.D.  590-604.  213 

scourge  of  celestial  justice  does  uot  cease,  because  no  repentance 
takes  place  under  the  scourge.  We  see  how  some  are  carried 
into  captivity,  others  mutilated,  others  slain.  What  is  it,  breth- 
ren, that  can  make  us  contented  with  this  life  ?  If  we  love  such 
a  world,  w^e  love  not  our  joys,  but  our  wounds.    We  see  what  has 

become  of  her  who  was  once  the  mistress  of  the  world 

Let  us  then  heartily  despise  the  present  world  and  imitate  the 
works  of  the  pious  as  well  as  we  can." 

Gregory  was  born  about  A.  D.  540,  from  an  old  and  wealthy 
senatorial  (the  Anician)  family  of  Rome,  and  educated  for  the 
service  of  the  government.  He  became  acquainted  with  Latin 
literature,  and  studied  Ambrose,  Jerome,  and  Augustin,  but  was 
ignorant  of  Greek.  His  mother  Sylvia,  after  the  death  of  Gor- 
dianus,  her  husband,  entered  a  convent,  and  so  excelled  in  sanc- 
tity that  she  was  canonized.  The  Greek  emperor  Justin  ap- 
pointed him  to  the  highest  civil  office  in  Rome,  that  of  imperial 
prefect  (574).  But  soon  afterwards  he  broke  with  the  world, 
changed  the  palace  of  his  father  near  Rome  into  a  convent  in 
honor  of  St.  Andrew,  and  became  himself  a  monk  in  it,  after- 
wards abbot.  He  founded  besides  six  convents  in  Sicily,  and 
bestowed  his  remaining  wealth  on  the  poor.  He  lived  in  the 
strictest  abstinence,  and  undermined  his  health  by  ascetic  ex- 
cesses. Nevertheless  he  looked  back  upon  this  time  as  the  hap- 
piest of  his  life. 

Pope  Pelagius  II.  made  him  one  of  the  seven  deacons  of  the 
Roman  Church,  and  sent  him  as  ambassador  or  nuutius  to  the 
court  of  Constantinople  (579j.^  His  political  training  and  exe- 
cutive ability  fitted  him  eminently  for  this  post.  He  returned 
in  585,  and  was  appointed  abbot  of  his  convent,  but  employed 
also  for  important  public  business. 

'  Apoerisiarius  [aTvoKpiciapioQ,  or  ayye'^.o^)^  resftonsalis.  Du  Cange  defines  it: 
"  Nuntius,  Legatus  .  .  prcesertim  qui  a  pontifice  Romano,  vel  etiam  ah  archiepiscopis 
ad  comitatum  mittebantur,  quo  res  ecclesiarum  suarum  peragerent,  et  de  m  ad  priri' 
cipem  referrent."  The  Roman  delegates  to  Constantinople  were  usually  taken 
from  the  deacons.  Gregory  is  the  fifth  Roman  deacon  who  served  in  thia 
capacity  at  Constantinople,  according  to  Du  Cange  s.  v.  Apoerisiarius. 


214  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049 

It  was  during  his  monastic  period  (either  before  or,  more  pro- 
bably, after  his  return  from  Constantinople)  that  his  missionary- 
zeal  was  kindled,  by  an  incident  on  the  slave  market,  in  behalf 
of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  The  result  (as  recorded  in  a  previous 
chapter)  was  the  conversion  of  England  and  the  extension  of  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Roman  see,  during  his  pontificate.  This  is 
the  greatest  event  of  that  age,  and  the  brightest  jewel  in  his 
crown.  Like  a  Christian  Caesar,  he  re-conquered  that  fair  island 
by  an  army  of  thirty  monks,  marching  under  the  sign  of  the 
cross. ' 

In  590  Gregory  was  elected  pope  by  the  unanimous  voice  of 
the  clergy,  the  senate,  and  the  people,  notwithstanding  his  strong 
remonstrance,  and  confirmed  by  his  temporal  sovereign,  the 
Byzantine  emperor  Mauricius.  Monasticism,  for  the  first  time, 
ascended  the  papal  throne.  Hereafter  till  his  death  he  devoted 
all  his  energies  to  the  interests  of  the  holy  see  and  the  eternal 
city,  in  the  firm  consciousness  of  being  the  successor  of  St.  Peter 
and  the  vicar  of  Christ.  He  continued  the  austere  simplicity  of 
monastic  life,  surrounded  himself  with  monks,  made  them  bishops 
and  legates,  confirmed  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict  at  a  council  of 
Rome,  guaranteed  the  liberty  and  property  of  convents,  and  by 
his  example  and  influence  rendered  signal  services  to  the  monas- 
tic order.  He  was  unbounded  in  his  charities  to  the  poor. 
Three  thousand  virgins,  impoverished  nobles  and  matrons  re- 
ceived without  a  blush  alms  from  his  hands.  He  sent  food 
from  his  table  to  the  hungry  before  he  sat  down  for  his  frugal 
meal.  He  interposed  continually  in  favor  of  injured  widows 
and  orphans.  He  redeemed  slaves  and  captives,  and  sanctioned 
the  sale  of  consecrated  vessels  for  objects  of  charity. 

Gregory  began  his  administration  with  a  public  act  of  humi- 
liation on  account  of  the  plague  which  had  cost  the  life  of  his 
predecessor.  Seven  processions  traversed  the  streets  for  three 
days  with  prayers  and  hymns;  but  the  plague  continued  to 
ravage,  and  demanded  eighty  victims  during  the  procession. 

*  See  above  ^  10,  pp.  30  sqq. 


§  50.  GEEGORY  THE  GREAT.    A.  D.  590-604.  215 

The  later  legend  made  it  the  means  of  staying  the  calamity,  in 
consequence  of  the  appearance  of  the  archangel  Michael  putting 
back  the  drawn  sword  into  its  sheath  over  the  Mausoleum  of 
Hadrian,  since  called  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  adorned  by 
the  statue  of  an  angel. 

His  activity  as  pontiflP  was  incessant,  and  is  the  more  astonish- 
ing as  he  was  in  delicate  health  and  often  confined  to  bed. 
"  For  a  long  time,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend  in  601,  "  I  have  been 
unable  to  rise  from  my  bed.  I  am  tormented  by  the  pains  of 
gout ;  a  kind  of  fire  seems  to  pervade  my  whole  body :  to  live 
is  pain ;  and  I  look  forward  to  death  as  the  only  remedy."  In 
another  letter  he  says :  "  T  am  daily  dying,  but  never  die." 

Nothing  seemed  too  great,  nothing  too  little  for  his  personal 
care.  He  organized  and  completed  the  ritual  of  the  church, 
gave  it  greater  magnificence,  improved  the  canon  of  the  mass 
and  the  music  by  a  new  mode  of  chanting  called  after  him.  He 
preached  often  and  effectively,  deriving  lessons  of  humility  and 
piety  from  the  calamities  of  the  times,  which  appeared  to  him 
harbingers  of  the  judgment-day.  He  protected  the  city  of  Rome 
against  the  savage  and  heretical  Lombards.  He  administered 
the  papal  patrimony,  which  embraced  large  estates  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Rome,  in  Calabria,  Sardinia,  Corsica,  Sicily,  Dalma- 
tia,  and  even  in  Gaul  and  Africa.  He  encouraged  and  advised 
missionaries.  As  patriarch  of  the  West,  he  extended  his  pater- 
nal care  over  the  churches  in  Italy,  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain, 
and  sent  the  pallium  to  some  metropolitans,  yet  without  claim- 
ing any  legal  jurisdiction.  He  appointed,  he  also  reproved  and 
deposed  bishops  for  neglect  of  duty  or  crime.  He  resolutely 
opposed  the  prevalent  practice  of  simony,  and  forbade  the  clergy 
to  exact  or  accept  fees  for  their  services.  He  corresponded,  in 
the  interest  of  the  church,  with  nobles,  kings  and  queens  in  the 
West,  with  emperors  and  patriarchs  in  the  East.  He  hailed  the 
return  of  the  Gothic  kingdom  of  Spain  under  Reccared  from 
the  Arian  heresy  to  the  Catholic  faith,  which  was  publicly  pro- 
claimed by  the  Council  of  Toledo,  May  8,  589.     He  wrote  to 


21Q  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

the  king  a  letter  of  congratulation,  and  exhorted  him  to  humility, 
chastity,  and  mercy.  The  detested  Lombards  likewise  cast  off 
Ariuuism  towards  the  close  of  his  life,  in  consequence  partly  of 
his  influence  over  (^ueeu  Theodelinda,  a  Bavarian  princess,  who 
had  been  reared  in  the  trinitarian  faith.  He  endeavored  to 
suppress  the  remnants  of  the  Donatist  schism  in  Africa.  Un- 
compromising against  Christian  heretics  and  schismatics,  he  was 
a  step  in  advance  of  his  age  in  liberality  towards  the  Jews.  He 
censured  the  bishop  of  Terracina  and  the  bishop  of  Cagliari  for 
unjustly  depriving  them  of  their  synagogues;  he  condemned  the 
forcible  baptism  of  Jews  in  Gaul,  and  declared  conviction  by 
jsreaching  the  only  legitimate  means  of  conversion ;  he  did  not 
scruple,  however,  to  try  the  dishonest  method  of  bribery,  and 
he  inconsistently  denied  the  Jews  the  right  of  building  new 
synagogues  and  possessing  Christian  slaves.  He  made  efforts, 
though  in  vain,  to  check  the  slave-trade,  which  was  chiefly  in 
the  hands  of  Jews. 

After  his  death,  the  public  distress,  which  he  had  labored  to 
alleviate,  culminated  in  a  general  famine,  and  the  ungrateful 
populace  of  Rome  was  on  the  point  of  destroying  his  library, 
when  the  archdeacon  Peter  stayed  their  fury  by  asserting  that 
he  had  seen  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  form  of  a  dove  hovering 
above  Gregory's  head  as  he  wrote  his  books.  Hence  he  is  rep- 
resented with  a  dove.  He  was  buried  in  St.  Peter's  under  the 
altar  of  St.  Andrew. 

Note.     Estimates  of  Gregory  I. 

Bishop  Bossuet  (as  quoted  by  Montalembert,  II.  173)  thus  tersely  sums 
up  the  public  life  of  Gregory:  "  This  great  pope  .  .  .  subdued  the  Lom- 
bards ;  saved  Rome  and  Italy,  though  the  emperors  could  give  him  no 
assistance ;  repressed  the  new-born  pride  of  the  patriarchs  of  Constanti- 
nople ;  enlightened  the  whole  church  by  his  doctrine ;  governed  the 
East  and  the  West  with  as  much  vigor  as  humility ;  and  gave  to  the 
world  a  perfect  model  of  ecclesiastical  government." 

To  this  Count  Montalembert  (likewise  a  Roman  Catholic)  adds :  "  It 
was  the  Benedictine  order  which  gave  to  the  church  him  whom  no  one 
would  have  hesitated  to  call  the  greatest  of  the  popes,  had  not  the  same 


§  50.  GEEGOKY  THE  GREAT.     A.D.  590-604.  217 

order,  five  centuries  later,  produced  St.  Gregory  VII.  .  .  .  He  is  truly 
Gregory  the  Great,  because  he  issued  irreproachable  from  numberless 
and  boundless  difficulties ;  because  he  gave  as  a  foundation  to  the  in- 
creasing grandeur  of  the  Holy  See,  the  renown  of  his  virtue,  the  candor 
of  his  innocence,  the  humble  and  inexhaustible  tenderness  of  his  heart." 

"  The  pontificate  of  Gregory  the  Great,"  says  Gibbon  (ch.  45),  "which 
lasted  thirteen  years,  six  months,  and  ten  days,  is  one  of  the  most  edify- 
ing periods  of  the  history  of  the  church.  His  virtues,  and  even  his  faults, 
a  singular  mixture  of  simplicity  and  cunning,  of  pride  and  humility,  of 
sense  and  superstition,  were  hapjiily  suited  to  his  station  and  to  the  tem- 
per of  the  times." 

.  Lau  says  (in  his  excellent  monograph,  pp.  302,  306):  "The  spiritual 
qualities  of  Gregory's  character  are  strikingly  apparent  in  his  actions. 
With  a  clear,  practical  understanding,  he  combined  a  kind  and  mild  heart ; 
but  he  was  never  weak.  Fearful  to  the  obstinate  transgressor  of  the 
laws,  on  account  of  his  inflexible  justice,  he  was  lenient  to  the  repentant 
and  a  warm  friend  to  his  friends,  though,  holding,  as  he  did,  righteous- 
ness and  the  weal  of  the  church  higher  than  friendship,  he  was  severe 
upon  any  neglect  of  theirs.  With  a  great  jirudence  in  managing  the 
most  different  circumstances,  and  a  great  sagacity  in  treating  the  most 
different  characters,  he  combined  a  moral  firmness  which  never  yielded 
an  inch  of  what  he  had  recognized  as  right ;  but  he  never  became  stub- 
born. The  rights  of  the  church  and  the  privileges  of  the  apostolical  see 
he  fought  for  with  the  greatest  pertinacity ;  but  for  himself  personally, 
he  wanted  no  honors.  As  much  as  he  thought  of  the  church  and  the 
Roman  chair,  so  modestly  he  esteemed  himself.  More  than  once  his  acts 
gave  witness  to  the  humility  of  his  heart :  humility  was,  indeed,  to  him 
the  most  important  and  the  most  sublime  virtue.  His  activity  was  pro- 
digious, encompassing  great  objects  and  small  ones  with  equal  zeal. 
Nothing  ever  became  too  great  for  his  energy  or  too  small  for  his  atten- 
tion. He  was  a  warm  patriot,  and  cared  incessantly  for  the  material  as 
well  as  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  countrymen.  More  than  once  he 
saved  Rome  from  the  Lombards,  and  relieved  her  from  famine.  .  .  .  He 
was  a  great  character  with  grand  plans,  in  the  realization  of  which  he 
showed  as  much  insight  as  firmness,  as  much  prudent  calculation  of  cir- 
cumstances as  sagacious  judgment  of  men.  The  influence  he  has  exer- 
cised is  immense,  and  Avheu  this  influence  is  not  in  every  respect  for  the 
good,  his  time  is  to  blame,  not  he.  His  goal  was  always  that  which  he 
acknowledged  as  the  best.  Among  all  the  i:)opes  of  the  sixth  and  follow- 
ing centuries,  he  shines  as  a  star  of  the  very  first  magnitude." 

Eiud.  Baxmann  [I.e.,  I.  45  sq.)  :  "Amidst  the  general  commotion 
which  the  invasion  of  the  Lombards  caused  in  Italy,  one  man  stood  fast 
on  his  post  in  the  eternal  city,  no  matter  how  high  the  surges  swept  over 
it.  As  Luther,  in  his  last  will,  calls  himself  an  advocate  of  God,  whose 
name  was  well  known  in  heaven  and  on  earth  and  in  hell,  the  epitaph 


218  FOUETH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

says  of  Gregory  I.  that  he  ruled  as  the  consul  Dei.  He  was  the  chief 
bishop  of  the  republic  of  the  church,  the  fourth  doctor  ecelesice,  beside  the 
three  other  powerful  theologians  and  columns  of  the  Latin  church  :  Am- 
brose, Augustine,  and  Jerome.  He  is  justly  called  the  pater  ceremoniarum, 
the  pater  monachorum,  and  the  Great.  What  the  preceding  centuries  had 
produced  in  the  Latin  church  for  church  government  and  dogmatics,  for 
pastoral  care  and  liturgy,  he  gathered  together,  and  for  the  coming  cen- 
turies he  laid  down  the  norms  which  were  seldom  deviated  from." 

To  this  we  add  the  judgment  of  James  Barmby,  the  latest  biographer 
of  Gregory  {Greg.,  p.  191) :  "  Of  the  loftiness  of  his  aims,  the  earnestness 
of  his  purpose,  the  fervor  of  his  devotion,  his  unwearied  activity,  and  his 
personal  purity,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  These  qualities  are  conspicuous 
through  his  whole  career.  If  his  religion  was  of  the  strongly  ascetic 
type,  and  disfigured  by  superstitious  credulity,  it  bore  in  these  respects 
the  complexion  of  his  age,  inseparable  then  from  aspiration  after  the 
highest  holiness.  Nor  did  either  superstition  or  asceticism  sxipersede  in 
him  the  principles  of  a  true  inward  religion — justice,  mercy,  and  truth. 
We  find  him,  when  occasion  required,  exalting  mercy  above  sacrifice ; 
he  was  singularly  kindly  and  benevolent,  as  well  as  just,  and  even  his 
zeal  for  the  full  rigor  of  monastic  discipline  was  tempered  with  much 
gentleness  and  allowance  for  infirmity.  If,  again,  with  singleness  of 
main  purpose  was  combined  at  times  the  astuteness  of  the  diplomatist, 
and  a  certain  degree  of  politic  insincerity  in  addressing  potentates,  his 
aims  were  never  personal  or  selfish.  And  if  he  could  stoop,  for  the 
attainment  of  his  ends,  to  the  then  prevalent  adulation  of  the  great,  he 
could  also  speak  his  mind  fearlessly  to  the  greatest,  when  he  felt  great 
principles  to  be  at  stake." 

§  51.   G-regory  and  the    Universal  Episcopate. 

The  activity"  of  Gregory  tended  powerfully  to  establish  the 
authority  of  the  jiapal  chair.  He  combined  a  triple  dignity, 
episcopal,  metropolitan,  and  patriarchal.  He  was  bishop  of  the 
city  of  Rome,  metropolitan  over  the  seven  suffragan  (afterwards 
called  cardinal)  bishops  of  the  Roman  territory,  and  patriarch 
of  Italy,  in  fact  of  the  whole  West,  or  of  all  the  Latin  churches. 
This  claim  was  scarcely  disputed  except  as  to  the  degree  of  his 
power  in  particular  cases.  A  certain  primacy  of  honor  among 
all  the  patriarchs  was  also  conceded,  even  by  the  East.  But  a 
universal  episcopate,  including  an  authority  of  jurisdiction  over 
the  Eastern  or  Greek  church,  was  not  acknowledged,  and,  what 
is  more  remarkable,  was  not  even  claimed  by  him,  but  emphati- 


§  51.  GREGORY  AND  THE  UNIVERSAL  EPISCOPATE.    219 

cally  declined  and  denounced.  He  stood  between  the  patriarchal 
and  the  strictly  papal  system.  He  regarded  the  four  patriarchs 
of  Constantinople,  Alexandria,  Antioch,  and  Jerusalem,  to  whom 
he  announced  his  election  with  a  customary  confession  of  his 
faith,  as  co-ordinate  leaders  of  the  church  under  Christ,  the 
supreme  head,  corresponding  as  it  were  to  the  four  oecumenical 
councils  and  the  four  gospels,  as  their  common  foundation,  yet 
after  all  with  a  firm  belief  in  a  papal  primacy.  His  correspon- 
.dence  with  the  East  on  this  subject  is  exceedingly  important. 
The  controversy  began  in  595,  and  lasted  several  years,  but  was 

not  settled. 

John  IV.,  the  Faster,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  repeatedly 
used  in  his  letters  the  title  "oecumenical"  or  "universal  bishop." 
This  was  an  honorary  title,  which  had  been  given  to  patriarchs 
by  the  emperors  Leo  and  Justinian,  and  confirmed  to  John  and 
his  .successors  by  a  Constantinopolitau  synod  in  588.  It  had 
also  been  used  in  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  of  pope  Leo  1/ 

1  Gregory  alludes  to  this  fact  in  a  letter  to  John  (Lib.  V.  18,  in  Migne's  ed. 
of  Greg   Opera,  vol.  HI.  740)  and  to  the  emperor  Mauricius  (Lib.  V.  20,  in 
Mi-ne  III  747),  but  says  in  both  that  the  popes  never  claimed  nor  used  "hoc 
Umerarmm  nomen."  ..."  Certe  pro  beati  Petri  apostolorum  principis  honore,  per 
venerandam  Chalcedonensem  synodnm  Romano  ponlifici  oblatum  est   [nomen  ^tud 
blasphemm-].     Sed  nullus  eorum  unquam  hoc  singular i talis  nomine  uti  consemit,  ne 
dum  privatum  aliquid  daretur  uni,  homore  debito  sacerdotes  privarentur  umversz. 
Quid  est  ergo  quod  nos  hujus  vocabuli  gloriam  et  oblatam  non  qucBrimus.  et  alter  ^bi 
hanc  arripere  et  non  oblatam  pnesumitf"     Strictly  .speaking,  however,  the  fact 
assumed  by  Gregory  is  not  quite  correct.     Leo  was  styled  <u.ov,uevc.o,a,^.. 
■.loKono,  only  in  an  accusation  against  Dioscurus.  in  the  third  session  of  Chal- 
cedon     The  papal  delegates  subscribed:   Vimxu  apostolici  universalis  eeclesuz 
PAP^,  which  was  translated  by  the  Greeks :  rm  oUov^ievim  ^x^^^^iaia,  enccKdnov. 
The  popes  claimed  to  be  popes  (but  not  bishops)  of  the  universal  church,     bee 
Hefele,  Conciliengesch.  II.  526.     Boniface  III.  is  said  to  have  openly  assumed 
the  title  universalis  episcopus  in  606,  when  he  obtained  from  the  emperor  Pho- 
cas  a  decree  styling  the  see  of  Peter  "caput  omnium  ccdedarum        It  appears 
as  self-assumed   in  the   Liber   Diurnus,  A.  D.  682-'5,  and   is  frequent   after 
the  seventh   centurv-     The  canonists,  however,  make  a  distinction  between 
" universalis   ecde.i<^  episcopus r  and  ^^ episcopus  nnvcersalis"   or  '  c^cumemcus, 
meaning  by  the  latter  an  v,rvmcdiMe  jurisdiction  in  the  diocese  of  other  bishops, 
which  was  formerly  denied  to  the  pope.     But  according  to  tJie  Vatican  system 
of  1870,  he  L.  the  bishop  of  bishops,  over  every  single  bishop,  and  over  aU 


220  FOUKTH  PERIOD.     A.D.  590-1049. 

But  Gregory  1.  was  provoked  aud  irritated  beyond  measure  by 
the  assumption  of  his  Eastern  rival,  and  strained  every  nerve 
to  procure  a  revocation  of  that  title.  He  characterized  it  as  a 
foolish,  proud,  profane,  wicked,  pestiferous,  blasphemous,  and 
diabolical  usurpation,  and  compared  him  who  used  it  to  Lucifer. 
He  wrote  first  to  Sabinianus,  his  apocrisiarius  or  ambassador  in 
Constantinople,  then  repeatedly  to  the  patriarch,  to  the  emperor 
]\Iauricius,  and  even  to  the  empress ;  for  with  all  his  monkish 
contempt  for  woman,  he  availed  himself  on  every  occasion  of 
the  female  influence  in  high  quarters.  He  threatened  to  break 
off  communion  with  the  patriarch.  He  called  upon  the  empe- 
ror to  punish  such  presumption,  and  reminded  him  of  the  con- 
tamination of  the  see  of  Constantinople  by  such  arch-heretics  as 
Nestorius.^ 

Failing  in  his  efforts  to  change  the  mind  of  his  rival  in  New 
Rome,  he  addressed  himself  to  the  patriarchs  of  Alexandria-and 
Antioch,  and  played  upon  their  jealousy;  but  they  regarded  the 
title  simply  as  a  form  of  honor,  and  one  of  them  addressed  him 
as  oecumenical  pope,  a  compliment  which  Gregory  could  not 
consistently  accept.^ 

After  the  death  of  John  the  Faster  in  596,  Gregory  instructed 
his  ambassador  at  Constantinople  to  demand  from  the  new  pa- 
triarch, Cyriacus,  as  a  condition  of  intercommunion,  the  renun- 
ciation of  the  wicked  title,  aud  in  a  letter  to  Maurice  he  went 
so  far  as  to  declare,  that  "  whosoever  calls  himself  universal  priest, 
or  desires  to  be  called  so,  was  the  forerunner  of  Antichrist."^ 

bishops  put  together,  and  all  bishops  are  simply  his  vicars,  as  he  himself  is 
the  vicar  of  Christ.     See  my  Creeds  of  Christendom,  I.  151. 

'  See  the  letters  in  Lib.  V.  18-21  (Migne  III.  738-751).  His  predecessor, 
Pelagius  II.  (578-590),  had  already  strongly  denounced  the  assumption  of  the 
title  by  John,  and  at  the  same  time  disclnimed  it  for  himself,  while  yet  clearly 
asserting  the  universal  primacy  of  the  see  of  Peter.  See  Migne,  Tom.  LXXII. 
739,  and  Baronius,  ad  ann.  5b7. 

'  Ep.  V.  43:  ad  Eulogiuvi  et  Anastasium  episcopos  ;  VI.  60;  VII.  34,  40. 
Ep.  VII.  13:  "£^70  autem  confidenter  dico  quia  quisquis  se  universalem  sacer- 
dotem  vocat,  vet  voeari  desideral,  in  elatione  sua  Antichristum  prcccurrit,  quia  super- 
biendo  se  cccteris  prceponit." 


§  51.  GEEGORY  AND  THE  UNIVERSAL  EPISCOPATE.    221 

In  opposition  to  these  high-sounding  epithets,  Gregory  called 
himself,  in  proud  humility,  "the  servant  of  the  servants  of  God."^ 
This  became  one  of  the  standing  titles  of  the  popes,  although  it 
sounds  like  irony  in  conjunction  with  their  astounding  claims. 

But  his  remonstrance  was  of  no  avail.  Neither  the  patriarch 
nor  the  emperor  obeyed  his  wishes.  Hence  he  hailed  a  change 
of  government  which  occurred  in  602  by  a  violent  revolution. 

When  Phocas,  an  ignorant,  red-haired,  beardless,  vulgar,  cruel 
•and  deformed  upstart,  after  the  most  atrocious  murder  of  IVIau- 
rice  and  his  whole  family  (a  wife,  six  sons  and  three  daughters), 
ascended  the  throne,  Gregory  hastened  to  congratulate' him  and 
his  wife  Leontia  (who  was  not  much  better)  in  most  enthusiastic 
terms,  calling  on  heaven  and  earth  to  rejoice  at  their  accession, 
and  vilifying  the  memory  of  the  dead  emperor  as  a  tyrant,  from 
whose  yoke  the  church  was  now  fortunately  freed.==  This  is 
a  dark  spot,  but  the  only  really  dark  and  inexcusable  spot  in  the 
life  of  this  pontiff.  He  seemed  to  have  acted  in  this  case  on  the 
infamous  maxim  that  the  end  justifies  the  means.^     His  motive 

1  ^'Servus  servonm  Dei."  See  Joa.  Diaconus,  Vit.  Greg.  II.  1,  and  Lib.  Di- 
urnus  in  Migne,  Tom.  CY.  23.  Augnstin  (Epist.  217,  ad  Vitalem)  had  before 
subscribed  himself:  ^' Servus  Christi,  et  per  ipsum  servus  servorum  e,us."  Corap. 
Matt  XX  26-  xxiii.  11.  Fulgentius  styled  himself  "Servonm  Christ,  famulus. 
The  popes  ostentatiously  wash  the  beggars'  feet  at  St.  Peter's  in  holy  week,  in 
imitation  of  Christ's  example,  but  expect  kings  and  queens  to  kiss  their  toe. 

^  His  letter  -ad  Phocam  imperatorera;'  Ep.  XIII.  31  (III.  1281  in  M.gne) 
begins  with  "  Oloria  in  excelsis  Deo,  quijuxUi  quod  scriptum  est,  zmmutattempora 
et  ^tramfert  regna."    Comp.  his  letter  "odLeontiam  imperatr^em"  {Ep.  Xlli.  39j. 

'  Gibbon  (ch  46) :  "As  a  subject  and  a  Christian,  it  was  the  duty  of  Gregory 
to  acquiesce  in  the  established  government ;  but  the  joyful  applause  with  which 
he  salutes  the  fortune  of  the  assassin,  has  sullied,  with  indelible  disgrace,  the 
character  of  the  saint."  Milman  (II.  83):  "The  darkest  stam  on  the  name 
of  Gregory  is  his  cruel  and  unchristian  triumph  in  the  fall  of  the  Emperor 
Maurice-his  base  and  adulatory  praise  of  Phocas,  the  most  odious  and  san- 
gu  nary  tyrant  who  had  ever  seized  the  throne  of  Constantinople."  Monta- 
fembert  says  (II.  116) :  "This  is  the  only  stain  in  the  life  of  Gregory.  We  do 
not  attempt  either  to  conceal  or  excuse  it.  .  .  Among  the  greatest  and  ho  he 
of  mortals  virtue,  like  wisdom,  always  falls  short  in  some  respect       It  is  cha 

tlo  assume,' with  Baronius  and  other  Roman  Catholic  historian,  tha 
Gregorv,  although  usually  very  well  informed,  at  the  time  he  expressed  his 
extravagant  joy  at  the  elevation  of  Phocas,  knew  only  the  fact,  and  not  the 


222  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

was  no  doubt  to  secure  the  protection  and  aggrandizement  of  the 
Roman  see.  He  did  not  forget  to  remind  the  empress  of  the 
papal  proof-text :  "  Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will 
build  my  church/'  and  to  add :  "  I  do  not  doubt  that  you  will 
take  care  to  oblige  and  bind  him  to  you,  by  whom  you  desire  to 
be  loosed  from  your  sins." 

The  murderer  and  usurper  repaid  the  favor  by  taking  side] 
with  the  pope  against  his  patriarch  (Cyriacus),  who  had  shown 
sympathy  with  the  unfortunate  emperor.  He  acknowledged  the 
Roman  church  to  be  "  the  head  of  all  churches."  ^  But  if  he 
ever  made  such  a  decree  at  the  instance  of  Boniface  III,,  who 
at  that  time  was  papal  nuutius  at  Constantinople,  he  must  have 
meant  merely  such  a  j)rimacy  of  honor  as  had  been  before  con- 
ceded to  Rome  by  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  and  the  emperor 
Justinian.  At  all  events  the  disputed  title  continued  to  be  used 
by  the  patriarchs  and  emperors  of  Constantinople.  Phocas,  after 
a  disgraceful  reign  (602-610),  was  stripped  of  the  diadem  and 
purple,  loaded  with  chains,  insulted,  tortured,  beheaded  and 
cast  into  the  flames.     Pie  was  succeeded  by  Heraclius. 

In  this  whole  controversy  the  jiope's  jealousy  of  the  patriarch 
is  very  manifest,  and  suggests  the  suspicion  that  it  inspired  the 
protest. 

Gregory  displays  in  his  correspondence  with  his  rival  a  sin- 
gular coriibination  of  pride  and  humility.     He  was  too  proud  to 

bloody  raeaDS  of  tlie  elevation.  The  same  ignorance  must  be  assumed  in  the 
ca.se  of  his  flattering  letters  to  Brunhilde,  the  profligate  and  vicious  fury  of 
France.  Otlierwise  we  would  have  here  on  a  small  scale  an  anticipation  of 
the  malignant  joy  with  which  Gregory  XIII.  hailed  the  fearful  slaughter  of 
the  Huguenots. 

'  The  words  run  thus :  "  Hie  [Phocas]  rogante  papa  Bonifacio  statuit  sedem 
Romanw  et  apostolica  ecclesice  caput  esse  omnium  ecclesiarum,  quia  ecclesia 
Constant  inopolitana  primam  sc  omnium  ecclesiarum  scribcbat."  Paulus  Diaconus, 
De  Gest.  Lomb.  IV.,  cap.  7,  in  Muratori,  Rer.  Ital,  I.  465.  But  the  authen- 
ticity of  this  report,  which  was  afterwards  frequently  copied,  is  doubtful.  It 
has  been  abused  by  controversialists  on  both  sides.  It  is  not  the  first  declara- 
tion of  the  Roman  primacy,  nor  is  it  a  declaration  of  an  exclusive  primacy,  nor 
an  abrogation  of  the  title  of  ''oecumenical  patriarch  "  ou  the  part  of  the  bishop 
of  Constantinople.     Comp.  Greenwood,  vol.  II.  239  sqq. 


§  51.  GREGORY  AND  THE  UNIVERSAL  EPISCOPATE.   223 

concede  to  him  the  title  of  a  universal  bishop,  and  yet  too  hum- 
ble or  too  inconsistent  to  claim  it  for  himself.  His  aro-umeuts 
imply  that  he  would  have  the  best  right  to  the  title,  if  it  were 
not  wrong  in  itself.  His  real  opinion  is  perhaps  best  expressed 
in  a  letter  to  Eulogius  of  Alexandria.  He  accepts  all  the  com- 
pliments Avhich  Eulogius  paid  to  him  as  the  successor  of  Peter, 
whose  very  name  signifies  firmness  and  solidity;  but  he  ranks 
Antioch  and  Alexandria  likewise  as  sees  of  Peter,  which  are 
nearly,  if  not  quite,  on  a  par  with  that  of  Rome,  so  that  the 
three,  as  it  were,  constitute  but  one  see.  He  ignores  Jerusalem. 
*'  The  see  of  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles  alone,"  he  says,  "  has 
acquired  a  principality  of  authority,  which  is  the  see  of  one  only, 
though  in  three  places  {quae  in  tribus  locis  tmius  est).  For  he 
himself  has  exalted  the  see  in  which  he  deigned  to  rest  and  to 
end  his  present  life  [Rome].  He  himself  adorned  the  see 
[Alexandria]  to  which  he  sent  his  disciple  [Mark]  as  evangelist.  • 
He  himself  established  the  see  in  which  he  sat  for  seven  years 
[Antioch].  Since,  then,  the  see  is  one,  and  of  one,  over  which 
by  divine  authority  three  bishops  now  preside,  whatever  good  I 
hear  of  you  I  impute  to  myself.  If  you  believe  anything  good 
of  me,  impute  this  to  your  own  merits ;  because  we  are  one  in 
Him  who  said :  '  That  they  all  may  be  one,  as  Thou,  Father, 
art  in  Me,  and  I  in  Thee,  that  all  may  be  one  in  us'  (John 
xvii.  21)."  1 

When  Eulogius,  in  return  for  this  exaltation  of  his  own 
see,  afterwards  addressed  Gregory  as  "  universal  pope,"  he 
strongly  repudiated  the  title,  saying  :  "  I  have  said  that  neither 
to  me  nor  to  any  one  else  [nee  mihi,  nee  cuiquam  alteri)  ought 
you  to  write  anything  of  the  kind.  And  lo  !  in  the  preface  of 
your  letter  you  apply  to  me,  who  prohibited  it,  the  proud  title 
of  universal  pope;  which  thing  I  beg  your  most  sweet  Holiness 

1  Ep.  VII.  40  (Migne  III.  899).  This  parallel  between  the  three  great  sees 
of  Peter — a  hierarchical  tri-personality  in  unity  of  essence — seems  to  he  entirely 
original  with  Gregory,  and  was  never  used  afterwards  by  a  Roman  j)ontiff.  It 
is  fatal  to  the  sole  primacy  of  the  Roman  chair  of  Peter,  and  this  is  the  very 
essence  of  popery. 


224  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

to  do  no  more,  because  what  is  given  to  others  beyond  what  rea- 
son requires  is  subtracted  from  you.  I  do  not  esteem  that  an 
honor  by  which  I  know  my  brethren  lose  their  honor.  My 
honor  is  that  of  the  universal  Church.  My  honor  is  the  solid 
strength  of  my  brethren.  I  am  then  truly  honored  when  all 
and  each  are  allowed  the  honor  that  is  due  to  them.  For,  if 
your  Holiness  calls  me  universal  pope,  you  deny  yourself  to  be 
that  which  you  call  me  universally  [that  is,  you  own  yourself  to 
be  no  pope].  But  no  more  of  this :  away  with  words  which 
inflate  pride  and  wound  charity !"  He  even  objects  to  the  ex- 
pression, "as  thou  hast  commanded,"  which  had  occurred  in  his 
correspondent's  letter.  "  Which  word,  '  commanded,'  I  pray 
you  let  me  hear  no  more ;  for  I  know  what  I  am,  and  what  you 
are:  in  position  you  are  my  brethren,  in  manners  you  are  my 
fathers.  I  did  not,  therefore,  command,  but  desired  only  to  in- 
dicate what  seemed  to  me  expedient." ' 

On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  Gregory,  while 
he  protested  in  the  strongest  terms  against  the  assumption  by 
the  Eastern  patriarchs  of  the  antichristian  and  blasphemous  title 
of  universal  bishop,  claimed  and  exercised,  as  far  as  he  had  the 
opportunity  and  power,  the  authority  and  oversight  over  the 
whole  church  of  Christ,  even  in  the  East.  "  With  respect  to 
the  church  of  Constantinople,"  he  asks  in  one  of  his  letters, 
"  who  doubts  that  it  is  subject  to  the  apostolic  see?"  And  in 
another  letter :  "  I  know  not  what  bishop  is  not  subject  to  it,  if 
fault  is  found  in  him."  "  To  all  who  know  the  Gospels,"  he 
writes  to  emperor  Maurice,  "it  is  plain  that  to  Peter,  as  the 
j)rince  of  all  the  apostles,  was  committed  by  our  Lord  the  care 
of  the  Avholc  church  {tofius  ecdesice  euro).  .  .  .  But  although 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  the  power  to  bind  and 
to  loose,  Avere  intrusted  to  him,  and  the  care  and  principality 
of  the  whole  churcli  [futius  cccJesice  cura  et  principatus),  he  is 
not  called  universal  bisho[) ;  Avhile  my  most  holy  fellow-priest 
{vir  sanctissimus  consacerdos  mens)  John  dares  to  call  himself 
^  Ep.WU  30  fill.  933). 


2  52.  THE  WBITINGS  OF  GREGOKY.  225 

universal  bishop.     I  am  compelled  to  exclaim :   0  tempora,  0 

mores  !  "  ^ 

We  have  no  right  to  impeach  Gregory's  sincerity.  But  he 
was  clearly  inconsistent  in  disclaiming  the  name,  and  yet  claim- 
ing the  thing  itself.  The  real  objection  is  to  the  pretension  of 
a  universal  episcopate,  not  to  the  title.  If  we  concede  the  for- 
mer, the  latter  is  perfectly  legitimate.  And  such  universal  power 
had  already  been  claimed  by  Roman  pontiffs  before  Gregory, 
such  as  Leo  I.,  Felix,  Gelasius,  Hormisdas,  in  language  and  acts 
more  haughty  and  self-sufficient  than  his. 

No  Avonder,  therefore,  that  the  successors  of  Gregory,  less 
humble  and  more  consistent  than  he,  had  no  scruple  to  use 
equivalent  and  even  more  arrogant  titles  than  the  one  against 
which  he  so  solemnly  protested  with  the  warning :  "  God  resist- 
eth  the  proud,  but  giveth  grace  to  the  humble."  ^  But  it  is  a 
very  remarkable  fact,  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  unfolding  of 
the  greatest  power  of  the  papacy  one  of  the  best  of  popes  should 
have  protested  against  the  antichristian  pride  and  usurpation  of 
the  system. 

§  52.   The    Writings  of  Grregory. 

Comp.  the  second  part  of  Lau's  biography,  pp.  311  sqq.,  and  Adolf 
Ebert:  Geschichte  der  Christllch-Latcinischen  lAteratur,  bis  zum 
Zeitalter  Karls  der  Grossen.     Leipzig,  1874  sqq.,  vol.  I.  516  sqq. 

With  all  the  multiplicity  of  his  cares,  Gregory  found  time  for 
literary  labor.  His  books  are  not  of  great  literary  merit,  but 
were  eminently  popular  and  useful  for  the  clergy  of  the  middle 

ages. 

His  theology  was  based  upon  the  four  oecumenical  councils 
and    the   four  Gospels,  which  he  regarded  as    the    immovable 

1  Epist.  V.  20  (III.  745).  He  quotes  in  proof  the  pet-texts  of  poper)-,  John 
xxi.  17  ;  Luke  xxii.  31 ;  Matt.  xvi.  18. 

«  Such  titles  as  Universalis  Episcopus  (used  by  Boniface  III.,  a  year  after 
Gregory's  death),  Pontifex  Maximus,  Summu^  Pontlfer.,  Vicarius  Chnsti,  and 
even  "ipsius  Dei  in  terris  Vieariics"  (Cone.  Tvid.  VI.  Da  reform.,  e.  1).  First 
Vicar  of  Peter,  then  Vicar  of  Christ,  at  last  Vicar  of  God  Almighty  ! 

15 


226  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

pillars  of  orthodoxy;  he  also  accepted  the  condemnation  of  the 
three  chapters  by  the  fifth  oecumenical  council.  He  was  a  mo- 
derate Augustinian,  but  with  an  entirely  practical,  unspeculative, 
uncritical,  traditional  and  superstitious  bent  of  mind.  His  de- 
struction of  the  Palatine  Library,  if  it  ever  existed,  is  now 
rejected  as  a  fable ;  but  it  reflects  his  contempt  for  secular  and 
classical  studies  as  beneath  the  dignity  of  a  Christian  bishop. 
Yet  in  ecclesiastical  learning  and  pul])it  eloquence  he  had  no 
superior  in  his  age. 

Gregory  is  one  of  the  great  doctors  or  authoritative  fathers  of 
the  church.  His  views  on  sin  and  grace  are  almost  semi-Pela- 
gian. He  makes  predestination  depend  on  fore-knowledge ; 
represents  the  fallen  nature  as  sick  only,  not  as  dead ;  lays  great 
stress  on  the  meritoriousness  of  good  works,  and  is  chiefly  re- 
sponsible for  the  doctrine  of  a  jaurgatorial  fire,  and  masses  for 
the  benefit  of  the  souls  in  purgatory. 

His  Latin  style  is  not  classical,  but  ecclesiastical  and  monkish ; 
it  abounds  in  barbarisms ;  it  is  prolix  and  chatty,  but  occasionally 
sententious  and  rising  to  a  rhetorical  pathos,  which  he  borrowed 
from  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament. 

The  following  are  his  works : 

1.  Magna  Moralia,  in  thirty-five  books.  This  large  work 
was  begun  in  Constantinople  at  the  instigation  of  Leander,  bishop 
of  Seville,  and  finished  in  Rome.  It  is  a  three-fold  exposition 
of  the  book  of  Job  according  to  its  historic  or  literal,  its  allego- 
rical, and  its  moral  meaning.^ 

Being  ignorant  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  languages,  and  of 
Oriental  histoiy  and  customs  (although  for  some  time  a  resident 
of  Constantinople),  Gregory  lacked  the  first  qualifications  for  a 
grammatical  and  historical  interpretation. 

The  allegorical  part  is  an  exegetical  curiosity :  he  reads  be- 

'  Ep.  misxoria,  cap.  3  (ed.  MIgne  I.  513) :  "  Primum  quidem  fundamenla  histo- 
rifB  ponimus;  deindu  per  sujnificationem  typicam  in  artem  fidei  fabricam  mentis 
eri(/imus  ;  ad  extremum  quoque  per  moralilatis  gratiam,  quasi  superducto  cedifieium 
colore  vcstimus." 


2  52.  THE  WRITINGS  OF  GREGORY.  227 

tween  or  beneath  the  lines  of  that  wonderful  poem  the  history 
of  Christ  and  a  whole  system  of  theology  natural  and  revealed. 
The  names  of  persons  and  things,  the  numbers,  and  even  the 
syllables,  are  filled  with  mystic  meaning.  Job  represents  Christ ; 
his  wife  the  carnal  nature;  his  seven  sons  (seven  being  the 
number  of  perfection)  represent  the  apostles,  and  hence  the 
clergy;  his  three  daughters  the  three  classes  of  the  faithful  laity 
who  are  to  worship  the  Trinity;  his  friends  the  heretics;  the 
seven  thousand  sheep  the  perfect  Christians;  the  three  thousand 
camels  the  heathen  and  Samaritans;  the  five  hundred  yoke  of 
oxen  and  five  hundred  she-asses  again  the  heathen,  because  the 
prophet  Isaiah  says :  "  The  ox  knoweth  his  owner,  and  the  ass 
his  master's  crib;  but  Israel  doth  not  know,  my  people  doth  not 
consider." 

The  moral  sense,  which  Gregory  explains  last,  is  an  edifying 
homiletical  expansion  and  application,  and  a  sort  of  compend  of 
Christian  ethics. 

2.  Twenty-two  Homilies  on  Ezekiel,  delivered  in  Rome  du- 
ring the  siege  by  Agilulph,  and  afterwards  revised. 

3.  Forty  Homilies  on  the  Gospels  for  the  day,  preached  by 
Gregory  at  various  times,  and  afterwards  edited. 

4.  Liber  Regulce  Pastoralis,  in  four  parts.  It  is  a  pastoral 
theology,  treating  of  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  minis- 
terial office,  in  justification  of  his  reluctance  to  undertake  the 
burden  of  the  papal  dignity.  It  is  more  practical  than  Chrysos- 
tom's  "  Priesthood.''  It  was  held  in  the  highest  esteem  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  translated  into  Greek  by  order  of  the  emperor 
Maurice,  and  into  Anglo-Saxon  by  King  Alfred,  and  given  to 
the  bishops  in  France  at  their  ordination,  together  with  the  book 
of  canons,  as  a  guide  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties.  Gregory, 
according  to  the  spirit  of  his  age,  enjoins  strict  celibacy  even 
upon  sub-deacons.  But  otherwise  he  gives  most  excellent  advice 
suitable  to  all  times.  He  makes  preaching  one  of  the  chief  duties 
of  pastors,  in  the  discharge  of  which  ho  himself  set  a  good  ex- 
ample.    He  warns  them  to  guard  against  the  besetting  sin  of 


228  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

pride  at  the  very  outset;  for  they  will  not  easily  learn  humility 
in  a  high  position.  They  should  preach  by  their  lives  as  well 
as  their  words.  "  He  who,  by  the  necessity  of  his  position,  is 
required  to  speak  the  highest  things,  is  compelled  by  the  same 
necessity  to  exemplify  the  highest.  For  that  voice  best  pene- 
trates the  hearts  of  hearers  which  the  life  of  the  speaker  com- 
mends, because  what  he  commends  in  his  speech  he  helps  to 
practice  by  his  example."  He  advises  to  combine  meditation 
and  action.  "  Our  Lord,"  he  says,  "continued  in  prayer  on  the 
mountain,  but  wrought  miracles  in  the  cities ;  showing  to  pastors 
that  while  aspiring  to  the  highest,  they  should  mingle  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  necessities  of  the  infirm.  The  more  kindly  cha- 
rity descends  to  the  lowest,  the  more  vigorously  it  recurs  to  the 
highest."  The  spiritual  ruler  should  never  be  so  absorbed  in 
external  cares  as  to  forget  the  inner  life  of  the  soul,  nor  neglect 
external  things  in  the  care  for  his  inner  life.  "  The  word  of 
doctrine  fails  to  penetrate  the  mind  of  the  needy,  unless  com- 
mended by  the  hand  of  compassion." 

5.  Four  books  of  Dialogues  on  the  lives  and  miracles  of  St. 
Benedict  of  Nursia  and  other  Italian  saints,  and  on  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  (593).  These  dialogues  between  Gregory  and 
the  Roman  archdeacon  Peter  abound  in  incredible  marvels  and 
visions  of  the  state  of  departed  souls.  He  acknowledges,  how- 
ever, tliat  he  knew  these  stories  only  from  hearsay,  and  defends 
his  recording  them  by  the  example  of  Mark  and  Luke,  who 
reported  the  gospel  from  what  they  heard  of  the  eye-witnesses. 
His  veracity,  therefore,  is  not  at  stake ;  but  it  is  strange  that  a 
man  of  his  intelligence  and  good  sense  should  believe  such  gro- 
tesque and  childish  marvels.  The  Dialogues  are  the  chief  source 
of  the  mediaeval  superstitions  about  purgatory.  King  Alfred 
ordered  them  to  be  translated  into  the  Ano-lo-Saxon. 

6.  His  Epistles  (838  in  all)  to  bishops,  princes,  missionaries, 
and  other  persons  in  all  parts  of  Christendom,  give  us  the  best 
idea  of  his  character  and  administration,  and  of  the  conversion 
of  the  Anglo-Saxons.     They  treat  of  topics  of  theology,  morals. 


2  52.  THE  WRITINGS  OF  GREGORY.  229 

politics,  diplomacy,  monasticism,  episcopal  and  papal  adminis- 
tration, and  give  us  the  best  insight  into  his  manifold  duties, 
cares,  and  sentiments. 

7.  The  Gregorian  Sacramentary  is  based  upon  the  older  Sac- 
ramentaries  of  Gelasius  and  Leo  I.,  with  some  changes  in  the 
Canon  of  the  Mass.  His  assertion  that  in  the  celebration  of  the 
eucharist,  the  apostles  used  the  Lord's  Prayer  only  (solmnmodo), 
has  caused  considerable  discussion.  Probably  he  meant  no  other 
prayer,  in  addition  to  the  words  of  institution,  which  he  took 
for  granted. 

8.  A  collection  of  antiphons  for  mass  {I/iber  Ant'iphonarius). 
It  contains  probably  later  additions.  Several  other  works  of 
doubtful  authenticity,  and  nine  Latin  hymns  are  also  attributed 
to  Gregory.  They  are  in  the  metre  of  St.  Ambrose,  without 
the  rhyme,  except  the  "Rex  Christe,  factor  omnium"  (which  is 
very  highly  spoken  of  by  Luther).  They  are  simple,  devout, 
churchly,  elevated  in  thought  and  sentiment,  yet  without  poetic 
fire  and  vigor.  Some  of  them  as  "  Blest  Creator  of  the  Light" 
(Lucis  Creator  optime),  "O  merciful  Creator,  hear"  [Audi,  beate 
Oonditor),  "Good  it  Ls  to  keep  the  fast"  [Clarum  deous  jejunii), 
have  recently  been  made  familiar  to  English  readers  in  free 
translations  from  the  Anglo-Catholic  school.^  He  was  a  great 
ritualist  (hence  called  "Master  of  Ceremonies"),  but  with  con- 
siderable talent  for  sacred  poetry  and  music.  The  "  Cantus  Gre- 
gorianus "  so  called  was  probably  a  return  from  the  artistic  and 
melodious  antiphonal  "  Cantus  Ambrosianus  "  to  the  more  an- 
cient and  simj)le  mode  of  chanting.  He  founded  a  school  of 
singers,  which  became  a  nursery  of  similar  schools  in  other 
churches." 

Some  other  writings  attributed  to  him,  as  an  Exposition  of 
the  First  Book  of  Kings,  and  an  allegorical  Exposition  of  the 
Canticles,  are  of  doubtful  genuineness. 

^  See  "Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern." 

2  Comp.  Barmby,  Greg,  the  Gr.,  pp.  188-190;  Lau,  p.  262;  Ebert,  I.  519. 


230  FOUETH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

§   53.    The  Papacy  from    Gregory    I.  to    Gregory   II.     A.  D. 

604-715. 

Tlic  successors  of  Gregory  I,  to  Gregory  II.  were,  with  few 
exceptions,  obscure  men,  and  ruled  but  a  short  time.  They  were 
mostly  Italians,  many  of  them  Romans ;  a  few  were  Syrians, 
chosen  by  the  Eastern  emperors  in  the  interest  of  their  policy 
and  theology. 

Sabinianus  (604)  was  as  hard  and  avaricious  as  Gregory  was 
benevolent  and  liberal,  and  charged  the  famine  of  his  reign  upon 
the  prodigality  of  his  sainted  predecessor.  Boniface  III.  (606- 
607)  did  not  scruple  to  assume  the  title  of  "  universal  bishop," 
against  which  Gregory,  in  proud  humility,  had  so  indignantly 
protested  as  a  blasphemous  antichristian  assumption.  Boniface 
IV.  converted  the  Roman  Pantheon  into  a  Christian  church 
dedicated  to  the  Virgin  Mary  and  all  the  Martyrs  (608).  Ho- 
norius  I.  (625-638)  was  condemned  by  an  oecumenical  council 
and  by  his  own  successors  as  a  Monothelite  heretic ;  while  Mar- 
tin I.  (649-655)  is  honored  for  the  persecution  he  endured  in 
behalf  of  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  two  wills  in  Christ.  Under 
Gregory  II.  and  III.,  Germany  was  converted  to  Roman  Chris- 
tianity. 

The  popes  followed  the  missionary  policy  of  Gregory  and  the 
instinct  of  Roman  ambition  and  power.  Every  progress  of 
Christianity  in  the  West  and  the  North  was  a  progress  of  the 
Roman  Church.  Augustiu,  Boniface,  Ansgar  were  Roman  mis- 
sionaries and  pioneers  of  the  papacy.  As  England  had  been 
annexed  to  the  triple  crown  under  Gregory  I.,  so  France,  the 
Netherlands,  Germany  and  Scandinavia  were  annexed  under  his 
successors.  The  British  and  Scotch-Irish  independence  gave 
way  gradually  to  the  irresistible  progress  of  Roman  authority 
and  uniformity.  Priests,  noblemen  and  kings  from  all  parts  of 
the  West  were  visiting  Rome  as  the  capital  of  Christendom, 
and  paid  homage  to  the  shrine  of  the  apostles  and  to  the  living 
successor  of  the  Galilaean  fisherman. 


2  54.  FEOM  GEEGOEY  II.  TO  ZACHAEIAS.  A.  D.  715-741.  231 

But  while  the  popes  thus  extended  their  spiritual  dominion 
over  the  new  barbarous  races,  they  were  the  political  subjects  of 
the  Eastern  emperor  as  the  master  of  Italy,  and  could  not  be 
consecrated  without  his  consent.  They  were  expected  to  obey 
the  imperial  edicts  even  in  spiritual  matters,  and  were  subject 
to  arrest  and  exile.  To  rid  themselves  of  this  inconvenient 
dependence  was  a  necessary  step  in  the  development  of  the  ab- 
solute papacy.  It  was  effected  in  the  eighth  century  by  the  aid 
of  a  rising  AYestern  power.  The  progress  of  IMohammedanism 
and  its  encroachment  on  the  Greek  empire  likewise  contributed 
to  their  independence. 

§  54.  From  Gregory  II.  to  Zacharias.     A.D.  715-741. 

Gregory  II.  (715-731)  marks  the  transition  to  this  new  state 
of  things.  He  quarreled  with  the  iconoclastic  emperor,  Leo 
the  Isaurian,  about  the  worship  of  images.  Under  his  pontifi- 
cate, Liutprand,^  the  ablest  and  mightiest  king  of  the  Lombards, 
conquered  the  Exarchate  of  Ravenna,  and  became  master  of 
Italy. 

But  the  sovereignty  of  a  barbarian  and  once  Arian  power  was 
more  odious  and  dangerous  to  the  popes  than  that  of  distant 
Constantinople.  Placed  between  the  heretical  emperor  and  the 
barbarian  robber,  they  looked  henceforth  to  a  young  and  rising 
power  beyond  the  Alps  for  deliverance  and  protection.  The 
Franks  were  Catholics  from  the  time  of  their  conversion  under 
Clovis,  and  achieved  under  Charles  Martel  (the  Hammer)  a 
mighty  victory  over  the  Saracens  (732),  which  saved  Christian 
Europe  against  the  invasion  and  tyranny  of  Islam.  They  had 
thus  become  the  protectors  of  Latin  Christianity.  They  also 
lent  their  aid  to  Boniface  in  the  conversion  of  Germany. 

Gregory  III.  (731-741)  renewed  the  negotiations  with  the 
Franks,  begun  by  his  predecessor.     When  the  Lombards  again 

^  Or  Luitprand,  born  about  690,  died  744.  There  is  also  a  Lombard  histo- 
rian of  that  name,  a  deacon  of  the  cathedral  of  Pavia,  afterwai-ds  bishop  of 
Cremona,  died  972. 


232  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

invaded  the  .territory  of  Rome,  and  were  ravaging  by  fire  and 
sword  the  last  remains  of  the  property  of  the  church,  he  appealed 
in  piteous  and  threatening  tone  to  Charles  Martel,  who  had  in- 
herited from  his  father,  Pepin  of  Herstal,  the  mayoralty  of 
France,  and  was  the  virtual  ruler  of  the  realm.  "  Close  not 
your  ears,"  he  says,  "against  our  supplications,  lest  St.  Peter 
close  against  you  the  gates  of  heaven."  He  sent  him  the  keys 
of  the  tomb  of  St.  Peter  as  a  symbol  of  allegiance,  and  offered 
him  the  titles  of  Patrician  and  Consul  of  Rome.*  This  was 
virtually  a  declaration  of  independence  from  Constantinople. 
Charles  Martel  returned  a  courteous  answer,  and  sent  presents 
to  Rome,  but  did  not  cross  the  Alps.  He  was  abhorred  by  the 
clergy  of  his  own  country  as  a  sacrilegious  spoiler  of  the  pro- 
perty of  the  church  and  disposer  of  bishoprics  to  his  counts  and 
dukes  in  the  place  of  rightful  incumbents." 

The  negotiations  were  interrupted  by  the  death  of  Charles 
Martel  Oct.  21,  741,  followed  by  that  of  Gregory  III.,  Nov.  27 
of  the  same  year. 

§  55.  Alliance  of  the  Papacy  with   the  New   Monarchy  of  the 

Franks.     Pepin  and  the  Patrimony  of  St.  Peter. 

A.D.  741-755. 

Pope  Zacharias  (741-752),  a  Greek,  by  the  weight  of  his 
priestly  authority,  brought   Liutprand  to  terms  of  temporary 

'  Gibbon  actually  attributes  these  titles  to  Charles  Martel ;  while  Bryce  (p. 
40)  thinks  that  they  were  first  f,nven  to  Pepin.  Gregory  II.  had  already  (724) 
addressed  Charles  Martel  a.s  "  Fatricius"  (see  Migne,  Opera  Caroli  M.  II.  69). 
Gregory  III.  sent  liim  in  739  ipsas  sacratissimas  claves  confessionis  beati  Petri 
quas  vobis  ad  regnum  dimisimus  (i6.  p.  66),  which  implies  the  transfer  of  civil 
authority  over  Rome. 

'  Milman  (Book  IV.,  ch.  9)  says  that  Dante,  the  faithful  recorder  of  popular 
Catholic  tradition,  adopts  the  condemnatory  legend  which  puts  Charles  "in 
the  lowest  pit  of  hell."  B.if  I  can  find  no"  mention  of  him  in  Dante.  The 
Charles  Martel  of  Par  ad.  VIII.  and  IX.  is  a  very  different  person,  a  king  of 
Ilungan-,  who  died  1301.  See  Witte's  Dante,  p.  667,  and  Carey's  note  on 
Par.  VIII.  53.  On  the  relations  of  Charles  Martel  to  Boniface,  see  Rettberg, 
Kirchengesch.  Deutscldands,  I.  306  sqq. 


2  55.  ALLIANCE  OF  THE  PAPACY  WITH  THE  FEANKS.  233 

submission.  The  Lombard  king  suddenly  paused  in  the  career 
of  conquest,  and  died  after  a  reign  of  thirty  years  (743). 

But  his  successor,  Astolph,  again  threatened  to  incorporate 
Kome  with  his  kingdom.  Zacharias  sought  the  protection  of 
Pepin  the  Short/  the  Mayor  of  the  Palace,  son  of  Charles  Mar- 
tel,  and  father  of  Charlemagne,  and  in  return  for  this  aid  helped 
him  to  the  crown  of  France.  This  was  the  first  step  towards 
the  creation  of  a  Western  empire  and  a  new  political  system  of 
Europe  with  the  pope  and  the  German  emperor  at  the  head. 

Hereditary  succession  was  not  yet  invested  with  that  religious 
sanctity  among  the  Teutonic  races  as  in  later  ages.  In  the  Jew- 
ish theocracy  unworthy  kings  were  deposed,  and  new  dynasties 
elevated  by  the  interposition  of  God's  messengers.  The  pope 
claimed  and  exercised  now  for  the  first  time  the  same  power. 
The  Mayor,  or  high  steward,  of  the  royal  household  in  France 
was  the  prime  minister  of  the  sovereign  and  the  chief  of  the 
official  and  territorial  nobility.  This  dignity  became  hereditary 
in  the  family  of  Pepin  of  Laudon,  who  died  in  639,  and  was 
transmitted  from  him  through  six  descents  to  Pepin  the  Short, 
a  gallant  warrior  and  an  experienced  statesman.  He  was  on 
good  terms  with  Boniface,  the  apostle  of  Germany  and  arch- 
bishop of  Mayence,  who,  according  to  the  traditional  view,  acted 
as  negotiator  between  him  and  the  pope  in  this  political  couj) 

Childeric  III.,  the  last  of  the  hopelessly  degenerate  Merovin- 
gian line,  was  the  mere  shadow  of  a  monarch,  and  forced  to 
retire  into  a  monastery.  Pepin,  the  ruler  in  fact,  now  assumed 
the  name,  was  elected  at  Soissons  (March,  752)  by  the  acclama- 
tion and  clash  of  arms  of  the  people,  and  anointed,  like  the 
kings  of  Israel,  with  holy  oil,  by  Boniface  or  some  other  bishop, 

1  Or  Pipin,  Pippin,  Pippinus.     The  last  is  the  spelling  in  his  documents.^ 

2  Eettberg,  however  (I.  385  sqq.),  disconnects  Boniface  from  all  participation 
in  the  elevation  and  coronation  of  Pepin,  and  represents  him  as  being  rather 
opposed  to  it.  He  argues  from  the  silence  of  some  annalists,  and  from  the  im- 
probability that  the  pope  should  have  repeated  the  consecration  if  it  had  been 
previously  performed  by  his  legate. 


234  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

and  two  years  after  by  the  pope  himself,  who  had  decided  that 
the  lawful  possessor  of  the  royal  power  may  also  lawfully  assume 
the  royal  title.  Since  that  time  he  called  himself  "  by  the  grace 
of  God  king  of  the  Franks."  The  pope  conferred  on  him  the 
title  of  "Patrician  of  the  Romans"  {Patricius  Romanorum), 
which  implies  a  sort  of  protectorate  over  the  Roman  church, 
and  civil  sovereignty  over  her  territory.  For  the  title  "  Patri- 
cian," which  was  introduced  by  Constantine  the  Great,  signified 
the  highest  rank  next  to  that  of  the  emperor,  and  since  the 
sixth  century  was  attached  to  the  Byzantine  Viceroy  of  Italy. 
On  the  other  hand,  this  elevation  and  coronation  Avas  made  the 
basis  of  papal  superiority  over  the  crowns  of  France  and 
Germany. 

The  pope  soon  reaped  the  benefit  of  his  favor.  When  hard 
pressed  again  by  the  Lombards,  he  called  the  new  king  to 
his  aid. 

Stei)hen  III.,  who  succeeded  Zacharias  in  March,  752,  and 
ruled  till  757,  visited  Pepin  in  person,  and  implored  him  to 
enforce  the  restoration  of  the  domain  of  St.  Peter.  He  anointed 
him  again  at  St.  Denys,  together  with  his  two  sons,  and  pro- 
mised to  secure  the  perpetuity  of  his  dynasty  by  the  fearful 
power  of  the  interdict  and  excommunication.  Pepin  accompa- 
nied him  back  to  Italy  and  defeated  the  Lombards  (754). 
^A\Tien  the  Lombards  renewed  the  war,  the  pope  wrote  letter 
upon  letter  to  Pepin,  admonishing  and  commanding  him  in  the 
name  of  Peter  and  the  holy  Mother  of  God  to  save  the  city  of 
Pome  from  the  detested  enemies,  and  promising  him  long  life 
and  the  most  glorious  mansions  in  heaven,  if  he  speedily  obeyed. 
To  such  a  height  of  blasphemous  assumption  had  the  papacy 
risen  already  as  to  identify  itself  with  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
and  to  claim  to  be  the  dispenser  of  temporal  prosperity  and 
eternal  salvation. 

Pepin  crossed  the  Alps  again  Avith  his  army,  defeated  the 
Lombards,  and  bestowed  the  conquered  territory  upon  the  pope 
(755).     He  declared  to  the  ambassadors  of  the  East  who  de- 


5  55.  ALLIANCE  OF  THE  PAPACY  WITH  THE  FRANKS.  235 

manded  the  restitution  of  Ravenna  and  its  territory  to  the 
Byzantine  empire,  that  his  sole  object  in  the  war  was  to  show 
his  veneration  for  St.  Peter.  The  new  papal  district  embraced 
the  Exarchate  and  the  Pentapolis,  East  of  the  Apennines,  with 
the  cities  of  Ravenna,  Rimini,  Pesaro,  Fano,  Cesena,  Sinigaglia, 
lesi,  Forlimpopoli,  Forli,  Montefeltro,  Acerra,  Monte  di  Lucano, 
Serra,  San  Marino,  Bobbio,  Urbino,  Cagli,  Luciolo,  Gubbio, 
Coraachio,  and  Narni.^ 

This  donation  of  Pepin  is  the  foundation  of  "  the  Patrimony 
of  St.  Peter."  The  pope  was  already  in  possession  of  tracts  of ' 
land  in  Italy  and  elsewhere  granted  to  the  church.  But  by  this 
gift  of  a  foreign  conqueror  he  became  a  temporal  sovereign  ov^er 
a  large  part  of  Italy,  while  claiming  to  be  the  successor  of  Peter 
who  had  neither  silver  nor  gold,  and  the  vicar  of  Christ  who 
said  :  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world."  The  temporal  power 
made  the  papacy  independent  in  the  exercise  of  its  jurisdiction, 
but  at  the  expense  of  its  spiritual  character.  It  provoked  a  long 
conflict  with  the  secular  power  ;  it  involved  it  in  the  political 
interests,  intrigues  and  wars  of  Europe,  and  secularized  the 
church  and  the  hierarchy.  Dante,  who  shared  the  mediaeval! 
error  of  dating  the  donation  of  Pepin  back  to  Constantine  the 
Great,^  gave  expression  to  this  view  in  the  famous  lines : 


"  Ah,  Constantine  !  of  how  much  ill  was  mother, 
Not  thy  conversion,  but  that  marriage-dower 


7 

Which  the  first  wealthy  Father  took  from  thee."^ 


^  This  is  the  enumeration  of  Baronius  ad  ann.  755.  Others  define  the  extent 
differently.     Comp.  Wiltsch,  Kirchl.  Geographie  und  Statistik,  I.  pp.  246  sqq. 

*  Constantine  bestowed  upon  the  pope  a  portion  of  the  Lateran  palace  for  his 
residence,  and  upon  the  church  the  right  to  hold  real  estate  and  to  receive  be- 
quests of  landed  property  from  individuals.  This  is  the  slender  foundation  for 
the  fable  of  the  Donatio  Constantini. 

'  Inferno  xix.  115-118  : 

"  Ahi  Costantin,  di  quanta  malfu  matre, 
Non  la  tua  conversion,  ma  queUa  dote, 
Che  da  te  prese  il  prima  ricco  patre  .'" 


236  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Yet  Dante  places  Constantine,  who  "  from  good  intent  pro- 
duced evil  fruit,"  in  heaven  ;  where 

"  Now  he  knows  how  all  the  ill  deduced 
From  his  good  action  is  not  harmful  to  him, 
Although  the  world  thereby  may  be  destroyed." 
And  he  speaks  favorably  of  Charlemagne's  intervention  in  be- 
half of  the  pope  : 

"  And  when  the  tooth  of  Lombardy  had  bitten 
The  Holy  Church,  then  underneath  its  wings 
Did  Charlemagne  victorious  succor  her."  ^ 

The  policy  of  Pepin  was  followed  by  Charlemagne,  the  Ger- 
man, and  Austrian  emperors,  and  modern  French  rulers  who 
interfered  in  Italian  affairs,  now  as  allies,  now  as  enemies,  until 
the  temporal  power  of  the  papacy  was  lost  under  its  last  pro- 
tector, Napoleon  III.,  who  withdrew  his  troops  from  Rome  to 
fight  against  Germany,  and  by  his  defeat  prepared  the  M^ay  for 
Victor  Emanuel  to  take  possession  of  Rome,  as  the  capital  of 
free  and  united  Italy  (1870).  Since  that  time  the  pope  who  a 
few  weeks  before  had  proclaimed  to  the  world  his  own  infalli- 
bility in  all  matters  of  faith  and  morals,  is  confined  to  the  Vati- 
can, but  with  no  diminution  of  his  spiritual  power  as  the  bishop 
of  bishops  over  two  hundred  millions  of  souls. 

§  56.   Charles  the  Great.     A.  D.  768-814. 

SOURCES. 

Beati  Caroli  Magni  Opera  omrda.  2  vols.  In  Migne's  Patrol.  Lot. 
Tom.  97  and  98.  The  first  vol.  contains  the  Codex  Diplomaticus, 
Capitularia,  and  Privilegia ;  the  second  vol.,  the  Codex  Carolinus, 
the  Libri  Carolini  (on  the  image  controversy),  the  Epistolse,  Car- 
minA,  etc. 

1.  The  Letters  of  Charles,  of  Einiiard,  and  of  Alcuin.    Also  the  letters 

of  the  Popes  to  Charles  and  his  two  predecessors,  which  he  had  col- 
lected, and  which  are  called  the  Codex  Carolinus,  ed.  by  Muratori, 
Cenni,  ad  Migne  (Tom.  98,  pp.  10  sqq.). 

2.  The  Capitularies  and  Laws  of  Charlemagne,  contained  in  the  first  vol. 

of  the  Leges  in  the  Mon.  Germ.,  ed.  by  Pertz,  aud  in  the  Collections 
of  Baluzius  and  Migne. 
^  Pcuradiso  XX.  .!;7-60  ;  VI.  94-97.     Longfellow's  translation. 


?  56.  CHARLES  THE  GREAT.     A.  D.  768-814.  237 

3.  Annals.     The  Annales  Laurissemes  Majores  ({irobably  the  official  chro- 

nicle of  the  court)  from  788  to  813 ;  the  Annales  Einhardi,  written 
after  829;  the  Annales  Petaviani,  Laureshamenses,  Mosellani,  and 
others,  more  of  local  than  general  value.  All  in  the  first  and  second 
vol.  of  Pebtz,  Monumenta  Germanica  hist.  Script. 

4.  Biographies:  EiNHARD   or   Egixhard   (b.  770,    educated  at   Fulda, 

private  secretary  of  Charlemagne,  afterwards  Benedictine  monk)  '• 
Vita  Caroli  Imperatoris  (English  translation  by  S.  S.  Turner,  New 
York,  1880).  A  true  sketch  of  what  Charles  was  by  an  admiring  and 
loving  hand  in  almost  classical  Latin,  and  after  the  manner  of 
Sueton's  Lives  of  the  Roman  emperors.  It  marks,  as  Ad.  Ebert  says 
(IL  95),  the  height  of  the  classical  studies  of  the  age  of  Charlemagne. 
Milman  (II.  508)  calls  it  "the  best  historic  work  which  had  appeared 
in  the  Latin  language  for  centuries." — Poeta  Saxo:  Annales  de 
Gedis  Caroli,  from  the  end  of  the  ninth  century.  An  anonymous 
monk  of  St.  Gall :  De  Gestis  Caroli,  about  the  same  time.  In  Pertz, 
I.  c,  and  Jaffe's  Monumenta  Carolina  [Bibl.  Rer.  Germ.,  T.  IV.), 
also  in  Migne,  Tom.. I.,  Op.  Caroli. 
Comp.  on  the  sources  Abel's  Jahrbiicher  des  Prank.  Reichs  (Berlin,  1866) 
and  Wattenbach's  Geschichfsquellen  im  Mittelalter  (Berlin,  1858; 
4th  ed.  1877-78,  2  vols.) 

LITERATURE. 

J.  G.  Walch  :  Historia  Canonisationis  Caroli  M.     Jen.,  1750. 

PtJTTER :  De  Instauraiione  Imp.  Rom.     Gott.,  1766. 

Gaillard  :  Histoire  de  Charlemagne.     Paris,  1784,  4  vols,  sec**  ed.  1819. 

Gibbon  :  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.     Ch.  49. 

J.  Ellendorf  :    Die  KaroUnger  und  die  Hierarchie  ihrer  Zeit.     Essen., 

1838,  2  vols. 
Hegewisch  :  Geschichfe  der  Regierung  Kaiser  Karls  des  Gr.   Hamb.,  1791. 

DiPPOLT :  Leben  K.  Karls  des  Gr.     Tiib.,  1810. 

G.  P.  R.  James  :   The  History  of  Charlemagne.     London,  2nd  ed.  1847. 

Bahr:   Gesch.  der  rom.  Lit.  im  Karoling.  Zeitalter.     Carlsruhe,  1840. 

Gfrorer  :   Geschichte  der  KaroUnger.  Freiburg  i.  B.,  1848,  2  vols. 

Capefigue  :   Charlemagne.     Paris,  1842,  2  vols. 

Warnkonig  et  Gerard  :  Hist,  des  Carolingians.    Brux.  and  Paris,  1862, 

2  vols. 
Waitz  :  Deutsche  Verfassungsgeschichte,  vols.  III.  and  IV. 
W.  Giesebrecht:   Geschichte  der   deutschen  Kaiserzeit.     Braunschweig, 

1863  sqq.  (3rd  ed.).     Bd.  I.,  pp.  106  sqq. 
DoLLiNGER:  Kaiserthum   Karls  des   Grossen,  in  the   Miinchener   Hist. 

Jahrbuch  for  1865. 
Gaston  :  Histoire  poetique  de  Charlemagne.     Paris,  1865. 
P.  Albebdinck  Thijm  :  Karl  der  Gr.  und  seine  Zeit.    Miinster,  1868. 


238  FOUKTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Abel  :  Jahrbiicher  des  Frdnkischen  Reichs  unter  Karl  d.  Grossen.  Berlin, 
1866. 

Wyss  :  Karl  der  Grosse  als  Oesetzgeber.     Zurich,  1869. 

Rettberg  :  Kircliengeschichte   Deutschlands,  I.  419  sqq.,  II.  382  sqq. 

Alphoxse  Vetault  :  Charlemagne.  Tours,  1877  (556  pp.).  With  fine 
illustrations. 

L.  Stacke  :  Deutsche  Gesehichte.  Leipzig,  1880.  Bd.  I.  169  sqq.  "With 
illustrations  and  maps. 

Conip.  also  MiLMAN :  Latin  Christianity,  Book  IV.,  ch.  12,  and  Book  V., 
ch.  1 ;  Ad.  Ebert  :  Gesehichte  der  Literatur  des  Mittelalters  im  Abend- 
lande  (1880),  vol.  II.  3-108.  Of  French  writers,  GuizoT,  and  Mar- 
tin, in  their  Histories  of  France ;  also  Parke  Godwin,  History  of 
France,  chs.  xvi.  and  xvii.  (vol.  I.  410  sqq.). 

With  the  death  of  Pepin  the  Short  (Sept.  24,  768),  the  king- 
dom of  France  was  divided  between  his  two  sons,  Charles  and 
Carloman,  the  former  to  rule  in  the  Northern,  the  latter  in  the 
Southern  provinces.  After  the  death  of  his  weaker  brother  (771) 
Charles,  ignoring  the  claims  of  his  infant  nephews,  seized  the 
sole  reign  and  more  than  doubled  its  extent  by  his  conquests. 

CHARACTER  AND  AIM  OF  CHARLEMAGNE. 

This  extraordinary  man  represents  the  early  history  of  both 
France  and  Germany  which  afterwards  divided  into  separate 
streams,  and  commands  the  admiration  of  both  countries  and 
nations.  His  grand  ambition  was  to  unite  all  the  Teutonic  and 
Latin  races  on  the  Continent  under  his  temporal  scej^tre  in  close 
union  with  the  spiritual  dominion  of  the  pope ;  in  other  words, 
to  establish  a  Christian  theocracy,  coextensive  with  the  Latin 
church  (exclusive  of  the  British  Isles  and  Scandinavia).  He 
has  been  called  the  "  Moses  of  the  middle  ao;e,"  who  conducted 
the  Germanic  race  through  the  desert  of  barbarism  and  gave  it  a 
new  code  of  political,  civil  and  ecclesiastical  laws.  He  stands  at 
the  head  of  the  new  Western  empire,  as  Constantine  the  Great 
had  introduced  the  Eastern  empire,  and  he  is  often  called  the  new 
Constantine,  but  is  as  far  superior  to  him  as  the  Latin  empire 
was  to  the  Greek.     He  was  emphatically  a  man  of  Providence. 

Charlemagne,  or   Karl  der  Grosse,  tow^ers   high   above   the 


2  56.  CHAELES  THE  GREAT.    A.D.  768-814.  239 

crowned  princes  of  his  age,  and  is  the  greatest  as  well  as  the  first 
of  the  long  line  of  German  emperors  from  the  eighth  to  the 
nineteenth  century.  He  is  the  only  prince  whose  greatness  has 
been  inseparably  blended  with  his  French  name.^  Since  Julius 
Ctesar  history  had  seen  no  conqueror  and  statesman  of  such  com- 
manding genius  and  success ;  history  after  him  produced  only 
two  military  heroes  that  may  be  compared  with  him,  Frederick 
II.  of  Prussia,  and  Napoleon  Bonaparte  (who  took  him  and 
Caesar  for  his  models),  but  they  were  far  beneath  him  in 
religious  character,  and  as  hostile  to  the  church  as  he  was 
friendly  to  it.  His  lofty  intellect  shines  all  the  more  brightly 
from  the  general  ignorance  and  barbarism  of  his  age.  He  rose 
suddenly  like  a  meteor  in  dark  midnight.  We  do  not  know 
even  the  place  and  date  of  his  birth,  nor  the  history  of  his 
youth  and  education.^ 

HIS  EEIGN. 

His  life  is  filled  with  no  less  than  fifty-three  military  cam- 
paigns conducted  by  himself  or  his  lieutenants,  against  the 
Saxons  (18  campaigns),  Lombards  (5),  Aquitanians,  Thuringians, 
Bavarians,  Avars  or  Huns,  Danes,  Slaves,  Saracens,  and  Greeks. 
His  incessant  activity  astonished  his  subjects  and  enemies.  He 
seemed  to  be  omnipresent  in  his  dominions,  which  extended  from 
the  Baltic  and  the  Elbe  in  the  North  to  the  Ebro  in  the  South, 
from  the  British  Channel  to  Rome  and  even  to  the  Straits  of 
Messina,  embracing  France,  Germany,  Hungary,  the  greater  part 
of  Italy  and  Spain.     His  ecclesiastical  domain  extended  over 

*  Joseph  de  Maistre:  "  Get  homme  est  si  grand  que  la  grandeur  a  penetre  son 
Turm." 

"  "  It  would  be  folly,"  says  Eginhard  (ch.  4),  "  to  write  a  word  about  the  birth 
and  iafancy  or  even  the  boyhood  of  Charles,  for  nothing  has  ever  been  written 
on  the  subject,  and  there  is  no  one  alive  who  can  give  information  about  it. 
His  birth  is  usually  assigned  to  April  2,  742,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  ;  but  the 
legend  makes  him  the  child  of  illegitimate  love,  who  grew  up  wild  as  a  miller's 
son  in  Bavaria.  His  name  is  mentioned  only  twice  before  he  assumed  the 
reins  of  government,  once  at  a  court  reception  given  by  his  father  to  pope 
Stephen  II.,  and  once  as  a  witness  in  the  Aquitanian  campaigns. 


240  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

twenty-two  arclibishoprics  or  metropolitan  sees,  Rome,  Ravenna, 
Milan,  Friuli  (xVquileia),  Grado,  Cologne,  Mayence,  Salzburg, 
Treves,  Sens,  Besan^on,  Lyons,  Rouen,  Rheims,  Aries,  Vienna, 
Moutiers-en-Tarantaise,  Ivredun,  Bordeaux,  Toui's,  Bourges, 
Narbonne.'  He  had  no  settled  residence,  but  spent  much  time 
on  the  Rhine,  at  lugelheim,  Mayence,  Nymwegen,  and  especially 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle  on  account  of  its  baths.  He  encouraged 
trade,  opened  roads,  and  undertook  to  connect  the  Main  and  the 
Danube  by  canal.  He  gave  his  personal  attention  to  things 
great  and  small.  He  introduced  a  settled  order  and  unity  of 
organization  in  his  empire,  at  the  expense  of  the  ancient  freedom 
and  Avild  independence  of  the  German  tribes,  although  he  con- 
tinued to  hold  every  year,  in  May,  the  general  assembly  of  the 
freemen  (jNIaifeld).  He  secured  Europe  against  future  heathen 
and  Mohammedan  invasion  and  devastation.  He  Avas  universally 
admired  or  feared  in  his  age.  The  Greek  emperors  sought  his 
alliance ;  hence  the  Greek  proverb,  "  Have  the  Franks  for 
your  friends,  but  not  for  your  neighbors."  The  Caliph  Haroun- 
al-Raschid,  the  mightiest  ruler  in  the  East,  sent  from  Bagdad  an 
embassy  to  him  Avith  precious  gifts.  But  he  esteemed  a  good 
sword  more  than  gold.  He  impressed  the  stamp  of  his  genius 
and  achievements  upon  the  subsequent  history  of  Germany  and 
France. 

Al'PEAllANCE  AND  HABITS  OF  CHARLEMAGNE. 

Charles  had  a  commanding,  and  yet  winning  presence.  His 
physique  betrayed  the  greatness  of  his  mind.  He  was  tall, 
strongly  built  and  well  proportioned.  His  height  was  seven 
times  the  length  of  his  foot.  He  had  large  and  animated  eyes,  a 
long  nose,  a  cheerful  countenance  and  an  abundance  of  fine  hair. 
"  His  appearance,"  says  Eginhard,  "  was  always  stately  and  dig- 
nified, whether  he  Avas  standing  or  sitting;  although  his  neck 

'  According  to  the  enumeration  of  Eginhard  (ch.  33),  who,  however,  gives 
only  21,  omitting  Narbonnc  Charles  bequeathed  one-third  of  his  treasure  and 
moveable  gooAi  to  the  nieiropolilaa  sees. 


?  56.  CHAELES  THE  GEEAT.    A.D.  768-814.  241 

was  thick  and  somewhat  short,  and  his  belly  rather  prominent ; 
but  the  symmetry  of  the  rest  of  his  body  concealed  these  defects. 
His  gait  was  firm,  his  whole  carriage  manly,  and  his  voice  clear, 
but  not  so  strong  as  his  size  led  one  to  expect."  ^ 

He  was  naturally  eloquent,  and  spoke  with  great  clearness  and 
force.  He  was  simple  in  his  attire,  and  temperate  in  eating  and 
drinking ;  for,  says  Eginhard,  "  he  abominated  drunkenness  in 
anybody,  much  more  in  himself  and  those  of  his  household.  He 
rarely  gave  entertainments,  only  on  great  feast  days,  and  these  to 
large  numbers  of  people."  He  was  fond  of  muscular  exercise, 
especially  of  hunting  and  swimming,  and  enjoyed  robust  health 
till  the  last  four  years  of  his  life,  when  he  was  subject  to  fre- 
quent fevers.  During  his  meals  he  had  extracts  from  August-' 
ine's  "  City  of  God "  (his  favorite  book),  and  stories  of  olden 
times,  read  to  him.  He  frequently  gave  audience  while  dressing, 
without  sacrifice  of  royal  dignity.  He  was  kind  to  the  poor, 
and  a  liberal  alrasgiver. 

HIS  ZEAL  FOR  EDUCATION. 

His  greatest  merit  is  his  zeal  for  education  and  religion.  He 
was  familiar  with  Latin  from  conversation  rather  than  books,  he 
understood  a  little  Greek,  and  in  his  old  age  he  began  to  learn 
the  art  of  writing  which  his  hand  accustomed  to  the  sword  had 
neglected.  He  highly  esteemed  his  native  language,  caused  a 
German  grammar  to  be  compiled,  and  gave  German  names  to  the 
winds  and  to  the  months.^  He  collected  the  ancient  heroic  songs 
of  the  German  minstrels.  He  took  measures  to  correct  the  Latin 
Version  of  the  Scriptures,  and  was  interested  in  theological  ques- 
tions. He  delighted  in  cultivated  society'.  He  gathered  around 
him  divines,  scholars,  poets,  historians,  mostly  Anglo-Saxons, 

'  The  magnificent  portrait  of  Charles  by  Albrecht  Diirer  is  a  fancy  picture, 
and  not  sustained  by  the  oldest  representations.    Vetault  gives  several  portraits, 
and  discusses  them,  p.  540. 
^      "  Wintermonat  for  January,  Hornnng  for  February,  Lenz  for  March,  Ostev- 
monat  for  April,  etc.    See  Eginhard,  ch.  29. 

16 


242  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

among  -wliom  Alcuin  was  the  chief.  He  founded  the  palace 
school  and  other  schools  in  the  convents,  and  visited  them  in 
person.  The  legend  makes  him  the  founder  of  the  University 
of  Paris,  which  is  of  a  much  later  date.  One  of  his  laws  enjoins 
general  education  upon  all  male  children. 

HIS  PIETY. 

Charles  was  a  firm  believer  in  Christianity  and  a  devout  and 
regular  worshipper  in  the  church,  "  going  morning  and  evening, 
even  after  nightfall,  besides  attending  mass."  He  was  very 
liberal  to  the  clergy.  He  gave  them  tithes  throughout  the 
empire,  appointed  worthy  bishops  and  abbots,  endowed  churches 
and  built  a  splendid  cathedral  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  which  he 
Avas  buried. 

His  respect  for  the  clergy  culminated  in  his  veneration  for  the 
bishop  of  Rome  as  the  successor  of  St.  Peter.  "  He  cherished 
the  church  of  St.  Peter  the  apostle  at  Rome  above  all  other  holy 
and  sacred  places,  and  filled  its  treasury  with  a  vast  wealth  of 
gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones.  He  sent  great  and  countless 
gifts  to  the  popes ;  and  throughout  his  M'hole  reign  the  wish  he 
had  nearest  at  heart  was  to  re-establish  the  ancient  authority  of 
the  city  of  Rome  under  his  care  and  by  his  influence,  and  to 
defend  and  protect  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  and  to  beautify  and 
«enrich  it  out  of  his  own  store  above  all  other  churches."  ^ 

HIS  VICES. 

Notwithstanding  his  many  and  great  virtues,  Charles  was  by 
no  means  so  pure  as  the  poetry  and  piety  of  the  church  repre- 
sented him,  and  far  from  deserving  canonization.  He  sacrificed 
.thousands  of  human  beings  to  his  towering  ambition  and  passion 
for  conquest.  He  converted  the  Saxons  by  force  of  arms ;  he  waged 
for  tinrty  years  a  war  of  extermination  against  them ;  he  wasted 
their  territory  with  fire  and  sword;  he  crushed  out  their  indepen- 
dence ;  he  beheaded  in  cold  blood  four  thousand  five  hundred 
prisoners  in  one  day  at  Verden  on  the  Aller  (782),  and  when 

^  Eginhard,  cli.  27. 


§  56.  CHARLES  THE  GREAT.    A.D.  768-814.  243 

* 
these  proud  and  faithless  savages  finally  surrendered,  he  removed 
10,000  of  their  families  from  their  homes  on  the  banks  of  the 
Elbe  to  different  parts  of  Germany  and  Gaul  to  prevent  a  future 
revolt.  It  was  indeed  a  war  of  religion  for  the  annihilation  of 
heathenism,  but  conducted  on  the  Mohammedan  principle  :  sub- 
mission to  the  faith,  or  death.  This  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  which  recognizes  only  the  moral  means  of  persuasion 
and  conviction.^ 

The  most  serious  defect  in  his  private  character  was  his  incon- 
tinence and  disregard  of  the  sanctity  of  the  marriage  tie.  In 
this  respect  he  was  little  better  than  an  Oriental  despot  or  a 
Mohammedan  Caliph.  He  married  several  wives  and  divorced 
them  at  his  pleasure.  He  dismissed  his  first  wife  (unknown  by 
name)  to  marry  a  Lombard  princess,  and  he  repudiated  her 
within  a  year.  After  the  death  of  his  fifth  wife  he  contented 
himself  with  three  or  four  concubines.  He  is  said  even  to  have 
encouraged  his  own  daughters  in  dissolute  habits  rather  than 
give  them  in  marriage  to  princes  who  might  become  competitors 
for  a  share  in  the  kingdom,  but  he  had  them  carefully  educated. 
It  is  not  to  the  credit  of  the  popes  that  they  never  rebuked  him 
for  this  vice,  while  with  weaker  and  less  devoted  monarchs  they 
displayed  such  uncompromising  zeal  for  the  sanctity  of  marriage.^ 

HIS  DEATH  AND  BUEIAL. 

The  emperor  died  after  a  short  illness,  and  after  receiving  the 
holy  communion,  Jan.  28,  814,  in  the  71st  year  of  his  age,  and 
the  47th  of  his  reign,  and  was  buried  on  the  same  day  in  the 

'  Bossuet  justified  all  his  conquests  because  they  were  an  extension  of  Chris- 
tianity. "  Les  conquetes  prodigieuses,"  he  says,  "furent  la  dilatation  du  rigne  d6 
Dieu,  et  il  se  moufra  tris  chre'tien  dans  toutes  ses  ceuvresP 

'''  Pope  Stephen  IH.  protested,  indeed,  in  the  most  violent  language  against 
the  second  marriage  of  Charles  with  Desiderata,  a  daughter  of  the  king  of  Lom- 
bardy,  but  not  on  the  ground  of  divorce  from  his  first  wife,  which  would  have 
furuished  a  very  good  reason,  but  from  opposition  to  a  union  with  the  "per- 
fidious, leprous,  and  fetid  brood  of  the  Lombards,  a  brood  hardly  reckoned 
human."  Charles  married  the  princess,  to  the  delight  of  his  motlier,  but  repu- 
diated her  the  next  year  and  sent  her  back  to  her  father.  See  Milman,  Bk.  IV., 
ch.  12  (II.  439). 


244  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

cathedral  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  ''amid  the  greatest  lamentations  of 
the  people."  ^  Very  many  omens,  adds  Eginhard  (eh.  32),  had 
portended  his  approaching  end,  as  he  had  recognized  himself. 
Eclipses  botli  of  the  sun  and  the  moon  were  very  frequent  during 
the  last  three  years  of  his  life,  and  a  black  spot  was  visible  ou 
the  sun  for  seven  days.  The  bridge  over  the  Rhine  at  Mayence, 
which  he  had  constructed  in  ten  years,  was  consumed  by  fire ;  the 
palace  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  frequently  trembled  ;  the  basilica  was 
struck  by  lightning,  the  gilded  ball  on  the  roof  shattered  by  a 
thunderbolt  and  hurled  upon  the  bishop's  house  adjoining ;  and 
the  word  Princcps  after  Karolus  inscribed  on  an  arch  was 
effaced  a  few  months  before  his  decease.  "  But  Charles  despised, 
or  affected  to  despise,  all  these  things  as  having  no  r&ference 
whatever  to  him." 

THE  CHARLEMAGNE  OF  POETRY. 
The  heroic  and  legendary  poetry  of  the  middle  ages  represents 
Charles  as  a  giant  of  superhuman  strength  and  beauty,  of  enor- 
mous appetite,  with  eyes  shining  like  the  morning  star,  terrible 
in  war,  merciful  in  peace,  as  a  victorious  hero,  a  wise  lawgiver, 
an  unerring  judge,  and  a  Christian  saint.  He  suffered  only  one 
defeat,  at  Roucesvalles  in  the  narrow  passes  of  the  Pyrenees, 
when,  on  his  return  from  a  successful  invasion  of  Spain,  his  rear- 
guard with  the  flower  of  the  French  chivalry,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Roland,  one  of  his  paladins  and  nephews,  was  surprised 
and  routed  by  the  Basque  Mountaineers  (778).^ 

•  "Maximo  toliiis  populi  luctu,"  says  Eginhard. 
i  '  The  historic  foundation  of  this  defeat  is  given  by  Eginhard,  ch.  9.  It  was 
then  marvellously  embellished,  and  Roland  became  the  favorite  tlieme  of  min- 
Btrels  and  poets,  as  Theroulde's  Chanson  da  Roland,  Turpin's  Clironique,  Bojardo'a 
Orlando  Innamorato,  Ariosto's  Orlando  Furioso,  etc.  His  enchanted  Horn 
eounJcd  so  loud  that  the  birds  fell  dead  at  its  blast,  and  the  whole  Saracen 
army  drew  back  terror-struck.  When  he  was  attacked  in  the  Pyrenees,  he 
blew  the  horn  for  the  last  time  so  hard  that  the  veins  of  his  neck  started,  and 
Charlemagne  heard  it  several  miles  off  at  St.  Jean  Pied  de  Port,  but  too  late 
to  save 

"  The  dead  who,  deathless  all, 
Were  slain  at  famous  Roncevall." 


?  56.  CHARLES  THE  GREAT.    A.  D.  768-814.  245 

/    The  name  of  "  the  Blessed  Charles"  is  enrolled  in  the  Roman 

^  Calendar  for  his  services  to  the  church  and  gifts  to  the  pope. 

Heathen  Rome  deified  Julius  Caesar,  Christian  Rome  canonized, 

(  or  at  least  beatified  Charlemagne.     Suffrages  for  the  repose  of 

his  soul  were  continued  in  the  church  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  until 

Paschal,  a  schismatical  poj^e,  at  the  desire  of  Frederic  Barbarossa, 

enshrined  his  remains  in  that  city  and  published  a  decree  for  his 

canonization  (1166).    The  act  was  neither  approved  nor  revoked 

,  by  a  regular  pope,  but  acquiesced  in,  and  such  tacit  canonization 

is  considered  equivalent  to  beatification. 

Notes. 

I.  JUDGMENTS  ox  THE  PERSONAL  CHARACTER  OF  CHARLEMAGNE. 

Eginhaed  (wliose  wife  Emma  figures  in  the  legend  as  a  daughter  of 
Charlemagne)  gives  the  following  frank  account  of  the  private  and  do- 
mestic relations  of  his  master  and  friend  (chs.  18  and  19,  in  Migne, 
Tom.  XCVII.  42  sqq.)  : 

"  Thus  did  Charles  defend  and  increase  as  well  as  beautify  his  king- 
dom ;  and  here  let  me  express  my  admiration  of  his  great  qualities  and 
his  extraordinary  constancy  alike  in  good  and  evil  fortune.  I  will  now 
proceed  to  give  the  details  of  his  private  life.  After  his  father's  death, 
while  sharing  the  kingdom  with  his  brother,  he  bore  his  unfriendliness 
and  jealousy  most  patiently,  and,  to  the  wonder  of  all,  could  not  be  pro- 
voked to  be  angry  with  him.  Later"  [after  repudiating  his  first  wife,  an 
obscure  person]  "  he  married  a  daughter  of  Desiderius,  King  of  the 
Lombards,  at  the  instance  of  his  mother ''  [notwithstanding  the  protest  of 
the  pope]  ;  "  but  he  repudiated  her  at  the  end  of  a  year  for  some  reason 
unknown,  and  married  Hildegard,  a  woman  of  high  birth,  of  Swabian 
origin  [d.  783].  He  had  three  sons  by  her, — Charles,  Pepin,  and  Lewis 
— and  as  many  daughters, — Hruodrud,  Bertha,  and  Gisela."  [Eginhard 
omits  Adelaide  and  Hildegard.]  "  He  had  three  other  daughters  besides 
these — Theoderada,  Hiltrud,  and  Ruodhaid — ^two  by  his  third  wife, 
Fastrada,  a  woman  of  East  Frankish  (that  is  to  say  of  German)  origin, 
and  the  third  by  a  concubine,  whose  name  for  the  moment  escapes  me. 
At  the  death  of  Fastrada,  he  married  Liutgard,  an  Alemannic  woman, 
who  bore  him  no  children.  After  her  death  he  had  three  [according  to 
another  reading  four]  concubines — Gerswinda,  a  Saxon,  by  whom  he  had 
Adaltrud ;  Regina,  who  was  the  mother  of  Drogo  and  Hugh  ;  and  Ethe- 
lind,  by  whom  he  had  Theodoric.  Charles's  mother,  Berthrada,  passed 
her  old  age  with  him  in  great  honor ;  he  entertained  the  greatest  venera- 
tion for  her ;  and  there  was  never  any  disagreement  between  them  except 
when  he  divorced  the  daughter  of  King  Desiderius,  whom  he  had  married 


246  FOUETH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. . 

to  please  her.  She  died  soon  after  Hildegard,  after  living  to  see  three 
grandsons  and  as  many  grand-daughters  in  her  son's  house,  and  he  buried 
her  with  great  pomp  in  the  Basilica  of  St.  Denis,  where  his  father  lay. 
He  had  an  only  [surviving]  sister,  Gisela,  who  had  consecrated  herself  to 
a  relio-ious  life  from  girlhood,  and  he  cherished  as  much  affection  for  her 
as  for  his  mother.  She  also  died  a  few  years  before  him  in  the  nunnery 
where  she  had  passed  her  life.  The  plan  which  he  adopted  for  his  chil- 
dren's education  was,  first  of  all,  to  have  both  boys  and  girls  instructed  iu 
the  liberal  arts,  to  which  he  also  turned  his  own  attention.  As  soon  as 
their  years  admitted,  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  Franks,  the  boys 
had  to  learn  horsemanship,  and  to  practise  war  and  the  chase,  and  the 
girls  to  familiarize  themselves  with  cloth-making,  and  to  handle  distaff 
and  spindle,  that  they  might  not  grow  indolent  through  idleness,  and  he 
fostered  in  them  every  virtuous  sentiment.  He  only  lost  three  of  all  his 
children  before  his  death,  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  .  .  .  When  his  sons 
and  his  daughters  died,  he  was  not  so  calm  as  might  have  been  expected 
from  his  remarkably  strong  mind,  for  his  affections  were  no  less  strong, 
and  moved  him  to  tears.  Again  when  he  was  told  of  the  death  of 
Hadrian,  the  Eoman  Pontiff,  whom  he  had  loved  most  of  all  his  friends, 
he  wept  as  much  as  if  he  had  lost  a  brother,  or  a  very  dear  son.  He  was 
by  nature  most  ready  to  contract  friendships,  and  not  only  made  friends 
easily,  but  clung  to  them  persistently,  and  cherished  most  fondly  those 
with  whom  he  had  formed  such  ties.  He  was  so  careful  of  the  training 
of  his  sons  and  daughters  that  he  never  took  his  meals  without  them 
when  he  was  at  home,  and  never  made  a  journey  without  them ;  his  sons 
would  ride  at  his  side,  and  his  daughters  follow  him,  while  a  number  of 
his  body-guard,  detailed  for  their  protection,  brought  up  the  rear. 
Strange  to  say,  although  they  were  very  handsome  women,  and  he  loved 
them  very  dearly,  he  was  never  willing  to  marry  either  of  them  to  a  man 
of  their  own  nation  or  to  a  foreigner,  but  kept  them  all  at  home  until  his 
death,  saying  that  he  could  not  dispense  with  their  society.  Hence 
though  otherwise  happy,  he  experienced  the  malignity  of  fortune  as  far  as 
they  were  concerned  ;  yet  he  concealed  his  knowledge  of  the  rumors  cur- 
rent in  regard  to  them,  and  of  the  suspicions  entertained  of  their  honor. " 
Gibbon  is  no  admirer  of  Charlemagne,  and  gives  an  exaggerated  view 
of  his  worst  vice :  "  Of  his  moral  virtues  chastity  is  not  the  most  con- 
spicuous ;  but  the  public  happiness  could  not  be  materially  injured  by 
his  nine  wives  or  concubines,  the  various  indulgence  of  meaner  or  more 
transient  amours,  the  multitude  of  his  bastards  whom  he  bestowed  on  the 
church,  and  the  long  celibacy  and  licentious  manners  of  his  daughters, 
whom  the  father  was  suspected  of  loving  with  too  fond  a  passion."  But 
this  charge  of  incest,  as  Hallam  and  Milman  observe,  seems  to  have  ori- 
ginated in  a  misinterpreted  passage  of  Eginhard  quoted  above,  and  is 
utterly  unfounded. 


2  56.  CHARLES  THE  GREAT.    A.  D.  768-814.  247 

Henry  Hallam  [Middle  Ages  I.  26)  judges  a  little  more  favorably: 
"  The  great  qualities  of  Charlemagne  were,  indeed,  alloyed  by  tlie  vices 
of  a  barbarian  and  a  conqueror.  Nine  wives,  whom  he  divorced  with 
very  little  ceremony,  attest  the  license  of  his  private  life,  which  his  tem- 
perance and  frugality  can  hardly  be  said  to  redeem.  Unsparing  of  blood, 
though  not  constitutionally  cruel,  and  wholly  indifferent  to  the  means 
which  his  ambition  prescribed,  he  beheaded  in  one  day  four  thousand 
Saxons — an  act  of  atrocious  butchery,  after  which  his  persecuting  edicts, 
pronouncing  the  pain  of  death  against  those  who  refused  baptism,  or 
even  who  ate  flesh  during  Lent,  seem  scarcely  worthy  of  notice.  This 
union  of  barbarous  ferocity  with  elevated  views  of  national  improvement 
'might  suggest  the  parallel  of  Peter  the  Great.  But  the  degrading  habits 
and  brute  violence  of  the  Muscovite  place  him  at  an  immense  distance 
from  the  restorer  of  the  empire. 

"  A  strong  sympathy  for  intellectual  excellence  was  the  leading  cha- 
racteristic of  Charlemagne,  and  this  undoubtedly  biassed  him  in  the 
chief  political  error  of  his  conduct — that  of  encouraging  the  power  and 
pretensions  of  the  hierarchy.  But,  perhajjs,  his  greatest  eulogy  is  written 
in  the  disgraces  of  succeeding  times  and  the  miseries  of  Europe.  He 
stands  alone,  like  a  beacon  upon  a  waste,  or  a  rock  in  the  broad  ocean. 
His  sceptre  was  the  bow  of  Ulysses,  which  could  not  be  drawn  by  any 
weaker  hand.  In  the  dark  ages  of  European  history  the  reign  of  Charle- 
magne affords  a  solitary  resting-place  between  two  long  periods  of  tur- 
bulence and  ignominy,  deriving  the  advantages  of  contrast  both  from 
that  of  the  preceding  dynasty  and  of  a  posterity  for  whom  he  had  formed 
an  empire  which  they  were  unworthy  and  unequal  to  maintain.'' 

G.  P.  E.  James  [History  of  Charlemagne,  Lond.,  1847,  p.  499) :  "No 
man,  perhaps,  that  ever  lived,  combined  in  so  high  a  degree  those  quali- 
ties which  rule  men  and  direct  events,  with  those  which  endear  the  pos- 
sessor and  attach  his  contemporaries.  No  man  was  ever  more  trusted  and 
loved  by  his  people,  more  respected  and  feared  by  other  kings,  more 
esteemed  in  his  lifetime,  or  more  regretted  at  his  death. 

MiLMAN  (Book  V.  ch.  1) :  "Karl,  according  to  his  German  appella- 
tion, was  the  model  of  a  Teutonic  chieftain,  in  his  gigantic  stature, 
enormous  strength,  and  indefatigable  activity ;  temperate  in  diet,  and 
superior  to  the  barbarous  vice  of  drunkenness.  Hunting  and  war  were 
his  chief  occupations ;  and  his  wars  were  carried  on  with  all  the  ferocity 
of  encountering  savage  tribes.  But  he  was  likewise  a  Roman  Emperor, 
not  only  in  his  vast  and  organizing  policy,  he  had  that  one  vice  of  the 
old  Roman  civilization  which  the  Merovingian  kings  had  indulged, 
though  not  perhaps  with  more  unboundetl  lawlessness.  The  religious 
emperor,  in  one  respect,  troubled  not  himself  with  the  restraints  of  reli- 
gion. The  humble  or  grateful  church  beheld  meekly,  and  almost  with- 
out remonstrance,  the  irregularity  of  domestic  life,  which  not  merely 


2i8  FOUETH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

indulged  in  free  license,  but  treated  the  sacred  rite  of  marriage  as  a 
covenant  dissoluble  at  his  pleasure.  Once  we  have  heard,  and  but  once, 
the  church  raise  its,  authoritative,  its  comminatory  voice,  and  that  not  to 
forbid  the  Xing  of  the  Franks  from  wedding  a  second  wife  while  his  first 
was  alive,  but  from  marrying  a  Lombard  princess.  One  pious  ecclesiastic 
alone  in  his  dominion,  he  a  relative,  ventured  to  protest  aloud." 

GuizoT  {Histoire  de  la  civilisation  en  France,  lepon  XX.) :  "  Charle- 
magne marque  la  limite  a,  laq>ielle  est  enfin  consonimie  la  dissolution  de 
Paacien  monde  roinaiii  et  barbare,  et  oil  commence  la  formation  da  monde 
nouvcau." 

VfexAULT  [Charlemagne,  455,  458) :  "  Charlemagne  fid,  en  cffet,  leplre 
du  monde  moderne  et  de  la  society  europ6enne.  .  .  .  Si  Ch.  ne  pent  etre 
Ugitemement  honord  comme  tm  saint,  il  a  droit  du  moins  a,  la  premiere  place, 
parmis  tous  les  hcros,  dans  U admiration  des  hommes  ;  car  on  ne  trouverait  pas 
tin  autre  souverain  qui  ait  autant  aimi  I' humanity  et  lui  ait  fait  plus  de  bien. 
II  est  le  plus  glorieux,  parce  que  .  .  .  il  a  mdritd  d'  etre  proclamd  le  plus 
honnete  des  grands  hommes." 

GiESEBRECHT,  the  historian  of  the  German  emperors,  gives  a  glowing 
description  of  Charlemagne  (1. 140) :  "  Many  high-minded  rulers  arose  in 
the  ten  centuries  after  Charles,  but  none  had  a  higher  aim.  To  be  ranked 
with  him,  satisfied  the  boldest  conquerors,  the  wisest  princes  of  peace. 
French  chivalry  of  later  times  glorified  Charlemagne  as  the  first  cavalier; 
the  German  burgeoisie  as  the  fatherly  friend  of  the  people  and  the  most 
righteous  judge ;  the  Catholic  Church  raised  him  to  the  number  of  her 
saints ;  the  poetry  of  all  nations  derived  ever  new  inspiration  and  strength 
from  his  mighty  person.  Never  perhaps  has  richer  life  proceeded  from 
the  activity  of  a  mortal  man  [Nie  vielleicht  ist  reicheres  Leben  von  der 
Wirksamkeit  eines  sterblichen  Mensehen  ausgegangen^P 

We  add  the  eloquent  testimony  of  an  American  author,  Parke  Godwii^ 
{History  of  France,  N.  Y.,  1860,  vol.  i.  p.  410) :  "  There  is  to  me  some- 
thing indescribably  grand  in  the  figure  of  many  of  the  barbaric  chiefs — 
Alariks,  Ataulfs,  Theodoriks,  and  Euriks — -who  succeeded  to  the  power  of 
the  Romans,  and  in  their  wild,  heroic  way,  endeavored  to  raise  a  fabric  of 
state  on  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  empire.  But  none  of  those  figures  is  so 
imposing  and  majestic  as  that  of  Karl,  the  son  of  Pippin,  whose  name, 
for  the  first  and  only  time  in  history,  the  admiration  of  mankind  has  in- 
dissolubly  blended  with  the  title  the  Great.  By  the  peculiarity  of  his  po- 
sition in  respect  to  ancient  and  modern  times — by  the  extraordinary 
length  of  his  reign,  by  the  number  and  importance  of  the  transactions  in 
which  he  was  engaged,  by  the  extent  and  splendor  of  his  conquests,  by  his 
signal  services  to  the  Church,  and  by  the  grandeur  of  his  personal  quali- 
ties—he impressed  himself  so  profoundly  upon  the  character  of  his  times, 
that  he  stands  almost  alone  and  apart  in  the  annals  of  Europe.  For 
nearly  a  thousand  years  before  him,  or  since  the  days  of  Julius  Ctesar,  no 


2  56.  CHARLES  THE  GREAT.    A.  D.  768-814. 


249 


monarch  had  won  so  universal  and  brilliant  a  renown  ;  and  for  nearly  a 
thousand  years  after  him,  or  until  the  days  of  Charles  V.  of  Germany,  no 
monarch  attained  any  thing  like  an  equal  dominion.  A  link  between  the 
old  and  new,  he  revived  the  Empire  of  the  West,  with  a  degree  of  glory 
that  it  had  only  enjoyed  in  its  prime;  while,  at  the  same  time,  the 
modern  history  of  every  Continental  nation  was  made  to  begin  with  him. 
Germany  claims  him  as  one  of  her  most  illustrious  sons ;  France,  as  her 
noblest  king ;  Italy,  as  her  chosen  emperor ;  and  the  Church  as  her  most 
prodigal  benefactor  and  worthy  saint.  All  the  institutions  of  the  Sliddle 
Ages — ^political,  literary,  scientific,  and  ecclesiastical — delighted  to  trace 
their  traditionary  origins  to  his  hand  :  he  was  considered  the  source  of  the 
peerage,  the  inspirer  of  chivalry,  the  founder  of  universities,  and  the  en- 
dower  of  the  churches ;  and  the  genius  of  romance,  kindling  its  fantastic 
torches  at  the  flame  of  his  deeds,  lighted  up  a  new  and  marvellous  world 
about  him,  filled  with  wonderful  adventures  and  heroic  forms.  Thus  by 
a  double  immortality,  the  one  the  deliberate  award  of  history,  and  the 
other  the  prodigal  gift  of  fiction,  he  claims  the  study  of  mankind." 

II.  The  Canonization^  of  Charlemagne  is  perpetuated  in  the 
Officium  infcsto  Sancti  Caroli  Magni  imperatoris  et  confessoris,  as  celebrated 
in  churches  of  Germany,  France,  and  Spain.  Baronius  [Annal.  ad  ann. 
814)  says  that  the  canonization  was  not  accepted  by  the  Roman  church, 
because  Paschalis  was  no  legitimate  pope,  but  neither  was  it  forbidden. 
Alban  Butler,  in  his  Lives  of  Saints,  gives  a  eulogistic  biography  of  the 
"^Blessed  Charlemagne,"  and  covers  his  besetting  sin  with  the  following 
unhistorical  assertion:  "The  incontinence,  into  which  he  fell  in  his 
youth,  he  expiated  by  sincere  repentance,  so  that  several  churches  in  Ger- 
many and  France  honor  him  among  the  saints." 

On  the  poetic  and  legendary  history  of  Charlemagne,  see  Vita  Caroli  Magni  et 
Rolandi,  written  about  1100  under  the  name  of  Turpin,  archbishop  of  Rheims  ; 
the  work  of  Gaston,  above  quoted ;  an  essay  of  Leon  Gautier  {La  legende  de 
Charlemagne)  in  Vetault,  pp.  461-485 ;  and  E.  Koschwitz :  Karls  des  Grossen 
Reise  nach  Jerusalem  und  Constantinopel,  Heilbronn  u.  London,  1880. 


Wi)^v-^  WA' 


itIwii!  ]rar 


SIGNUM 


CAROLI  GLORIOSISSIMI  REGIS. 


R 

K+S 
L 

The  monoQ;ram  of  Charles  with  the  additions  of  a  scribe  in  a  document 
signed  by  Charles  at  Kufstein,  Aug.  31,  790.     Copied  from  Stacke,  l.  c. 


250  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 


§  57.  Founding  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  A.  D.   800. 
Charlemagne  and  Leo  III. 

G.  SUGEXHEIM :  Geschichte  der  Entstehung  unci  Ausbildung  des  Kirchen- 
staates.    Leipz.  1854. 

F.  Scharpfp:  Die  Entstehung  des  Kirchenstaats.     Freib.  i.  B.  1860. 
Th.  D.  Mock:  De  Donatione  a  Carolo  Mag.  sedl  apostollcce  anno  774 
oblata.    Munich  1861. 

James  Bryce  :  The  Holy  Boman  Empire.  Lood.  &  N.  York  (Macmil- 
lan  &  Co.)  6th  ed.  1876,  8th  ed.  1880.  German  translation  by  ^r-^Awr 
Winchler. 

Heixrich  von  Sybel  :  Die  Schenkungen  der  Karolinger  an  die  Papste. 
In  Sybel's  "  Hist.  Zeitschrift,"  Miinchen  &  Leipz.     1880,  pp.  46-85. 

Comp.  Baxmann  :  I.  307  sqq.  ;  Vetault  :  Ch.  III.  pp.  113  sqq.  [Charle- 
magne, patrice  des  Bomains — Formation  des  Mats  de  I'eglise). 


Charlemagne  inherited  the  protectorate  of  the  temporal  do- 
minions of  the  pope  which  had  been  wrested  from  the  Lombards 
by  Pepin,  as  the  Lombards  had  wrested  them  from  the  Eastern 
emperor.  When  the  Lombards  again  rebelled  and  the  pope 
(Hadrian)  again  appealed  to  the  transalpine  monarch  for  help, 
Charles  in  the  third  year  of  his  sole  reign  (774)  came  to  the  rescue, 
crossed  the  Alps  with  an  army — a  formidable  undertaking  in 
those  days — subdued  Italy  with  the  exception  of  a  small  part  of 
the  South  still  belonging  to  the  Greek  empire,  held  a  triumphal 
entry  in  Rome,  and  renewed  and  probably  enlarged  his  father's 
gift  to  the  pope.  The  original  documents  have  perished,  and  no 
contemporary  authority  vouches  for  the  details ;  but  the  fact  is 
undoubted.  The  gift  rested  only  on  the  right  of  conquest. 
Henceforward  he  ahvays  styled  himself  "  Ee.v  Francornm  et 
Longobardormn,  et  Patricius  Romanorum."  His  authority  over 
the  immediate  territory  of  the  Lombards  in  Northern  Italy  was 
as  complete  as  that  in  France,  but  the  precise  nature  of  his 


2  57.  FOUNDING  OF  THE  HOLY  ROMAN  EMPIEE.  A.D.  800.  251 

authority  over  the  pope's  dominion  as  Patrician  of  the  Romans 
became  after  his  death  an  apple  of  discord  for  centuries.  Ha- 
drian, to  judge  from  his  letters,  considered  himself  as  much  an 
absolute  sovereign  in  his  dominion  as  Charles  in  his. 

In  781  at  Easter  Charles  revisited  Rome  with  his  son  Pepin, 
who  on  that  occasion  was  anointed  by  the  pope  "  King  for  Italy" 
("  Rex  in  Italiam").  On  a  third  visit,  in  787,  he  spent  a  few 
days  with  his  friend,  Hadrian,  in  the  interest  of  the  jiatrimony 
of  St.  Peter.  "When  Leo  III.  followed  Hadrian  (796)  he  unme- 
diately  dispatched  to  Charles,  as  tokens  of  submission,  the  keys 
and  standards  of  the  city,  and  the  keys  of  the  sepulchre  of  Peter. 

A  few  years  afterwards  a  terrible  riot  broke  out  in  Rome  in 
which  the  pope  was  assaulted  and  almost  killed  (799).  He  fled 
for  help  to  Charles,  then  at  Paderborn  in  Westphalia,  and  was 
promised  assistance.  The  next  year  Charles  again  crossed  the 
Alps  and  declared  his  intention  to  investigate  the  charges  of  cer- 
tain unknown  crimes  against  Leo,  but  no  witness  appeared  to 
prove  them.  Leo  publicly  read  a  declaration  of  his  own  inno- 
cence, probably  at  the  request  of  Charles,  but  with  a  protest  that 
this  declaration  should  not  be  taken  for  a  precedent.  Soon  after- 
wards occurred  the  great  event  which  marks  an  era  in  the  eccle- 
siastical and  political  history  of  Europe. 

THE  CORONATION  OF  CHAELES  AS  EMPEROR. 

While  Charles  was  celebrating  Christmas  in  St.  Peter's,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  800,  and  kneeling  in  prayer  before  the 
altar,  the  pope,  as  under  a  sudden  inspiration  (but  no  doubt  in 
consequence  of  a  premeditated  scheme),  placed  a  golden  crown 
upon  his  head,  and  the  Roman  people  shouted  three  times :  "  To 
Charles  Augustus,  crowned  by  God,  the  great  and  pacific  empe- 
ror of  the  Romans,  life  and  victory  ! "  Forthwith,  after  ancient 
custom,  he  was  adored  by  the  pope,  and  was  styled  henceforth 
(instead  of  Patrician)  Emperor  and  Augustus.^ 

^  Annates  Laurissenses  ad  ann.  801 :  "  Ipsa  die  sacratissima  natalis  Domini  cum 


252  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  new  emperor  presented  to  the  pope  a  round  table  of  silver 
with  the  picture  of  Constantinople,  and  many  gifts  of  gold,  and 
remained  in  Rome  till  Easter.  The  moment  or  manner  of  the 
coronation  may  have  been  unexpected  by  Charles  (if  we  are  to 
believe  his  word),  but  it  Ls  hardly  conceivable  that  it  was  not  the 
result  of  a  previous  arrangement  between  him  and  Leo.  Alcuin 
seems  to  have  aided  the  scheme.  In  his  view  the  pope  occupied 
the  first,  the  emperor  the  second,  the  king  the  third  degree  in 
the  scale  of  earthly  dignities.  He  sent  to  Charles  from  Tours 
before  his  coronation  a  splendid  Bible  with  the  inscription :  Ad 
splendorem  imperialis  potentice} 

On  his  return  to  France  Charles  compelled  all  his  subjects  to 
take  a  new  oath  to  him  as  "  Csesar."  He  assumed  the  fuH  title 
"  Serenissimus  Augustus  a  Deo  coronatus,  magnus  et  pacijlous 
imperator,  Romanum  gubernans  imperium,  qui  et  per  miscricor- 
diam  Dei  rex  Francorum  et  Longobardorum." 

SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  ACT. 

The  act  of  coronation  was  on  the  part  of  the  pope  a  final 
declaration  of  independence  and  self-emancipation  against  the 
Greek  emperor,  as  the  legal  ruler  of  Rome.  Charles  seems  to 
have  felt  this,  and  hence  he  proposed  to  unite  the  two  empires  by 
marrying  Irene,  who  had  put  her  son  to  death  and  usurped  the 
Greek  crown  (797).  But  the  same  rebellion  had  been  virtually 
committed  before  by  the  pope  in  sending  the  keys  of  the  city  to 
Pepin,  and  by  the  French  king  in  accepting  this  token  of  tem- 
poral sovereignty.  Public  opinion  justified  the  act  on  the  prin- 
ciple tliat  might  makes  right.    The  Greek  emperor,  being  unable 

Rex  ad  Missam  ante  confcssionem  b.  Petri  Apostoli  ab  oratione  surgeret,  Leo  P. 
coronam  capiti  ejus  imposuit,  et  a  cuncto  Romanorum  populo  acclamatum  est: 
'Karolo  Aujusto,  a  Deo  coronaio,  magno  et  pacifico  Imperatori  Romanorum,  vita  et 
victoria  r  Et  post  Laudes  ab  Apostolico  more  antiquorum  principum  adoratus  est, 
atque,  ablato  Patricii  nomine,  Imperator  et  Augustus  est  appellatus.''  Comp.  Egin- 
hard,  Annal.  ad  ami.  800,  and  Vita  Car.,  c.  28. 

^  But  the  date  of  the  letter  and  the  meaning  of  imperialis  are  not  quite  certain. 
See  Rettberg,  Kirchcngesck.  Deutschlands,  I.  430,  and  Baxmann,  Politik  der 
Pdpste,  I.  313  sqq. 


-       §  57.  FOUNDING  OF  THE  HOLY  EOMAN  EMPIRE.  A.  D.  800.  253 

to  maintain  his  power  in  Italy  and  to  defend  his  own  subjects, 
first  against  the  Lombards  and  then  against  the  Franks,  had 
virtually  forfeited  his  claim. 

For  the  West  the  event  was  the  re-establishment,  on  a  Teutonic 
basis,  of  the  old  Roman  empire,  which  henceforth,  together  with 
the  papacy,  controlled  the  history  of  the  middle  ages.  The  pope 
and  the  emperor  represented  the  highest  dignity  and  power  in 
church  and  state.  But  the  pope  was  the  greater  and  more  endu- 
ring j)ower  of  the  two.  He  continued,  down  to  the  Reformation, 
the  spiritual  ruler  of  all  Europe,  and  is  to  this  day  the  ruler  of 
an  empire  much  vaster  than  that  of  ancient  Rome.  He  is,  in 
the  striking  language  of  Hobbes,  "  the  ghost  of  the  deceased 
Roman  Empire,  sitting  crowned  uj)on  the  grave  thereof." 

THE  EELATION  OF  THE  POPE  AND  THE  EMPEEOE. 

What  was  the  legal  and  actual  relation  between  these  two 
sovereignties,  and  the  limits  of  jurisdiction  of  each?  This  was 
tlie  struggle  of  centuries.  It  involved  many  problems  which 
could  only  be  settled  in  the  course  of  events.  It  was  easy  enough 
to  distinguish  the  two  in  theory  by  confining  the  pope  to 
spiritual,  and  the  emperor  to  temporal  affairs.  But  on  the 
theocratic  theory  of  the  union  of  church  and  state  the  two  will 
and  must  come  into  frequent  conflict. 

The  pope,  by  voluntarily  conferring  the  imperial  crown  upon 
Charles,  might  claim  that  the  empire  was  his  gift,  and  that  the 
right  of  crowning  implied  the  right  of  discrowning.  And  this 
right  was  exercised  by  popes  at  a  later  period,  who  wielded  the 
secular  as  well  as  the  spiritual  sword  and  absolved  nations  of 
their  oath  of  allegiance.  A  mosaic  picture  in  the  triclinium  of 
Leo  III.  in  the  Lateran  (from  the  ninth  century)  represents  St. 
Peter  in  glory,  bestowing  upon  Leo  kneeling  at  his  right  hand 
the  priestly  stole,  and  upon  Charles  kneeling  at  his  left,  the 
standard  of  Rome.^     This  is  the  mediaeval  hierarchical  theory, 

*  The  picture  is  reproduced  in  the  works  of  Vetault  and  Stacke  above  quoted. 


254  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

which  derives  all  power  from  God  through  Peter  as  the  head  of 
the  church.  Gre^-ory  VII.  compared  the  church  to  the  sun,  the 
state  to  the  moon  who  derives  her  light  from  the  sun.  The 
popes  will  always  maintain  the  principle  of  the  absolute  supre- 
macy of  the  church  over  the  state,  and  support  or  oppose  a  gov- 
ernment— whether  it  be  an  empire  or  a  kingdom  or  a  republic — 
accordino-  to  the  degree  of  its  subserviency  to  the  interests  of  the 
Ijicrarchy.  The  papal  Syllabus  of  1864  expresses  the  genuine 
spirit  of  the  system  in  irreconcilable  conflict  with  the  spirit  of 
modern  history  and  civilization.  The  Vatican  Palace  is  the 
richest  museum  of  classical  and  mediseval  curiosities,  and  the 
pope  himself,  the  infallible  oracle  of  two  hundred  millions  of 
souls,  is  by  far  the  greatest  curiosity  in  it. 

On  the  other  hand  Charles,  although  devotedly  attached  to 
the  church  and  the  jjope,  was  too  absolute  a  monarch  to  recog- 
nize a  sovereignty  within  his  sovereignty.  He  derived  his  idea 
of  the  theocracy  from  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  relation 
between  Moses  and  Aaron.  He  understood  and  exercised  his 
imperial  dignity  pretty  much  in  the  same  way  as  Constantino 
the  Great  and  Theodosius  the  Great  had  done  in  the  Byzantine 
empire,  which  was  csesaro-papal  in  principle  and  practice,  and  so  is 
its  successor,  the  Russian  empire.  Charles  believed  that  he  was 
the  divinely  ajapointed  protector  of  the  church  and  the  regulator  of 
all  her  external  and  to  some  extent  also  the  internal  affairs.  He 
called  the  synods  of  his  empire  without  asking  the  pope.  He 
presided  at  the  Council  of  Frankfort  (794),  which  legislated 
on  matters  of  doctrine  and  discipline,  condemned  the  Adoption 
heresy,  agreeably  to  the  pope,  and  rejected  the  image  Avorship 
against  the  decision  of  the  second  oecumenical  Council  of  Nicsea 
(787)  and  the  declared  views  of  several  popes.^     He  appointed 

'  Milm;in  (II.  497) :  "  The  Council  of  Frankfort  displays  most  fully  the  power 
assumed  by  Charlemagne  over  the  hierarchy  as  well  as  the  nobility  of  the 
realm,  the  mingled  character,  the  all-embracing  comprehensiveness  of  his 
legislation.  The  assembly  at  Frankfort  was  at  once  a  Diet  or  Parliament  of 
the  realm  and   an  ecclesiastical  Council.     It  took  cognizance  alternately  of 


1 53.  SURVEY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EMPIRE.        255 

bishops  aud  abbots  as  well  as  counts,  and  if  a  vacancy  in  the 
papacy  had  occurred  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  he  would 
probably  have  filled  it  as  well  as  the  ordinary  bishoprics.  The 
first  act  after  his  coronation  was  to  summon  and  condemn  to 
death  for  treason  those  who  had  attempted  to  depose  the  pope. 
He  thus  acted  as  judge  in  the  case.  A  Council  at  Mayence  in 
813  called  him  in  an  official  document  "  the  pious  ruler  of  the 
holy  church."  ' 

Charles  regarded  the  royal  and  imperial  dignity  as  the  heredi- 
tary possession  of  his  house  and  people,  and  crowned  his  son, 
Louis  the  Pious,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  813,  without  consulting 
the  pope  or  the  Romans.^  He  himself  as  a  Teuton  represented 
both  France  and  Germany.  But  with  the  political  separation  of 
the  two  countries  under  his  successors,  the  imperial  dignity  was 
attached  to  the  German  crown.  Hence  also  the  designation  :  the 
holy  German  Roman  empire. 

§  58.  Survey  of  the  History  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 
The  readiness  with  which  the  Romans  responded  to  the  crown- 
ing act  of  Leo  proves  that  the  re-establishment  of  the  Western 
empire  was  timely.  The  Holy  Roman  Empire  seemed  to  be  the 
necessary  counterpart  of  the  Holy  Roman  Church.  For  many 
centuries  the  nations  of  Europe  had  been  used  to  the  concentra- 
tion of  all  secular  power  in  one  head.  It  is  true,  several  Roman 
emperors  from  Nero  to  Diocletian  had  persecuted  Christianity  by 
fire  and  sword,  but  Constantine  and  his  successors  had  raised  the 

matters  purely  ecclesiastical  and  of  mattei-s  as  clearly  secular.  Charlemagne 
was  present  and  presided  in  the  Council  of  Frankfort.  The  canons  as  well  as 
the  other  statutes  were  issued  chiefly  in  his  name." 

^  Sanctos  Ecelesice  tarn  pium  ac  devoium  in  servitio  Dei  rectorem.  Also,  in  his 
own  language,  Devotus  EcdesicK  defensor  atque  adjutor  in  omniivs  apostolicm  sedis. 
Eettberg  I.  425,  439  sqq. 

»  Ann.  Einhardi,  ad-  ann.  813  (in  Migne's  Pafrol.  Tom.  104,  p.  478)  :  "  Evo- 
catiim  ad  se  apud  Aquasgrani  filium  suum  Uludovicum  Aqidtanm  regem,  coronam 
illi  imposuit  et  imperialis  nominis  slhi  eonsortem  fecit."  "When  Stephen  IV.  visited 
Louis  in  81G,  he  bestowed  on  him  simply  spiritual  consecration.  In  the  same 
manner  Louis  appointed  his  son  Lothair  emperor  who  was  afterwards  crowned 
by  the  pope  in  Rome  (823). 


256  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

church  to  dignity  and  power,  and  bestowed  upon  it  all  the  privi- 
leo-cs  of  a  state  religion.  The  transfer  of  the  seat  of  empire  from 
Rome  to  Constantinople  withdrew  from  the  Western  church  the 
protection  of  the  secular  arm,  and  exposed  Europe  to  the  horrors 
of  barbarian  invasion  and  the  chaos  of  civil  wars.  The  popes 
were  among  the  chief  sufferers,  their  territory  being  again  and 
a-T-ain  overrun  and  laid  waste  by  the  savage  Lombards.  Hence 
the  instinctive  desire  for  the  protecting  arm  of  a  new  empire,  and 
this  could  only  be  expected  from  the  fresh  and  vigorous  Teutonic 
power  which  had  risen  beyond  the  Alps  and  Christianized  by 
Roman  missionaries.  Into  this  empire  "all  the  life  of  the 
ancient  world  was  gathered ;  out  of  it  all  the  life  of  the  modern 
world  arose." ' 

THE  EMPIRE  AND  THE  PAPACY,  THE  TWO  RULING  POWERS  OF 
THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Henceforward  the  mediaeval  history  of  Europe  is  chiefly  a 
history  of  the  papacy  and  the  empire.  They  were  regarded  as 
the  two  arms  of  God  in  governing  the  church  and  the  world. 
Tliis  twofold  government  was  upon  the  whole  the  best  training- 
school  of  the  barbarian  races  for  Christian  civilization  and  free- 
dom. The  papacy  acted  as  a  wholesome  check  upon  military 
despotism,  the  empire  as  a  check  upon  the  abuses  of  priestcraft. 
Both  secured  order  and  unity  against  the  disintegrating  tenden- 
cies of  society ;  both  nourished  tho  great  idea  of  a  commonwealth 
of  nations,  of  a  brotherhood  of  mankind,  of  a  communion  of 
saints.  By  its  connection  with  Rome,  the  empire  infused  new 
blood  into  the  old  nationalities  of  the  South,  and  transferred  the 
remaining:  treasures  of  classical  culture  and  the  Roman  law  to 
the  new  nations  of  the  North.  The  tendency  of  both  was  ulti- 
mately self-destructive ;  they  fostered,  while  seeming  to  oppose, 
the  spirit  of  ecclesiastical  and  national  independence.  The  disci- 
pline of  authority  always  produces  freedom  as  its  legitimate 
result.     The  law  is  a  schoolmaster  to  lead  men  to  the  gospel. 

1  Bryce,  p.  396  (8th  ed.) 


i  58.  SUEVEY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OP  THE  EMPIRE.        257 
I 

OTHO  THE  GREAT. 

In  the  opening  chapter  of  the  history  of  the  empire  we  find  it 
under  the  control  of  a  master-mind  and  in  friendly  alliance  with 
the  papacy.  Under  the  weak  successors  of  Charlemagne  it 
dwindled  down  to  a  merely  nominal  existence.  But  it  revived 
again  in  Otho  I.  or  the  Great  (936-973),  of  the  Saxon  dynasty. 
He  was  master  of  the  pope  and  defender  of  the  Roman  church, 
and  left  everywhere  the  impress  of  an  heroic  character,  inferior 
■only  to  that  of  Charles.  Under  Henry  III.  (1039-1056),  when 
the  papacy  sank  lowest,  the  empire  again  proved  a  reforming 
power.  He  deposed  three  rival  popes,  and  elected  a  worthy 
successor.  But  as  the  papacy  rose  from  its  degradation,  it  over- 
awed the  empire. 

HENRY  IV.  AND  GREGORY  VII. 

Under  Henry  IV.  (1056-1106)  and  Gregory  VII.  (1073-1085) 
the  two  powers  came  into  the  sharpest  conflict  concerning  the  right 
of  investiture,  or  the  supreme  control  in  the  election  of  bishops 
and  abbots.  The  papacy  achieved  a  moral  triumph  over  the 
empire  at  Canossa,  when  the  mightiest  prince  kneeled  as  a  peni- 
tent at  the  feet  of  the  proud  successor  of  Peter  (1077);  but 
Henry  recovered  his  manhood  and  his  power,  set  up  an  anti- 
pope,  and  Gregory  died  in  exile  at  Salerno,  yet  without  yielding 
an  inch  of  his  principles  and  pretensions.  The  conflict  lasted 
fifty  years,  and  ended  with  the  Concordat  of  Worms  (Sept.  23, 
1122),  which  was  a  compromise,  but  with  a  limitation  of  the 
imperial  prerogative :  the  pope  secured  the  right  to  invest  the 
bishops  with  the  ring  and  crozier,  but  the  new  bishop  before  ■  crr  ?<L/> 
his  consecration  was  to  receive  his  temporal  estates  as  a  fief  of  the  -^Jf  ? 
crown  by  the  touch  of  the  emperor's  sceptre.  m^r^  o^i^ii-c 

THE   HOUSE  OF  HOHENSTAUFEN. 

Under  the  Swabian  emperors  of  the  house  of  Hohenstaufen 
(1138-1254)  the  Eoman  empire  reached  its  highest  power  in 
connection  with  the  Crusades,  in  the  palmy  days  of  mediajval 


258  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

chivalry,  poetry  and  song.  They  excelled  in  personal  greatness 
and  renown  the  Saxon  and  the  Salic  emperors,  but  were  too 
much  concerned  with  Italian  affairs  for  the  good  of  Germany. 
Frederick  Barbarossa  (Redbeard),  during  his  long  reign  (1152- 
1190),  was  a  worthy  .successor  of  Charlemagne  and  Otho  the 
Great.  He  subdued  Northern  Italy,  quarrelled  with  pope 
Alexander  III.,  enthroned  two  rival  popes  (Paschal  III.,  and 
after  his  death  Calixtas  III.),  but  ultimately  submitted  to  Alex- 
ander, fell  at  his  feet  at  Venice,  and  was  embraced  by  the  pope 
with  tears  of  joy  and  the  kks  of  peace  (1177).  He  died  at  the 
head  of  an  army  of  crasaders,  while  attempting  to  cross  the 
Cydnus  in  Cilicia  (June  10,  1190),  and  entered  upon  his  long 
enchanted  sleep  in  Kytfhduser  till  his  spirit  reappeared  to~estab- 
lish  a  new  German  emj)ire  in  1871.' 

Under  Innocent  III.  (1198-1216)  the  papacy  reached  the 
acme  of  its  power,  and  maintained  it  till  the  time  of  Boniface 
VIII.  (1294-1303).  Emperor  Frederick  II.  (1215-1250),  Bar- 
barossa's  grandson,  was  equal  to  the  best  of  his  predecessors  in 
genius  and  energy,  superior  to  them  in  culture,  but  more  an 
Italian  than  a  German,  and  a  skeptic  on  the  subject  of  religion. 
He  reconquered  Jerusalem  in  the  fifth  crusade,  but  cared  little 
for  the  church,  and  was  put  under  the  ban  by  pope  Gregory  IX., 
who  denounced  him  as  a  heretic  and  blasphemer,  and  compared 

*  Friedrich  Eiickert  has  reproduced  this  significant  German  legend  in  a  poem 
beginning : 

"  Der  alte  Barbarossa, 

Der  Kaiser  Friederich, 

Im  unterird'schen  Schlosse 

Halt  cr  verzaubert  sich. 

Er  ist  niemals  gestorben, 

Er  lebt  darin  noch  jetzt ; 
Er  hat  im  Schloss  verborgen 

Zum  Schhif  sich  hingesetzt. 

Er  hat  Iiinabgenommen 

Des  Reiches  Herrlichkeit, 
Und  wird  einst  wiederkommen 

Mit  ihr  zu  seiner  Zeit,"  etc. 


§  58.  SURVEY  OF  THE  HISTOEY  OF  THE  EMPIRE.        259 

him  to  the  Apocalyptic  beast  from  the  abyss.^  The  news  of  his 
sudden  death  was  hailed  by  pope  Innocent  IV.  with  the  excla- 
mation :  "  Let  the  heavens  rejoice,  and  let  the  earth  be  glad." 
His  death  was  the  collapse  of  the  house  of  Hohenstaufen,  and  for 
a  time  also  of  the  Roman  empire.  His  son  and  successor  Con- 
rad IV.  ruled  but  a  few  years,  and  his  grandson  Conradin,  a 
bright  and  innocent  youth  of  sixteen,  w^as  opposed  by  the  pope, 
and  beheaded  at  Naples  in  sight  of  his  hereditary  kingdom 
(October  29,  1268). 

Italy  was  at  once  the  paradise  and  the  grave  of  German 
ambition. 

THE  GEEMAN  EMPIRE. 

After  "  the  great  interregnum "  when  might  was  right,^  the 
Swiss  count  Rudolf  of  Hapsburg  (a  castle  in  the  Swiss  canton  of 
Aargau)  w^as  elected  emperor  by  the  seven  electors,  and  crowned 
at  Aachen  (1273-1291).  He  restored  peace  and  order,  never 
visited  Italy,  escaped  the  ruinous  quarrels  with  the  pope,  built 
up  a  German  kingdom,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  conserva- 
tive, orthodox,  tenacious,  and  selfish  house  of  Austria. 

The  empire  continued  to  live  for  more  than  five  centuries  with 
varying  fortunes,  in  nominal  connection  with  Rome  and  at  the 
head  of  the  secular  powers  in  Christendom,  but  without  control- 
ling influence  over  the  fortunes  of  the  papacy  and  the  course  of 
Europe.  Occasionally  it  sent  forth  a  gleam  of  its  universal  aim, 
as  under  Henry  VII.,  who  was  crowned  in  Rome  and  hailed  by 
Dante  as  the  sa\H[our  of  Italy,  but  died  of  fever  (if  not  of  poison 
administered  by  a  Dominican  monk  in  the  sacramental  cup)  in 
Tuscany  (1313);  under  Sigismund,  the  convener  and  protector 
of  the  oecumenical  Council  at  Constance  which  deposed  popes 
and  burned  Hus  (1414),  a  much  better  man  than  either  the 
emperor  or  the  contemporary  popes;  under  Charles  V.  (1519- 
1558),  who  wore  the  crown  of  Spain  and  Austria  as  well  as  of 

^  He  alone,  of  all  the  emperors,  is  consigned  to  hell  by  Dante  {Inferno,  x.  119) : 

"  Within  here  is  the  second  Frederick." 
'  Schiller  calls  it  "  die  kaiserlose,  die  schreckliche  Zeit." 


260  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

Germany,  and  on  whose  dominions  the  sun  never  set ;  and  under 
Joseph  II.  (1765-1790),  who  renounced  the  intolerant  policy  of 
his  ancestors,  unmindful  of  the  pope's  protest,  and  narrowly 
escaped  greatness.^  But  the  emperors  after  Rudolf,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  were  no  more  crowned  in  Rome,  and  withdrew  from 
Italy .^  They  were  chosen  at  Frankfort  by  the  Seven  Electors, 
three  spiritual,  and  four  temporal :  the  archbishops  of  ^Mentz, 
Treves,  and  Cologne,  the  king  of  Bohemia,  and  the  Electors  of 
the  Palatinate,  Saxony,  and  Brandenburg  (afterwards  enlarged  to 
nine).  The  competition,  however,  was  confined  to  a  few  power- 
ful houses,  until  in  the  15th  century  the  Hapsburgs  grasped  the 
crown  and  held  it  tenaciously,  with  one  exception,  till  the  dis- 
solution. The  Hapsburg  emperors  always  cared  more  for  'their 
hereditary  dominions,  which  they  steadily  increased  by  fortunate 
marriages,  than  for  Germany  and  the  papacy. 

THE  DECLINE   AND  FALL  OF  THE  EMPIRE. 

Many  causes  contributed  to  the  gradual  downfall  of  the  Ger- 
man empire :  the  successful  revolt  of  the  Swiss  mountaineers, 
the  growth  of  the  independent  kingdoms  of  Spain,  France,  and 
England,  the  jealousies  of  the  electors  and  the  minor  German 
princes,  the  discovery  of  a  new  Continent  in  the  West,  the  inva- 
sion of  the  Turks  from  the  East,  the  Reformation  which  divided 
the  German  people  into  two  hostile  religions,  the  fearful  devasta- 
tions of  the  thirty  years'  Avar,  the  rise  of  the  house  of  floheuzol- 
lern  and  the  kingdom  of  Prussia  on  German   soil  with   the 

*  The  pope  Pius  VI.  even  made  a  journey  to  Vienna,  but  when  he  extended 
his  hand  to  tlie  mini'^ter  Kaunitz  to  kiss,  the  minister  took  it  and  shook  it. 
Joseph  in  turn  visited  Rome,  and  was  received  by  the  people  with  the  shout: 
" Erviva  il  nostra  iviperalore!" 

"^  Dante  {Pargat.  VII.  91)  represents  Rudolf  of  Hapsburg  as  seated  gloomily 
apart  in  purgatory,  and  mourning  his  sin  of  neglecting 

"  To  heal  the  wounds  that  Italy  have  slain." 
Weary  of  the  endless  strife  of  doineslic  tyrants  and  factions  in  every  city,  Dante 
longed  for  some  controlling  power  that  should  restore  unity  and  peace  to  his 
beloved  but  nnfortmiate  Italy.     He  expounded  his  political  ideas  in  his  work 
De  Monorchia. 


2  58.  SUEVEY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EMPIEE.         261 

brilliant  genius  of  Frederick  II.,  and  the  wars  growing  out  of 
the  French  Revolution.  In  its  last  stages  it  became  a  mere 
shadow,  and  justified  the  satirical  description  (traced  to  Voltaire}, 
that  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  was  neither  holy,  nor  Roman,  nor 
an  empire.  The  last  of  the  emperors,  Francis  II.,  in  August 
6th,  1806,  abdicated  the  elective  crown  of  Germany  and  substi- 
tuted for  it  the  hereditary  crown  of  Austria  as  Francis  I. 
(d.  1835). 

Thus  the  holy  Roman  empire  died  in  peace  at  the  venerable 
age  of  one  thousand  and  six  years. 

THE  EMPIRE  OF  NAPOLEON. 

Napoleon,  hurled  into  sudden  power  by  the  whirlwind  of 
revolution  on  the  wings  of  his  military  genius,  aimed  at  the 
double  glory  of  a  second  Caesar  and  a  second  Charlemagne,  and 
constructed,  by  arbitrary  force,  a  huge  military  empire  on  the 
basis  of  France,  with  the  pope  as  an  obedient  paid  servant  at 
Paris,  but  it  collapsed  on  the  battle  fields  of  Leipzig  and  Water- 
loo, without  the  hope  of  a  resurrection.  "  I  have  not  succeeded 
Louis  Quatorze,"  he  said,  "but  Charlemagne."  He  dismissed 
his  wife  and  married  a  daughter  of  the  last  German  and  first 
Austrian  emperor ;  he  assumed  the  Lombard  crown  at  Milan ; 
he  made  his  ill-fated  son  "  King  of  Rome "  in  imitation  of  the 
German  "  King  of  the  Romans."  He  revoked  "  the  donations 
which  my  predecessors,  the  French  emperors  have  made,"  and 
appropriated  them  to  France.  "  Yom'  holiness,"  he  wrote  to 
Pius  VIL,  who  had  once  addressed  him  as  his  "  very  dear  Son 
in  Christ,"  "  is  sovereign  of  Rome,  but  I  am  the  emperor 
thereof."  "You  are  right,"  he  wrote  to  Cardinal  Fesch,  his 
uncle,  "  that  I  am  Charlemagne,  and  I  ought  to  be  treated  as 
the  emperor  of  the  papal  court.  I  shall  inform  the  pope  of  my 
intentions  in  a  few  words,  and  if  he  declines  to  acquiesce,  I  shall 
reduce  him  to  the  same  condition  in  which  he  was  before  Charle- 
magne."'    It  Ls  reported  that  he  proposed  to  the  pope  to  reside 

'  In  another  letter  to  Fesch  ( Correspond,  dc  V  empereur  Napol.  J"",  Tom.  xi. 


262  FOUETH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

in  Paris  with  a  large  salary,  and  rule  the  conscience  of  Europe 
under  the  military  supremacy  of  the  emperor,  that  the  pope 
listened  first  to  his  persuasion  with  the  single  remark:  "  Come- 
dian," and  then  to  his  threats  with  the  reply :  "  Tragedian,"  and 
turned  him  his  back.  The  papacy  utilized  the  empire  of  the 
uncle  and  the  nephew,  as  well  as  it  could,  and  survived  them. 
But  the  first  Napoleon  swept  away  the  effete  institutions  of 
feudalism,  and  by  his  ruthless  and  scornful  treatment  of  con- 
(|uered  nationalities  provoked  a  powerful  revival  of  these  very 
nationalities  which  overthrew  and  buried  his  own  artificial  em- 
pire. The  deepest  humiliation  of  the  German  nation,  and  espe- 
cially of  Prussia,  was  the  beginning  of  its  uprising  in  the  war  of 
liberation. 

THE  GERMAN  CONFEDERATION. 

The  Congress  of  Vienna  erected  a  temporary  substitute  for 
the  old  empire  in  the  German  "  Bund  "  at  Frankfort.  It  was 
no  federal  state,  but  a  loose  confederacy  of  38  sovereign  states, 
or  princes  rather,  without  any  popular  representation  ;  it  was  a 
rope  of  sand,  a  sham  unity,  under  the  leadership  of  Austria;  and 
Austria  shrewdly  and  selfishly  used  tlie  petty  rivalries  and 
jealousies  of  the  smaller  principalities  as  a  means  to  check  the 
progress  of  Prussia  and  to  suppress  all  liberal  movements. 

THE  NEW  GERMAN   EMPIRE. 

In  the  meantime  the  popular  desire  for  national  union, 
awakened  by  the  war  of  liberation  and  a  great  national  litera- 
ture, made  steady  progress,  and  found  at  last  its  embodiment  in 
a  new  German  empire  with  a  liberal  constitution  and  a  national 
■parliament.  But  this  great  result  was  brought  about  by  great 
events  and  achievements  under  the  leadership  of  Prussia  against 
foreign  aggression.  The  first  step  was  the  brilliant  victory  of 
Prussia  over  Austria  at  Koulggratz,  wliich  resulted  in  the  for- 

528),  he  writes,  "  Pour  le  papeje  suis  Charlemagne,' paree  que  comme  Charlemagne 
je  re'unis  la  couronne  de  France  d  cdle  des  Lombards  et  que  man  empire  confine  avec 
I'  Orient."     Quoted  by  Bryce. 


g  58.  SURVEY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EMPIRE.        2b3 

mation  of  the  North  German  Confederation  (1866).  The  second 
step  was  the  still  more  remarkable  triumph  of  united  Germany 
in  a  war  of  self-defence  against  the  empire  of  Napoleon  III., 
which  ended  in  the  proclamation  of  William  I.  as  German 
emperor  by  the  united  wishes  of  the  German  princes  and  peoples 
in  the  palace  of  Louis  XIV.  at  Versailles  (1870). 

Thus  the  long  dream  of  the  German  nation  was  fulfilled 
through  a  series  of  the  most  brilliant  military  and  diplomatic 
victories  recorded  in  modern  history,  by  the  combined  genius  of 
Bismarck,  Moltke,  and  William,  and  the  valor,  discipline,  and 
intelligence  of  the  German  army. 

Simultaneously  with  this  German  movement,  Italy  under  the 
lead  of  Cavour  and  Victor  Emmanuel,  achieved  her  national 
unity,  with  Rome  as  the  political  capital. 

But  the  new  German  empire  is  not  a  continuation  or  revival 
of  the  old.  It  differs  from  it  in  several  essential  particulars.  It 
is  the  result  of  popular  national  aspiration  and  of  a  war  of  self- 
defence,  not  of  conquest;  it  is  based  on  the  predominance  of 
Prussia  and  North  Germany,  not  of  Austria  and  South  Ger- 
many ;  it  is  hereditary,  not  elective ;  it  is  controlled  by  modern 
ideas  of  liberty  and  progress,  not  by  mediaeval  notions  and  insti- 
tutions ;  it  is  essentially  Protestant,  and  not  Roman  Catholic ;  it 
is  a  German,  not  a  Roman  empire.  Its  rise  is  indirectly  con- 
nected with  the  simultaneous  downfall  of  the  temporal  power  of 
the  pope,  who  is  the  hereditary  and  unchangeable  enemy  both  of 
German  and  Italian  unity  and  freedom.  The  new  empire  is 
independent  of  the  church,  and  has  officially  no  connection  with 
religion,  resembling  in  this  respect  the  government  of  the 
United  States ;  but  its  Protestant  animus  appears  not  only  in  the 
hereditary  religion  of  the  first  emperor,  but  also  in  the  expulsion 
of  the  Jesuits  (1872),  and  the  "  Culturkampf "  against  the  poli- 
tico-hierarchical aspirations  of  the  ultramontane  papacy.  When 
Pius  IX.,  in  a  letter  to  William  I.  (1873),  claimed  a  sort  of 
jurisdiction  over  all  baptized  Christians,  the  emperor  courteously 
informed  the  infallible  pope  that  he,  with  all  Protestants,  recog- 


264  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

nized  no  other  mediator  between  God  and  man  but  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  The  new  German  empire  will  and  ought 
to  do  full  justice  to  the  Catholic  church,  but  "will  never  go  to 
Canossa." 

We  pause  at  the  close  of  a  long  and  weighty  chapter  in 
history ;  we  wonder  what  the  next  chapter  will  be. 

§  59.   The  Papacy  and  the  Empire  from  the  Death  of  Charle- 

magne  to  Nicolas  I.  {A.  D.  814-858),     Note  on  tfie 

Myth  of  the  Papess  Joan. 

The  power  of  Charlemagne  was  personal.  Under  his  weak 
successors  the  empire  fell  to  pieces,  and  the  creation  of  his -genius 
was  buried  in  chaotic  confusion ;  but  the  idea  survived.  His 
son  and  successor,  Louis  the  Pious,  as  the  Germans  and  Italians 
called  him,  or  Louis  the  Gentle  {le  debonnaire)  in  French  his- 
tory (814-840),  inherited  the  piety,  and  some  of  the  valor  and 
legislative  wisdom,  but  not  the  genius  and  energy,  of  his  father. 
He  was  a  devoted  and  superstitious  servant  of  the  clergy.  He 
began  with  reforms,  he  dismissed  his  father's  concubines  and 
daughters  Avith  their  paramours  from  the  court,  turned  the 
palace  into  a  monastery,  and  promoted  the  Scandinavian  mission 
of  St.  Ansgar.  In  the  progress  of  his  reign,  especially  after  his 
second  marriage  to  tlie  ambitious  Judith,  he  showed  deplorable 
weakness  and  allowed  his  empire  to  decay,  while  he  wasted  his 
time  between  monkish  exercises  and  field-sports  in  the  forest  of 
the  Ardennes.  He  unwisely  shared  his  rule  with  his  three  sons, 
who  soon  rebelled  against  their  father  and  engaged  in  fraternal 
wars. 

After  his  death  the  treaty  of  Verdun  was  concluded  in  843 
By  this  treaty  the  empire  was  divided ;  Lothair  received  Italy 
with  the  title  of  em])cror,  France  fell  to  Charles  the  Bald,  Ger- 
many to  Louis  the  German.  Thus  Charlemagne's  conception  of 
a  Western  empire  that  should  be  commensurate  with  the  Latin 
church  wiLs  destroyed,  or  at  least  greatly  contracted,  and    the 


2  59.  THE  PAPACY  AND  THE  EMPIRE.     A.  D.  814-858.     265 

three  countries  have  hencefortli  a  separate  history.  This  was 
better  for  the  development  of  nationality.  The  imperial  dignity 
was  afterwards  united  with  the  German  crown,  and  continued 
under  this  modified  form  till  1806. 

During  this  civil  commotion  the  papacy  had  no  distinguished 
representativ^e,  but  upon  the  whole  profited  by  it.  Some  of  the 
pojjes  evaded  the  imperial  sanction  of  their  election.  The 
French  clergy  forced  the  gentle  Louis  to  make  at  Soissons  a  most 
humiliating  confession  of  guilt  for  all  the  slaughter,  pillage,  and 
sacrilege  committed  during  the  civil  wars,  and  for  bringing  the 
empire  to  the  brink  of  ruin.  Thus  the  hierarchy  assumed  con- 
trol even  over  the  civil  misconduct  of  the  sovereign  and  imposed 
ecclesiasticiil  penance  for  it. 

NOTE.      THE    MYTH   OF   JOHANNA    PAPISSA. 

We  miLst  make  a  passing  mention  of  the  curious  and  mysterious  myth 
of  papess  Jolianna,  who  is  said  during  this  period  between  Leo  IV.  (847) 
and  Benedict  III.  (855)  to  have  worn  the  triple  crown  for  two  years  and 
a  half.  She  was  a  lady  of  Mayence  (her  name  is  variously  called  Agnes, 
Gilberta,  Johanna,  Jutta),  studied  in  disguise  philosophy  in  Athens 
(where  philosophy  had  long  before  died  out),  taught  theology  in 
Rome,  under  the  name  of  Johannes  Anglicus,  and  was  elevated  to  the 
papal  dignity  as  John  VIII.,  but  died  in  consequence  of  the  discovery  of 
her  sex  by  a  sudden  confinement  in  the  oi)en  street  during  a  solemn  pro- 
cession from  the  Vatican  to  the  Lateran.  According  to  another  tradition 
she  was  tied  to  the  hoof  of  a  horse,  dragged  outside  of  the  city  and  stoned 
to  death  by  the  people,  and  the  inscription  was  put  on  her  grave : 

"  Parce  paler  patrum  papissre  edere  partum." 

The  strange  story  originated  in  Rome,  and  was  first  circulated  by  the 
Dominicans  and  Minorites,  and  acquired  general  credit  in  the  18th  and 
14th  centuries.  Pope  John  XX.  (1276)  called  himself  John  XXI.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  15th  century  the  bust  of  this  woman-pope  was 
placed  alongside  with  the  busts  of  the  other  popes  at  Sienna,  and  nobody 
took  oflTence  at  it.  Even  Chancellor  Gerson  used  the  story  as  an  argu- 
ment that  the  church  could  err  in  matter?  of  fact.  At  the  Council  in 
Constance  it  was  used  against  the  popes.  Torrecremata,  the  upholder  of 
papal  despotism,  draws  from  it  the  lesson  that  if  the  church  can  stand  a 
woman-pope,  she  might  stand  the  still  greater  evil  of  a  heretical  pope. 

Nevertheless  the  story  is  undoubtedly  a  mere  fiction,  and  is  so  regarded 
by  nearly  all  modern  historians,  Protestant  as  well  as  Roman  Catholic. 


26  G  FOURTfl  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

It  is  not  mentioned  till  four  hundred  years  later  by  Stephen,  a  French 
Dominican  (who  died  1261).^  It  was  unknown  to  Photius  and  the  bitter 
Greek  polemics  during  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  who  would  not 
have  missed  the  opportunity  to  make  use  of  it  as  an  argviment  against  the 
pai)aoy.  There  is  no  gaj?  in  the  election  of  the  popes  between  Leo  and 
Benedict,  who,  according  to  contemporary  historians,  was  canonically 
elected  three  days  after  the  death  of  Leo  IV.  (which  occurred  July  17th, 
855),  or  at  all  events  in  the  same  month,  and  consecrated  two  months 
after  (Sept.  29th).  See  Jaffe,  Regesta,  p.  235.  The  myth  was  probably  an 
allegory  or  satire  on  the  monstrous  government  of  women  (Theodora  and 
Marozia)  over  .several  licentious  popes — Sergius  III.,  John  X.,  XI.,  and 
XII. — in  the  tenth  century.  So  Pleumann,  Schrockh,  Gibbon,  Xeander. 
The  only  serious  objection  to  this  solution  is  that  the  myth  would  be 
displaced  from  the  ninth  to  the  tenth  century. 

Other  conjectures  are  these  :  The  myth  of  the  female  pope  was  a  satire 
on  John  VIII.  for  his  softness  in  dealing  with  Photius  (Baronius)  ;  the 
misunderstanding  of  a  fact  that  some  foreign  bishop  [pontifex)  in  Rome 
was  really  a  wonum  in  di.sguise  (Leibnitz)  ;  the  paj^ess  was  a  widow  of 
Leo  IV.  (Kist) ;  a  misinterpretation  of  the  stella  stercoraria  (Schmidt) ;  a 
satirical  allegory  on  the  origin  and  circulation  of  the  false  decretals  of 
Isidor  (Henke  and  Gfrorer) ;  an  impersonation  of  the  great  whore  of  the 
Apocalypse,  and  the  popular  expression  of  the  belief  that  the  mystery  of 
iniquity  was  working  in  the  papal  court  (Baring-Gould). 

David  Blondel,  first  destroyed  the  credit  of  this  medioeval  fiction, 
in  his  learned  French  dissertation  on  the  subject  (Amsterdam,  1G49). 
Spanheim  defended  it,  and  Mosheim  credited  it  much  to  his  discredit  as 
an  historian.  See  the  elaborate  discussion  of  Dollinger,  Papst-Fabeln 
des  mttdalters,  2d  ed.  Miinchen,  1863  (Engl,  transl.  N.  Y.,  1872,  pp.  4^58 
and  pp.  430-437).  Comp.  also  Bianchi-Giovini,  Esame  critico  degll  atti 
edocumentl  della  papesm  Giomnna,  Mil.  1845,  and  the  long  note  of  GiE- 
SELEB,  II.  30-32  (N.  Y.  ed.),  which  sums  up  the  chief  data  in  the  case. 

§  60.    The  Pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals. 

I.    SOUIICES. 

The  only  older  ed.  of  Pseudo-Isidor  is  that  of  Jacob  Merlin  in  the  first 
part  of  his  Collection  of  General  Councils,  Paris,  1523,  Col. ,  1530,  etc., 
reprinted  in  Mignc's  Patrol.  Tom.  CXXX.,  Paris,  1853. 

*  The  oldest  testimony  lu  tlie  almost  contemporary  "Liber  Pontificalis"  of 
Anastasius  is  wanting  in  the  best  manuscripts,  and  must  be  a  later  interpola- 
tion. Dollinger  shows  that  the  mytli,  although  it  may  have  circulated  earlier 
in  the  mouth  of  tlie  people,  was  not  definitely  put  into  writing  before  the 
middle  of  tlie  thirteenth  century. 


§  60.  THE  PSEUDO-ISIDORIAN  DECRETALS.  267 

Far  superior  is  the  modern  ed.  of  P.  Hinschius  :  Decretales  Pseudo-Isido- 
riance  et  Capitula  Angilramni.  Lips.  1863.  The  only  critical  ed. 
taken  from  the  oldest  and  best  MSS.  Comp.  his  Commentatio  de  Col- 
lectione  Isidori  Mercatoris  in  this  ed.  pp.  xi-ccxxxviii, 

II.     LITERATURE. 

Dav.  Blondel  :  Pseudo-Isidorus  et  Turrianus  vapulantes.     Genev.  1628. 
F.  Knust  :  De  Fontibus  et  Consilio  Fseudo-Isidoriance  collectionis.     Gott 

1832. 
A.  MoHLER  (R.  C.)  :  Fragmente  aus  und  iiber  Isidor,  in  his  "  Vermischte 

Schriften"  (ed.  by  Dollinger,  Regensb.  1839),  I.  285  sqq. 
•H.  WASSERSCHLEBEisr :  Beitrdge  zur  Gesch.  dcr  fahchen  Decret.    Breslau, 

1844.     Comp.  also  his  art.  in  Herzog. 
C.  Jos.   Hefele  (R.   C):  Die  pseudo-isidor.   Frage,  in  the  "Tubinger 

Quartalschrift,"  1847. 
Gfrorer  :  Alter,  Ursprung,  Zweck  der  Decretalen  des  falschen  Mdorus. 

Freib.  1848. 
Jul.  Weizs acker  :  Hinhnar  imd  Pseudo-isidor,  in  Niedner's  "  Zeitschriffc 

fur  histor.  Theol.,"  for  1858,  and  Die  pseudo-isid.  Frage,  in  Sybel's 

"  Hist.  Zeitschri ft,"  1860. 
C.  VON  NooRDEN :  Ebo,  Hinkmar  und  Pseudo-isidor,  in  Svbel's  "  Hist. 

Zeitschrift,"  1862. 
Dollinger  in  Janus,  1869.  It  appeared  in  several  editions  and  languages. 
Ferd.  Walter  (R.  C.)  :  Lehrbuch  des  Kirchenrechts  aller  christl.   Gon- 

fessionen.    Bonn  (1822),  13th  ed.  1861.    The  same  transl.  into  French, 

Italian,  and  Spanish. 
J.  W.  Bickell:   Geschichfe  des  Kirchenrechts.     Giessen,  1843,  1849. 
G.    Phillips   (R.  C):  Kirchenrecht.     Regensburg  (1845),  3rd  ed.  1857 

sqq.  6  vols,  (till  1864).     His  Lehrbuch,  1859,  P.  IL  1862. 
Jo.  Fr.  von  Schulte  (R.  C,  since  1870  Old  Cath.)  :  Das  Katholische 

Kirchenrecht.     Giessen,  P.  I.  1860.     Lehrbuch,  1873.     Die  Geschichte 

der  Quellen  und  Literatur  des  Canonischen  Rechts  von  Gratian  bis  auf 

die  Gegcnwart.     Stuttgart,  1875  sqq.  3  vols. 
Aem.  L.  Richter:  Lehrbuch  des  kafh.  und  evaiig.  Kirchenrechts.     Leipz., 

sixth  ed.  by  Dove,  1867  (on  Pseudo-isidor,  pp.  102-133). 
Henry  C.  Lea:  Studies  in  Church  History.     Philad.  1869  (p.  43-102  on 

the  False  Decretals). 
Friedr.  Maassen  (R.  C.) :   Geschichte  der  Quellen  und  d.  Literatur  des 

canonischen  Rechts  im  Abendlande.  1st  vol.,  Gratz,  1870. 
Comp.  also  for  the  whole  hi.story  the  great  work  of  F.  C.  von  Savigny: 

Geschichte  des  Rom.  Rechts  im  Mittelalter.    Heidelb.  2nd  ed.  18347-'51, 

7  vols. 
See  also  the  Lit.  in  vol.  II.  ^  67. 

During  the  chaotic  confusion  under  the  Carolingians,  in  the 


268  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590  1049. 

middle  of  the  ninth  century,  a  mysterious  book  made  its  appear- 
ance, which  gave  legal  expression  to  the  popular  opinion  of  the 
papacy,  raised  and  strengthened  its  power  more  than  any  other 
agency,  and  forms  to  a  large  extent  the  basis  of  the  canon  law  of 
the  churcii  of  Rome.  This  is  a  collection  of  ecclesiastical  laws 
mider  the  false  name  of  bishop  IsiDOR  of  Seville  (died  636), 
hence  called  the  "  Pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals."  ^  He  was  the 
reputed  (though  not  the  real)  author  of  an  earlier  collection, 
based  upon  that  of  the  Roman  abbot,  Dionysius  Exiguus, 
in  the  sixth  century,  and  used  as  the  law-book  of  the  church 
in  Spain,  hence  called  the  "  Hispana."  In  these  earlier 
collections  the  letters  and  decrees  {Epistolm  Decretales)  of  the 
popes  from  the  time  of  Siricius  (384)  occupy  a  prominent  place.^ 
A  decretal  in  the  canonical  sense  is  an  authoritative  rescript  of  a 
pope  in  reply  to  some  question,"  while  a  decree  is  a  papal  ordi- 
nance enacted  with  the  advice  of  the  Cardinals,  without  a  pre- 
vious inquiry.  A  canon  is  a  law  ordained  by  a  general  or  pro- 
vincial synod.  A  dogma  is  an  ecclesiastical  law  relating  to 
doctrine.  The  earliest  decretals  had  moral  rather  than  legisla- 
tive force.  But  as  the  questions  and  appeals  to  the  pope  multi- 
plied, the  papal  answers  grew  in  authority.  Fictitious  docu- 
ments, canons,  and  decretals  were  nothing  new ;  but  the  Pseudo- 
Isidorian  collection  is  the  most  colossal  and  effective  fraud  known 
in  the  hiscory  of  ecclesiastical  literature. 

1.   The   contents   of  the   Pseudo-Isidorian    Decretals.     The 

'  The  preface  begins :  "  Tddorus  Mercator  servus  Chrisli  lectori  conservo  suo 
et  parcnd  suo  in  Domino  fidcli  {al.  fidei)  salutem.'  The  byname  "  Mercator," 
which  is  found  in  30  of  the  oldest  codices,  is  so  far  unexplained.  vSome  i"efer 
it  to  Marias  Mercator,  a  learned  occidental  layman  residing  in  Constantino- 
ple, who  wrote  against  Pelagius  and  translated  ecclesiastical  records  which 
pseudo-Isidorus  made  use  of.  Others  regard  it  as  a  mistake  for  "Peccator" 
(a  title  of  humility  frequently  used  by  priests  and  bishops,  e.  g.  by  St.  Patrick 
in  his  "Confession"),  which  is  found  in  3  copies.  "Mercatus"  also  occui-s  in 
several  copies,  and  this  would  be  equivalent  to  redemptus,  "  Isidorus,  the  re- 
deemed servant  of  ('hrist."    See  Hinschius  and  Richtcr,  /.  c. 

*  Tlie  original  name  was  de.cretale  constitutum  or  dccretalis  epistola,  afterwards 
decretalis-    See  Richter,  /.  c.  p.  SO. 


?  60.  THE  PSEUDO-ISIDORL^N  DECRETALS.  269 

book  is  divided  into  three  parts.  The  first  part  contains  fifty 
Apostolical  Canons  from  the  collection  of  Dionvsius,  sixty 
spurious  decretals  of  the  Eoman  bishops  from  Clement  (d.  101) 
to  Melchiades  (d.  314).  The  second  part  comprehends  the 
forged  document  of  the  donation  of  Constantine,  some  tracts 
concerning  the  Council  of  Nicoea,  and  the  canons  of  the  Greek, 
African,  Gallic,  and  Spanish  Councils  down  to  683,  from  the 
Spanish  collection.  The  third  part,  after  a  preface  copied  from 
•the  Hispana,  gives  in  chronological  order  the  decretals  of  the 
popes  from  Sylvester  (d.  335)  to  Gregory  II.  (d.  731),  among 
which  thirty-five  are  forged,  including  all  before  Daraasus ;  but 
the  genuine  letters  also,  which  are  taken  from  the  Isidorian  col- 
lection, contain  interpolations.  In  many  editions  the  Capitula 
Angilramni  are  appended. 

All  these  documents  make  up  a  manual  of  orthodox  doctrine 
and  clerical  discipline.  They  give  dogmatic  decisions  against 
heresies,  especially  Arianism  (which  lingered  long  in  Spain),  and 
directions  on  worship,  the  sacraments,  feasts  and  fasts,  sacred 
rites  and  costumes,  the  consecration  of  churches,  church  property, 
and  especially  on  church  polity.  The  work  breathes  throughout 
the  spirit  of  churchly  and  priestly  piety  and  reverence. 

2.  The  sacerdotal  system.  Pseudo-Isidor  advocates  the  papal 
theocracy.  The  clergy  is  a  divinely  instituted,  consecrated,  and 
inviolable  caste,  mediating  between  God  and  the  people,  as  in  the 
Jewish  dispensation.  The  priests  are  the  "familiares  Dei,"  the 
"  spiritualesr  the  laity  the  "  carnales:'  He  who  sins  against 
them  sins  against  God.  They  are  subject  to  no  earthly  tribunal, 
and  responsible  to  God  alone,  who  appointed  them  judges  of 
men.  The  privileges  of  the  priesthood  culminate  in  the  episco- 
pal dignity,  and  the  episcopal  dignity  culminates  in  the  papacy. 
The  oathedra  Petri  is  the  fountain  of  all  power.  Without  the 
consent  of  the  pope  no  bishop  can  be  deposed,  no  conned  be 
convened.  He  is  the  ultimate  umpire  of  all  controversy,  and 
from  him  there  is  no  appeal.  He  is  often  called  "  epi^copu^ 
universalis;'  notwithstanding  the  protest  of  Gregory  I. 


270  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

3.  The  aim  of  Pseuclo-Tsidor  is,  by  such  a  collection  of  autho- 
ritative decisions  to  protect  the  clergy  against  the  secular  power 
and  against  moral  degeneracy.  The  power  of  the  metropolitans 
is  rather  lowered  in  order  to  secure  to  the  pope  the  definitive 
sentence  in  the  trials  of  bishops.  But  it  is  manifestly  wrong  if 
older  wi'iters  have  put  the  chief  aim  of  the  work  in  the  elevation 
of  the  papacy.  The  papacy  appears  rather  as  a  means  for  the 
protection  of  episcopacy  in  its  conflict  with  the  civil  government. 
It  is  the  supreme  guarantee  of  the  rights  of  the  bishops. 

4.  The  genuineness  of  Pseudo-Isidor  was  not  doubted  during 
the  middle  ages  (Hincmar  only  denied  the  legal  application  to 
the  French  church),  but  is  now  universally  given  up  by  Roman 
Catholic  as  well  as  Protestant  historians. 

The  forgery  is  apparent.  It  is  inconceivable  that  Dionysius 
ExigUus,  who  lived  in  Rome,  should  have  been  ignorant  of  such 
a  large  number  of  papal  letters.  The  collection  moreover  is  full 
of  anachronisms :  Roman  bishops  of  the  second  and  third  centu- 
ries write  in  the  Frankish  Latin  of  the  ninth  century  on  doctri- 
nal topics  in  the  spirit  of  the  post-Nicene  orthodoxy  and  on 
mediaeval  relations  in  church  and  state ;  they  quote  the  Bible 
after  the  version  of  Jerome  as  amended  under  Charlemagne ; 
Victor  addresses  Theophilus  of  Alexandria,  who  lived  two  hun- 
dred years  later,  on  the  paschal  couti-oversies  of  the  second 
century.^ 

The  Donation  of  Constantine,  which  is  incorporated  in  this 
collection,  is  an  older  forgery,  and  exists  also  in  several  Greek 
texts.     It  affirms  that  Constantine,  when  he  was  baptized  by 

'  The  forgery  was  first  suggested  by  Nicolaus  de  Cusa,  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  Calvin  {Inst.  IV.  7,  11,  20),  and  then  proved  by  the  Magdeburg  Centuries, 
and  more  conchisively  by  the  Calvinistic  divine  David  Blondel  (1628)  against 
the  attempted  vindication  of  the  Jesuit  Torres  (Turrianus,  1572).  Tlie  brothers 
Ballerini,  Baronius,  BelLarmin,  Theiner,  Walter,  Mohler,  Hefele,  and  other 
Roman  Catholic  scholars  admit  the  forgery,  but  usually  try  to  mitigate  it  and 
to  underrate  the  originality  and  influence  of  Pseudo-Isidor.  Some  Protestant 
divines  have  erred  in  the  opposite  direction  (as  Richter  justly  observes,  /.  c. 
p.  117). 


?  60.  THE  PSEUDO-ISIDORIAN  DECKETALS.  271 

pope  Sylvester,  A.  D.  324  (he  was  not  baptized  till  337,  by  the 
Arian  bishop  Eusebius  of  NicomeJia),  presented  him  with  the 
Lateran  palace  and  all  imperial  insignia,  together  with  the 
Roman  and  Italian  territory.^  The  object  of  this  forgery  was  to 
antedate  by  five  centuries  the  temporal  power  of  the  papacy, 
which  rests  on  the  donations  of  Pepin  and  Charlemagne.^  The 
only  foundation  in  fact  is  the  donation  of  the  Lateran  palace, 
which  was  originally  the  palace  of  the  Lateran  family,  then  of 
the  emperors,  and  last  of  the  popes.  The  wife  of  Constantine, 
Fausta,  resided  in  it,  and  on  the  transfer  of  the  seat  of  empire  to 
Constantinople,  he  left  it  to  Sylvester,  as  the  chief  of  the  Roman 
clergy  and  nobility.  Hence  it  contains  to  this  day  the  pontifical 
throne  with  the  inscription  :  "  Hoee  est  papalis  secies  ct  j)ontifi- 
calis.^^  There  the  pope  takes  possession  of  the  see  of  Rome. 
But  the  whole  history  of  Constantine  and  his  successors  shows 
conclusively  that  they  had  no  idea  of  transferring  any  part  of 
their  temporal  sovereignty  to  the  Roman  pontiff. 

5.  The  authorship  must  be  assigned  to  some  ecclesiastic  of  the 
Frankish  church,  probably  of  the  diocese  of  Rheims,  between 
847  and  865  (or  857),  but  scholars  differ  as  to  the  writer.' 

^  "Dominis  meis  beatissimi^  Pefro  et  Paulo,  etper  eos  etiam  beato  Sylvestro  Patri 
nostra  summo  pontifici,  et  universalis  urbis  Romce  papa,  et  omnibus  ejus  succcssoribus 
pontificibus  ■  .  •  concedimus  palatiuni  imperii  nostri  Lateranense  .  .  .  deinde  dia- 
dema,  videlicet  coronam  capitis  nostri  simulque  pallium,  vel  mitram  .  .  .  et  omnia 
imperialia  indumenta  .  .  .  et  imperialia  scepira  .  .  .  et  omnem  possessionem  im- 
perialis  culminis  et  gloriam  polestatis  nostrce.  .  .  Unde  ut  pontificalis  apex  nan 
vilesant,sedmagis  ampUus  quam  terreni  imperii  dignitaset  glorias  potentia  decoretur, 
ecce  tam  palatium  nostrum,  ut  proedictum  est,  quamque  Romance  vobis  et  omnes 
Italioe  seu  occidentalium  regionum  provincias,  loca  et  civitates  beatissimo  pontifici 
nostro,  Sylvestro  universali  papoe,  concedimus  atque  relinquimus."  In  Migne,  Tom. 
130,  p.  249  sq. 

^  That  Constantine  made  donations  to  Sylvester  on  occasion  of  his  pretended 
baptism  is  related  first  in  the  Acta  Sylvestri,  then  by  Hadrian  I.  in  a  letter  to 
Charlemagne  (780).  In  the  ninth  century  the  spurious  document  appeared. 
The  spurioasness  was  perceived  as  early  as  999  by  the  emperor  Otho  III.  and 
proven  by  Laurentius  Valla  about  1440  in  De  /also  credita  et  ementita  Constan- 
tini  donatione.  The  document  is  universally  given  up  as  a  fiction,  though 
Baronius  defended  the  donation  itself. 

^  The  following  persons  have  been  suggested  as  authors :  Benedictus  Levita 


272  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

Pseudo-Isidor  literally  quotes  pa.ssages  from  a  Paris  Council  of 
829,  and  agrees  in  part  with  the  collection  of  Benedictus  Levita, 
completed  in  847 ;  on  the  other  hand  he  is  first  quoted  by  a 
French  Synod  at  Chiersy  in  857,  and  then  by  Hincmar  of  Rheims 
repeatedly  since  859.  All  the  manuscripts  are  of  French  ori- 
gin. The  complaints  of  ecclesiastical  disorders,  depositions  of 
bishops  without  trial,  frivolous  divorces,  frequent  sacrilege,  suit 
best  the  period  of  the  civil  wars  among  the  grandsons  of  Charle- 
magne. In  Rome  the  Decretals  were  first  known  and  quoted 
in  865  by  pope  Nicolaus  I.^ 

From  the  same  period  and  of  the  same  spirit  are  several  col- 
lections of  Capitida  or  Capitidaria,  i.  e.,  of  royal  ecclesiastical 
ordinances  which  under  the  Carolingians  took  the  place  of 
synodical  decisions.  Among  these  we  mention  the  collection  of 
Ansegis,  abbot  of  Fontenelles  (827),  of  Benedictus  Levita  of 
Mayence  (847),  and  the  Capitula  Angilramni,  falsely  ascribed 
to  bishop  Angilramnus  of  Metz  (d.  701). 

6.  Significance  of  Pseudo-Isidor.  It  consists  not  so  much  in 
the  novelty  of  the  views  and  claims  of  the  mediaeval  priesthood, 
but  in  tracing  them  back  from  the  ninth  to  the  third  and  second 
centm-ies,  and  stamping  them  Avith  the  authority  of  antiquity. 

(Deacon)  of  Mayence,  whose  Capitularium  of  about  847  agrees  iu  several  pas- 
sages literally  with  the  Decretals  (Blondel,  Knust,  Walter) ;  Rothad  of  Soissons 
(Phillips,  Gfrorer) ;  Otgar,  archbishop  of  Mayence,  who  took  a  prominent  part 
in  the  clerical  rebellion  against  Louis  the  Pious  (Ballerinii,  Wasserschleben)  ; 
Ebo,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  the  predecessor  of  Hincmar  and  leader  in  that 
rebellion,  or  some  unknown  ecclesiastic  in  that  diocese  (Weizsiicker,  von  Noor- 
den,  Ilinschius,  Richter,  Baxmann).  The  repetitioixs  suggest  a  number  of 
authors  and  a  gradual  growth. 

^  Nicolai.  I.  Epist.  ad  universos  eplscopos  GalUac,  ann.  865  (Mansi  xv.  p.  694 
Bq.) :  "  Decretales  epu^tolre  Bom.  Pontificum  sunt  rccipicvdcs,  etiamsi  non  sunt 
canonum  codici  compaginatoa  :  quonlam  inter  ipsos  canones  unum  b.  Leonis  capitu- 
lum  constat  esse  permixtum,  quo  omnia  decretalia  constituta  scdis  apostoUcce.  custodiri 
mandantur. — Itaque  nihil  interest,  utrum  sint  omnia  decretalia  sedis  apost.  constituta 
inter  canones  conciliorum  immixta,  cum  omnia  in  una  corpore  compaginare  non 
possint,  et  iUa  eis  intcrsint,  quae  jlnnitatem  his  quae  desunt  etvigorcm  suum  assignet. 
— Sanctus  Gelasius  {quoque)  non  dixit  su^cipiendas  decretales  epistolas  quae  inter 
canones  habentur,  nee  tantam  quas  moderni  pontifices  edidcrunt,  sed  quas  beatissimi 
Papce  divcrsis  temporibus  ab  urbe  Roin'i  dedcrunt." 


?  61.  NICOLAS  I.,  APKIL,  858-NOY.  13,  867.  273 

Some  of  the  leading  principles  had  indeed  been  already  asserted 
in  the  letters  of  Leo  I.  and  other  documents  of  the  fifth  century, 
yea  the  papal  animus  may  be  traced  to  Victor  in  the  second 
century  and  to  the  Judaizing  opponents  of  St.  Paul.  But  in 
this  collection  the  entire  hierarchical  and  sacerdotal  system, 
which  was  the  growth  of  several  centuries,  appears  as  something 
complete  and  unchangeable  from  the  very  beginning.  We  have 
a  parallel  phenomenon  in  the  Apostolic  Constitutions  and  Canons 
which  gather  into  one  whole  the  ecclesiastical  decisions  of  the 
first  three  centuries,  and  trace  them  directly  to  the  ajiostles  or 
their  disciple,  Clement  of  Rome. 

Pseudo-Isidorus  was  no  doubt  a  sincere  believer  in  the 
hierarchical  system ;  nevertheless  his  collection  is  to  a  large  ex- 
tent a  conscious  high  church  fraud,  and  must  as  such  be  traced  to 
the  father  of  lies.  It  belongs  to  the  Satanic  element  in  the 
history  of  the  Christian  hierarchy,  which  has  as  little  escaped 
temptation  and  contamination  as  the  Jewish  hierarchy. 

§  61.  Nicolas  L,  April,  858-iVoy.  13,  867. 

I.    The  Ejnstles  of  Nicolas  I.  in   Mansi'a    Cone.  XV.,  and  in  Migne's 

Patrol.  Tom.  CXIX.     Comp.  also  Jaffe,  Regesta,  pp.  2.37-2.54. 
HiNCMARl  [Rhemensis  Archieplscopi)  Oper.  Omnia.     In  Migne's  Patrol. 

Tom.  125  and  126.    An  older  ed.  by  J.  Sirmond,  Par.  1645,  2  vols.  fol. 
Hugo  Lammer  :  Nikolaus  I.  unci  die  Byzantinische  Staatskirche  seiner- 

Zeit.     Berlin,  1857. 
A.  Thiel  :  De  Nicolao  Papa.  Comment,  duce  hist,  canonicoi.     Brunzberg,, 

1859. 
VajST  Noorden:  Hincmar,  Erzbischof  von  Rheims.     Bonn,  1863. 
Hergenrother    (R.  C.  Prof,  at  Wiirzburg,  now  Cardinal) :    Photius. 

Regensburg,  1867-1869,  3  vols. 
Comp.  Baxmann  II.  1-29 ;  MiLMAif,  Book  V.  cb.  4  (vol.  III.  24-56)  ; 

Hefele,    Conciliengesch.    vol.  IV.,  (2nd  ed.),  228  sqq;    and  other. 

works  quoted  I  48. 

By  a  remarkable  coincidence  the  publication  of  the  Pseudo- 

Isidorian  Decretals  synchronized  with  the  appearance  of  a  pope 

who  had  the  ability  and  opportunity  to  carry  the  principles  of 

the  Decretals  into  practical  eifect,  and  the  good  fortune  to  do  it. 
18 


274  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

in  the  service  of  justice  and  virtue.  So  long  as  the  usurpation 
of  divine  power  was  used  against  oppression  and  vice,  it  com- 
manded veneration  and  obedience,  and  did  more  good  than  harm. 
It  was  only  the  pope  wlio  in  those  days  could  claim  a  superior 
authority  in  dealing  with  haughty  and  oppressive  metropolitans, 
synods,  kings  and  emjDcrors. 

Nicolas  I.  is  the  greatest  pope,  we  may  say  the  only  great 
pope  between  Gregory  I.  and  Gregory  VII.  He  stands  between 
them  as  one  of  three  peaks  of  a  lofty  mountain,  separated  from 
the  lower  peak  by  a  plane,  and  from  the  higher  peak  by  a  deep 
valley.  He  appeared  to  his  younger  contemporaries  as  a  "  new 
Elijah,"  who  ruled  the  world  like  a  sovereign  of  divine  ajipoint- 
ment,  terrible  to  the  evil-doer  whether  prince  or  priest,  yet  jnild 
to  the  good  and  obedient.  He  was  elected  less  by  the  influence 
of  the  clergy  than  of  the  emperor  Louis  II.,  and  consecrated  in 
his  presence ;  he  lived  with  him  on  terms  of  friendship,  and  was 
treated  in  turn  with  great  deference  to  his  pajDal  dignity.  He 
anticipated  Ilildebrand  in  the  lofty  conception  of  his  office  ;  and 
his  energy  and  boldness  of  character  corresponded  with  it.  The 
pope  was  in  his  view  the  divinely  appointed  superintendent  of 
the  whole  church  for  the  maintenance  of  order,  discipline  and 
righteousness,  and  the  punishment  of  wrong  and  vice,  with  the 
aid  of  the  bishops  as  his  executive  organs.  He  assumed  an  im- 
perious tone  towards  the  Carolingians.  He  regarded  the  impe- 
rial crown  a  grant  of  the  vicar  of  St.  Peter  for  the  j)rotection  of 
Christians  against  infidels.  The  empire  descended  to  Louis  by 
hereditary  right,  but  was  confirmed  by  the  authority  of  the 
apostolic  see. 

The  pontificate  of  Nicolas  was  marked  by  three  important 
events :  the  controversy  with  Photius,  the  prohibition  of  the 
divorce  of  King  liOthair,  and  the  humiliation  of  archbishop 
Hincmar.  In  the  first  he  failed,  in  the  second  and  third  he 
.achieved  a  moral  triumph. 


2  61.  NICOLAS  I.,  APRIL,  858-NOV.  13,  867.  275 

NICOLAS  AND  PHOTIUS. 

Ignatius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  of  imperial  descent  and 
of  austere  ascetic  virtue,  was  unjustly  deposed  and  banished  by 
the  emperor  Michael  III.  for  rebuking  the  immorality  of  Caesar 
Bardas,  but  he  refused  to  resign.  Photius,  the  greatest  scholar 
of  his  age,  at  home  in  almost  every  branch  of  knowledge  and 
letters,  was  elected  his  successor,  though  merely  a  layman,  and 
in  six  days  passed  through  the  inferior  orders  to  the  patriarchal 
dignity  (858).  The  two  parties  engaged  in  an  unrelenting  war- 
fare, and  excommunicated  each  other.  Photius  was  the  first  to 
appeal  to  the  Roman  pontiff.  Nicolas,  instead  of  acting  as 
mediator,  assumed  the  air  of  judge,  and  sent  delegates  to  Con- 
stantinople to  investigate  the  case  on  the  spot.  They  were  im- 
prisoned and  bribed  to  declare  for  Photius ;  but  the  pope  annulled 
their  action  at  a  synod  in  Rome,  and  decided  in  favor  of  Igna- 
tius (863).  Photius  in  turn  pronounced  sentence  of  condemna- 
tion on  the  pope  and,  in  his  Encyclical  Letter,  gave  classical 
expression  to  the  objections  of  the  Greek  church  against  the 
Latin  (867).  The  controversy  resulted  in  the  permanent  aliena- 
tion of  the  two  churches.  It  was  the  last  instance  of  an  official 
interference  of  a  pope  in  the  affairs  of  the  Eastern  church. 

NICOLAS  AND  LOTHAIR. 

Lothair  II.,  king  of  Lorraine  and  the  second  son  of  the 
emperor  Lothair,  maltreated  and  at  last  divorced  his  wife, 
Teutberga  of  Burgundy,  and  married  his  mistress,  Walrada,  who 
appeared  publicly  in  all  the  array  and  splendor  of  a  queen. 
Nicolas,  being  appealed  to  by  the  injured  lady,  defended  fear- 
lessly the  sacredness  of  matrimony ;  he  annulled  the  decisions  of 
synods,  and  deposed  the  archbishops  of  Cologne  and  Treves  for 
conniving  at  the  immorality  of  their  sovereign.  He  threatened 
the  kino"  with  immediate  excommunication  if  ho  did  not  dismiss 
the  concubine  and  receive  the  lawful  wife.  He  even  refused  to 
yield  when  Teutberga,  probably  under  compulsion,  asked  him  to 


276  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

grant  a  divorce.  Lothair,  after  many  equivocations,  yielded  at 
last  (865).  It  is  unneccssaiy  to  enter  into  the  complications  and 
disgusting  details  of  this  controversy. 

NICOLAS  AND  HINCMAK. 

In  his  controversy  with  Hincmar,  Nicolas  was  a  protector  of 
the  bishops  and  lower  clergy  against  the  tyranny  of  metropoli- 
tans. Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  was  the  most  powerful 
prelate  of  France,  and  a  representative  of  the  principle  of  Galil- 
ean independence.  He  was  energetic,  but  ambitious  and  over- 
bearing. He  came  three  times  in  conflict  with  the  pope  on  the 
question  of  jurisdiction.  The  principal  case  is  that  of  Rothad, 
bishop  of  Soissons,  one  of  his  oldest  suffragans,  whom  lie  de- 
posed Avithout  sufficient  reason  and  put  into  prison,  with  the  aid 
of  Charles  the  Bald  (862).  The  pope  sent  his  legate  "  from  the 
side,"  Arsenius,  to  Charles,  and  demanded  the  restoration  of  the 
bisliop.  He  argued  from  the  canons  of  the  Council  of  Sardica 
that  the  case  must  be  decided  by  Rome  even  if  Rothad  had  not 
appealed  to  him.  He  enlisted  the  sympathies  of  the  bishops  by 
reminding  them  that  they  might  suffer  similar  injustice  from 
their  metropolitan,  and  that  their  only  refuge  w^as  in  the  com- 
mon protection  of  the  Roman  see.  Charles  desired  to  cancel  the 
process,  but  Nicolas  would  not  listen  to  it.  He  called  Rothad 
to  Rome,  reinstated  him  solemnly  in  the  church  of  St.  Maria 
Maggiore,  and  sent  him  back  in  triumph  to  France  (864).^ 
Hincmar  murmured,  but  yielded  to  superior  jjower.^ 

In  this  controversy  Nicolas  made  use  of  the  Pseudo-Isidorian 
Decretals,  a  cojjy  of  which  came  into  his  hands  probably  through 
Rothad.  He  thus  gave  them  the  papal  sanction  ;  yet  he  must 
have  known  that  a  large  portion  of  this  forged  collection,  though 
claiming  to  proceed  from  early  popes,  did  not  exist  in  the  papal 
archives.     Hincmar  protested  against  the  validity  of  the  new 

1  J:iffo,  240  and  247,  and  Mansi,  XV.  687  sqq. 

*  " Hothadum  canonice  .  .  .  dejertum  et  a  Nicolao  papa  non  regulariter,  sed 
potentialiter  reatitMtum."     See  Baxmauu,  II.  26. 


2  62.  HADRIAN  11.  AND  JOHN  VIH.    A.  D.  867-882.         277 

decretals  and  their  application  to  France,  and  the  protest  lin- 
gered for  centuries  in  the  Gallicau  liberties  till  they  were  finally 
buried  in  the  papal  absolutism  of  the  Vatican  Council  of  1870. 

§  62.  Hadrian  11.  and  John  VIIL     A.  D.  867  to  882. 

Mansi  :   Cone.  Tom.  XV.-XVII. 

Migne:  Patrol.  Lat.  Tom.  CXXII.  1245  sqq.  (Hadrian  TI.) ;  Tom. 
CXXVI.  647  sqq.  (John  VIH. ) ;  also  Tom.  CXXIX.,  pp.  823  sqq., 
and  1054  sqq.,  which  contain  the  writings  of  AuxiLius  and  VuL- 
GARius,  concerning  pope  Formosus. 

Baronius  :  Aniial.  ad  aun.  867-882.  . 

Jaffe  :  Begesfa,  pp.  254-292. 

MiLMAN :  Lat  Christianity,  Book  V.,  chs.  5  and  6. 

Gfrorer  :  Allg.  Kirchengesch.,  Bd.  III.  Abth.  2,  pp.  962  sqq. 

Baxmann:  Politik  der  Papste,  II.  29-57. 

For  nearly  two  hundred  years,  from  Nicolas  to  Hildebrand 
(867-1049),  the  papal  chair  was  filled,  with  very  few  excep- 
tions, by  ordinary  and  even,  unworthy  occupants. 

Hadrian  II.  (867-872)  and  John  VIH.  (872-882)  defended 
the  papal  power  with  the  same  zeal  as  Nicolas,  but  with  less 
ability,  dignity,  and  success,  and  not  so  much  in  the  interests  of 
morality  as  for  self-aggrandizement.  They  interfered  with  the 
political  quarrels  of  the  Carolingians,  and  claimed  the  right  of 
disposing  royal  and  imperial  crowns. 

Hadrian  was  already  seventy-five  years  of  age,  and  well  known 
for  great  benevolence,  when  he  ascended  the  throne  (he  was  born 
in  792).  He  inherited  from  Nicolas  the  controversies  with 
Photius,  Lothair,  and  Hincmar  of  Rheims,  but  was  repeatedly 
rebuffed.  He  suffered  also  a  personal  humiliation  on  account  of 
a  curious  domestic  tragedy.  He  had  been  previously  married, 
and  his  wife  (Stephania)  was  still  living  at  the  time  of  his  eleva- 
tion. Eleutherius,  a  son  of  bishop  Arsenius  (the  legate  of 
Nicolas),  carried  away  the  pope's  daughter  (an  old  maid  of  forty 
years,  who  was  engaged  to  another  man),  fled  to  the  emperor 
Louis,  and,  when  threatened  with  punishment,  murdered  both 
thQ  pope's  wife  and  daughter.     He  was  condemned  to  death. 


278  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

This  affair  might  have  warned  the  popes  to  have  nothing  to 
do  with  women ;  but  it  was  succeeded  by  worse  scenes. 

John  VIII.  was  an  energetic,  shrewd,  passionate,  and  in- 
triguing prelate,  meddled  with  all  the  affairs  of  Christendom 
from  Bulgaria  to  France  and  Spain,  crowned  two  insignificant 
Carolingian  emperors  (Charles  the  Bald,  875,  and  Charles  the 
Fat,  881),  dealt  very  freely  in  anathemas,  Avas  much  disturbed 
by  the  invasion  of  the  Saracens,  and  is  said  to  have  been  killed 
by  a  relative  who  coveted  the  papal  crown  and  treasure.  The 
best  thing  he  did  was  the  declaration,  in  the  Bulgarian  quarrel 
with  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  had 
created  other  languages  for  worship  besides  Hebrew,  Greek,  and 
Latin,  although  he  qualified  it  afterwards  by  saying  that  -Greek 
and  Latin  were  the  only  proper  organs  for  the  celebration  of  the 
mass,  while  barbarian  tongues  such  as  the  Slavonic,  may  be  good 
enough  for  preaching. 

Plis  violent  end  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  interregnum  of 
violence.  The  close  of  the  ninth  century  gave  a  foretaste  of  the 
greater  troubles  of  the  tenth.  After  the  downfall  of  the  Carolin- 
gian dynasty  the  popes  were  more  and  more  involved  in  the  poli- 
tical quarrels  and  distractions  of  the  Italian  princes.  The  dukes 
Berengar  of  Friuli  (888-924),  and  Guido  of  Spoleto  (889-894), 
two  remote  descendants  of  Charlemagne  through  a  female  branch, 
contended  for  the  kingdom  of  Italy  and  the  imperial  crown,  and 
filled  alternately  the  papal  cliair  according  to  their  success  in  the 
conflict.  The  Italians  liked  to  have  two  masters,  that  they 
might  play  off  one  against  the  other.  Guido  was  croAvned  em- 
peror by  Stephen  VI.  (V.)  in  February,  891,  and  was  followed 
by  his  sou,  Lambert,  in  894,  who  was  also  croAvned.  Formosus, 
bishop  of  Tortus,  Avhora  John  VIII.  had  pursued  Avith  bitter 
animosity,  Avas  after  varying  fortunes  raised  to  the  papal  chair, 
and  gave  the  imperial  croAA'u  first  to  Lambert,  but  afterAvards  to 
the  victorious  Arnulf  of  Carinthia,  in  896.  He  roused  the 
revenge  of  Lambert,  and  died  of  violence.  His  second  successor 
and  bitter  enemy,  Stephen  VII.  (VI.),  a  creature  of  the  party  of 


2  63.  DEGEADATION  OF  THE  PAPACY  IN  TENTH  CENTUEY.  279 

Lambert,  caused  his  corpse  to  be  exhumed,  clad  in  pontifical 
robes,  arraigned  in  a  mock  trial,  condemned  and  deposed, 
stripped  of  the  ornaments,  fearfully  mutilated,  decapitated,  and 
thrown  into  the  Tiber.  But  the  party  of  Berengar  again  ob- 
tained the  ascendency;  Stephen  VII.  was  thrown  into  prison 
and  strangled  (897).  This  was  regarded  as  a  just  punishment 
for  his  conduct  towards  Formosus.  John  IX.  restored  the 
character  of  Formosus.  He  died  in  900,  and  was  followed  by 
Benedict  IV.,  of  the  Lambertine  or  Spoletan  party,  and  reigned 
for  the  now  unusual  term  of  three  years  and  a  half.^ 

§  63.   The  Degradation  of  the  Papacy  in  the  Tenth  Century. 

SOURCES. 

Migne's  Patrol.  Lat.  Tom.  131-142.     These  vols,  contain  the  documents 
and  works  from  Pope  John  IX. — Gregory  VI. 

LiUDPRAKDUS  (Episcopus  Cremonensis,  d.  972):  Antapodoseos,  seu  Rerum 
per  Europam  gestarum  libri  VI.  From  A.  D.  887-950.  Reprinted  in 
Pertz:  Monum.  Germ.  III.  269-272;  and  in  Migne :  Patrol.  Tom. 
CXXXVI.  769  sqq.  By  the  same :  Historia  Ottonis,  sive  de  rebus 
gesiis  Ottonis  Magni.  From  A.  D.  960-964.  In  Pertz:  3fonum.  III. 
340-346  ;  in  Migne  CXXXVI.  897  sqq.  Comp.  Kcepke  :  De  Liud- 
prandl  vita  et  scriptis,  Berol.,  1842;  Wattenbach:  Deutschlands 
Geschichtsquellen,  and  Giesebrecht,  /.  c.  I.  p.  779.  Liudprand  or 
Liutprand  (Liuzo  or  Liuso),  one  of  the  chief  authorities  on  the 
history  of  tlie  10th  century,  was  a  Lombard  by  birth,  well  educated, 
travelled  in  the  East  and  in  Germany,  accompanied  Otho  I.  to  Eome, 
962,  was  appointed  by  him  bishop  of  Cremona,  served  as  his  inter- 
preter at  the  Eoman  Council  of  964,  and  was  again  in  Rome  965.  He 
was  also  sent  on  an  embassy  to  Constantinople.  He  describes  the 
wretched  condition  of  the  papacy  as  an  eye-witness.  His  Anta- 
podosis  or  Retribution  (written  between  958  and  962)  is  specially 
directed  against  king  Berengar  and  queen  Willa,  whom  he  hated. 
His  work  on  Otho  treats  of  the  contemporary  events  in  which  he  was 
one  of  the  actors.  He  was  fond  of  scandal,  but  is  considered  reliable 
in  most  of  his  facts. 
Flodoardus  (Canonicus  Remensis,  d.  966):  Historia  Remensls ;  Art' 
nales  ;   Opuscula  metrica,  in  Migne,  Tom.  CXXXV. 

'  According  to  Auxentius  and  Vulgarius,  pope  Stephen  VII.  was  the  author 
of  the  outrage  on  the  corpse  of  Formosus ;  Liutprand  traces  it  to  Sergius  III. 
in  898,  when  he  was  anti-pope  of  John  IX.  Baronius  conjectures  that  Liut- 
prand wrote  Sergius  for  Steplianus.     Hefele  assents,  Conciliengesch.  IV.  561  sqq. 


280  FOURTH  PEEIOD.     A.D.  590-1049. 

Atto  (Episcopus  Vercellensis,  d.  960) :  De pressuris  ecelesiasticis ;  Epistolce, 

and  other  books,  in  Migne,  Tom.  CXXXV. 
Jaffe  :  Begesta,  pp.  307-325. 
Other  sources  relating  more  to  the  political  history  of  the  tenth  century 

are  indicated  by  Giesebrecht,  I.  817,  820,  836. 

LITERATURE. 

Baronius  :  Annates  ad  ann.  900-963. 

V.  E.  LosCHER:  Historic  des  rbm.  Hurenregiments.     Leipzig,  1707.     (2nd 

ed.  with  another  title,  1725.) 
CosrsTANTix  HoFLER  (R.  C.) :  Die  deutschen  Papste.    Regensburg,  1839, 

2  vols. 
E.   DuMMLER  :  Auxilius  und  Vulgarius.    Quellen  undForschungenzur  Ge- 

schichte  des  Papstthums  im  Anfang  des  zelinten  Jahrhunderts.      Leipz. 

1866.   The  writings  of  Auxilius  and  Vulgarius  are  in  Migne's  Patrol., 

Tom.  CXXIX. 
C.  Jos.  VON  Hefele  (Bishop  of  Rottenburg) :  Die  Papste  und  Kaiser  in 

den  triibsten  Zciten  der  Kirche,'m  his  "  Beitriige  zur  Kirchengesch," 

etc.,    vol.    I.    227-278.      Also    his    Conciliengeschichte,   IV.   571-660 

(2d  ed.). 
MiLMAN :   Lat.    Chr.    Bk.  5,  chs.   11-14.    Giesebrecht  :    Gesch.  der 

deutschen   Kaiserzeit.,   I.   343   sqq.      Gfrorer  :    III.   3,    1133-1275. 

Baxmann  :  II.  58-125.    Gregorovius,  Vol.  III.    Von  Eeumont, 

Vol.  II. 

The  tenth  century  is  the  dai'kest  of  the  dark  ages,  a  century 
of  ignorance  and  superstition,  anarchy  and  crime  in  church  and 
state.  The  first  half  of  the  eleventh  century  was  little  better. 
The  dissolution  of  the  world  seemed  to  be  nigh  at  hand.  Serious 
men  looked  forward  to  the  terrible  day  of  judgment  at  the  close 
of  the  first  millennium  of  the  Christian  era,  neglected  their 
secular  business,  and  inscribed  donations  of  estates  and  other 
gifts  to  the  church  with  the  significant  phrase  "  appropinquaTite 
mundi  termino.'' 

The  demoralization  began  in  the  state,  reached  the  church,  and 
culminated  in  the  papacy.  The  reorganization  of  society  took 
the  same  course.  No  church  or  sect  in  Christendom  ever  sank 
so  low  as  the  Latin  church  in  the  tenth  century.  The  papacy, 
like  the  old  Roman  god  Janus,  has  two  faces,  one  Christian,  one 
antichristian,  one  friendly  and  benevolent,  one  fiendish  and 
malignant.     In   this  period,  it   shows   almost  exclusively  the 


2  63.  DEGRADATION  OF  THE  PAPACY  IN  TENTH  CENTUPvY.  281 

antichristian  face.  It  is  an  unpleasant  task  for  the  historian 
to  expose  these  shocking  corruptions ;  but  it  is  necessary  for  the 
understanding  of  the  reformation  that  followed.  The  truth  must 
be  told,  with  its  wholesome  lessons  of  humiliation  and  encour- 
agement. No  system  of  doctrine  or  government  can  save  the 
church  from  decline  and  decay.  Human  nature  is  capable  of 
Satanic  Avickedness.  Antichrist  steals  into  the  very  temple  of 
God,  and  often  wears  the  priestly  robes.  But  God  is  never 
absent  from  history,  and  His  overruling  wisdom  always  at  last 
brings  good  out  of  evil.  Even  in  this  midnight  darkness  the  stars 
were  shining  in  the  firmament ;  and  even  then,  as  in  the  days  of 
Elijah  the  prophet,  there  were  thousands  who  had  not  bowed 
their  knees  to  Baal.  Some  convents  resisted  the  tide  of  corrup- 
tion, and  were  quiet  retreats  for  nobles  and  kings  disgusted  with 
the  vanities  of  the  world,  and  anxious  to  prepare  themselves  for 
the  day  of  account.  Nilus,  Romuald,  and  the  monks  of  Cluny 
raised  their  mighty  voice  against  wickedness  in  high  places. 
Synods  likewise  deplored  the  immorality  of  the  clergy  and  laity, 
and  made  efforts  to  restore  discipline.  The  chaotic  confusion  of 
the  tenth  century,  like  the  migration  of  nations  in  the  fifth, 
proved  to  be  only  the  throe  and  anguish  of  a  new  birth.  It 
was  followed  first  by  the  restoration  of  the  empire  under  Otho 
the  Great,  and  then  by  the  reform  of  the  papacy  under  Hilde- 
brand. 

THE  POLITICAL  DISORDER. 

In  the  semi-barbarous  state  of  society  during  the  middle  ages, 
a  strong  central  power  was  needed  in  church  and  state  to  keep 
order.  Charlemagne  was  in  advance  of  his  times,  and  his 
structure  rested  on  no  solid  foundation.  His  successors  had 
neither  his  talents  nor  his  energy,  and  sank  almost  as  low  as  the 
]\Ierovingians  in  incapacity  and  debauchery.  The  popular  con- 
tempt in  which  they  were  held  was  expressed  in  such  epithets  as 
"  the  Bald,"  "  the  Fat,"  "  the  Stammerer,"  "  the  Simple,"  "  the 
Lazy,"  "  the  Child."     Under  their  misrule  the  foundations  of 


282  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

law  and  discipline  gave  way.  Europe  was  threatened  with  a 
new  flood  of  heathen  barbarism.  The  Norman  pirates  from 
Denmark  and  Norway  infested  the  coasts  of  Germany  and 
France,  burned  cities  and  villages,  carried  off  captives,  followed 
in  their  light  boats  which  they  could  carry  on  their  shoulders, 
the  course  of  the  great  rivers  into  the  interior;  they  sacked 
Hamburg,  Cologne,  Treves,  Rouen,  and  stabled  their  horses  in 
Charlemagne's  cathedral  at  Aix ;  they  invaded  England,  and 
were  the  terror  of  all  Europe  until  they  accepted  Christianity, 
settled  down  in  Normandy,  and  infused  fresh  blood  into  the 
French  and  English  people.  In  the  South,  the  Saracens,  cross- 
ing from  Africa,  took  possession  of  Sicily  and  Southern  Italy ; 
they  are  described  by  pope  John  VIII.  as  Hagarenes,  as 
children  of  fornication  and  wrath,  as  an  army  of  locusts,  turning 
the  land  into  a  wilderness.  From  the  East,  the  pagan  Hunga- 
rians or  Magyars  invaded  Germany  and  Italy  like  hordes  of 
wild  beasts,  but  they  were  defeated  at  last  by  Henry  the  Fowler 
and  Otho  the  Great,  and  after  their  conversion  to  Christianity 
under  their  saintly  monarch  Stephen  (997-1068),  they  became  a 
wall  of  defence  against  the  progress  of  the  Turks. 

Within  the  limits  of  nominal  Christendom,  the  kings  and 
nobles  quarreled  among  themselves,  oppressed  the  people,  and 
distributed  bishoprics  and  abbeys  among  their  favorites,  or 
pocketed  the  income.  The  metropolitans  oppressed  the  bishops, 
the  bishops  the  priests,  and  the  priests  the  laity.  Bands  of 
robbers  roamed  over  the  country  and  defied  punishment.  ISIight 
was  right.  Charles  the  Fat  was  deposed  by  his  vassals,  and  died 
in  misery,  begging  his  bread  (888).  His  successor,  Arnulf  of 
Carinthia,  the  last  of  the  Carolingian  line  of  emperors  (though 
of  illegitimate  birth),  wielded  a  victorious  sword  over  the  Nor- 
mans (891)  and  the  new  kingdom  of  Moravia  (894),  but  fell 
into  trouble,  died  of  Italian  poison,  and  left  the  crown  of  Ger- 
many to  his  only  legitimate  son,  Louis  the  Child  (899-911),  who 
was  ruled  by  Hatto,  archbishop  of  Maycnce.  This  prelate 
figures  in  the  popular  legend  of  the  "  Mouse-Tower "  (on  an 


§  63.  DEGEADATION  OF  THE  PAPACY  IN  TENTH  CENTURY.  283 

island  in  the  Rhine,  opposite  Biugen),  where  a  swarm  of  mice 
picked  his  bones  and  "gnawed  the  flesh  from  every  limb," 
because  he  had  shut  up  and  starved  to  death  a  number  of 
hungry  beggars.  But  documentary  history  shows  him  in  a 
more  favorable  light.  Louis  died  before  attaining  to  manhood, 
and  with  him  the  German  line  of  the  Carolingians  (911).  The 
last  shadow  of  an  emperor  in  Italy,  Berengar,  who  had  been 
crowned  in  St.  Peter's,  died  by  the  dagger  of  an  assassin  (924). 
The  empire  remained  vacant  for  nearly  forty  years,  until  Otho, 
a  descendant  of  the  Saxon  duke  Widukind,  whorn  Charlemagne 
had  conquered,  raised  it  to  a  new  life. 

In  France,  the  Carolingian  dynasty  lingered  nearly  a  century 
longer,  till  it  found  an  inglorious  end  in  a  fifth  Louis  called  the 
Lazy  ("le  Faineant"),  and  Count  Hugh  Capet  became  the 
founder  of  the  Capetiau  dynasty,  based  on  the  principle  of 
hereditary  succession  (987).  He  and  his  son  Robert  received 
the  crown  of  France  not  from  the  pope,  but  from  the  archbishop 
of  Rheims. 

Italy  was  invaded  by  Hungarians  and  Saracens,  and  distracted 
by  war  between  rival  kings  and  petty  princes  struggling  for 
aggrandizement.  The  bishops  and  nobles  were  alike  corrupt, 
and  the  whole  country  was  a  moral  wilderness.^ 

THE  DEMORALIZATION  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

The  political  disorder  of  Europe  affected  the  church  and  para- 
lyzed its  efforts  for  good.  The  papacy  itself  lost  all  independ- 
ence and  dignity,  and  became  the  prey  of  avarice,  violence,  and 
intrigue,  a  veritable  synagogue  of  Satan.  It  was  dragged  through 
the  quagmire  of  the  darkest  crimes,  and  would  have  perished 
in  utter  disgrace  had  not  Providence  saved  it  for  better  times. 
Pope  followed  pope  in  rapid  succession,  and  most  of  them  ended 
their  career  in  deposition,  prison,  and  murder.     The  rich  and 

'  Hofler  (I.  16)  asserts  that  every  princely  family  of  Italy  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury was  tainted  with  incestuous  blood,  and  that  it  was  difficult  to  distinguish 
wives  and  sisters,  mothers  and  daughters.  See  his  genealogical  tables  appended 
to  the  first  volume. 


284  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.D.  590  TO  1049. 

powerful  marquises  of  Tuscany  and  the  Counts  of  TiLSculum 
acquired  control  over  the  city  of  Rome  and  the  paj^acy  for 
more  than  half  a  century.  And  what  is  worse  {incredibile,  at- 
tamcn  verum),  three  bold  and  energetic  women  of  the  highest 
rank  and  lowest  character,  Theodora  the  elder  (the  wife  or  widow 
of  a  Roman  senator),  and  her  two  daughters,  Marozia  and  Theo- 
dora, filled  the  chau'  of  St.  Peter  with  their  paramours  and  bas- 
tards. These  Roman  Amazons  combined  with  the  fatal  charms 
of  personal  beauty  and  wealth,  a  rare  capacity  for  intrigue,  and 
a  burning  lust  for  power  and  pleasure.  They  had  the  diabolical 
ambition  to  surpass  their  sex  as  much  in  boldness  and  badness  as 
St.  Paula  and  St.  Eustachium  in  the  days  of  Jerome  had  excelled 
in  virtue  and  saintliness.  They  turned  the  church  of  St.  Peter 
into  a  den  of  robbers,  and  the  residence  of  his  successors  into  a 
liarem.  And  they  gloried  in  their  shame.  Hence  this  infamous 
period  is  called  the  papal  Pornocracy  or  Hetserocracy.^ 

^Liutprandi  Antapodosis,  II.  48  (Pertz,  V.  297;  Migne,  CXXXVI.  827): 
"  Theodora,  scortmn  impudens  .  .  .  {quod  dictii  etiam  fcBdissimum  est),  Romance  civi- 
tatis  non  invh'ilUer  monarchiam  obtinebat.  Quae,  duas  habuit  natas,  Marotlam  atque 
Theodoram,  sibi  non  solum  cocrquales,  verum  etiam  Veneris  exercitio  promptiores. 
Jlaruni  Marotia  ex  Papa  Sergio — Joannem,  qui  post  Joannis  Havcnnaiis  obitum 
Romano',  Ecdesioe  obtinuit  dignitatem,  nefario  genuit  adulterio,"  etc.  In  the  same 
ch.  he  calls  the  elder  Theodora  "meretrix  satis  impudentissima,  Veneris  ccdore 
succensa." 

This  Theodora  was  the  wife  of  Theophylactus,  Roman  Consul  and  Senator, 
probably  of  Byzantine  origin,  who  appears  in  901  among  the  Roman  judges  of 
Louis  III.  She  called  herself  "  Senatrix."  She  was  the  mistress  of  Adalbert 
of  Tuscany,  called  the  Rich  (d.  926),  and  of  pope  John  X.  (d.  928).  And 
yet  she  is  addressed  by  Eugenius  Vulgarius  as  "sanetissimaetvenerabilis  matronal'' 
(See  Diimmler,  1.  c.  p.  146,  and  Ilefele,  IV.  575.)  Her  daughter  Marozia  (or 
Marwccia,  the  diminutive  of  Maria,  Mariechen)  was  the  boldest  and  most  suc- 
cessful of  tlie  three.  She  was  the  mistress  of  pope  Sergius  III.  and  of  Alberic  I., 
Count  of  Tusculum  (d.  926),  and  married  several  times.  Comp.  Liutprand, 
III.  43  and  44.  She  perpetuated  her  rule  through  her  son,  Alberic  II.,  and 
her  grandson,  pope  John  XII.  With  all  their  talents  and  influence,  these 
strong-minded  women  were  very  ignorant ;  the  daughters  of  the  younger  Theo- 
dora could  neither  read  nor  write,  and  signed  their  name  in  945  with  a  -{-. 
(GregoroviuR,  III.  282  sq.)  The  Tusculan  popes  and  the  Crescentii,  who  con- 
trolled and  disgraced  the  papacy  in  the  eleventh  century,  were  descendants  of 
the  same  stock. 

The  main  facts  of  this  shameful  reign  rest  on  good  contemporary  Catholic 


§  63.  DEGRADATION  OF  THE  PAPACY  IN  TENTH  CENTUEY.  285 

Some  popes  of  this  period  were  almost  as  bad  as  the  worst 
emperors  of  heathen  Rome,  and  far  less  excusable. 

Sergius  III.,  the  lover  of  Marozia  (904-911),  opened  the 
shameful  succession.  Under  the  protection  of  a  force  of  Tuscan 
soldiers  he  appeared  in  Rome,  deposed  Christopher  who  had  just 
deposed  Leo  V.,  took  possession  of  the  papal  throne,  and  soiled 
it  with  every  vice;  but  he  deserves  credit  for  restoring  the 
venerable  church  of  the  Lateran,  Avhich  had  been  destroyed  by 
an  earthquake  in  896  and  robbed  of  invaluable  treasures.^ 

After  the  short  reign  of  two  other  popes,  John  X.,  archbishop 
of  Ravenna,  was  elected,  contrary  to  all  canong,  in  obedience  to 
the  will  of  Theodora,  for  the  more  convenient  gratification  of 
her  passion  (914-928).^  He  was  a  man  of  military  ability 
and  daring,  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army — the  first 
warrior  among  the  popes — and  defeated  the  Saracens.  He 
announced  the  victory  in  the  tone  of  a  general.  He  then  en- 
authorities  (as  Liutprand,  Flodoard,  Ratherius  of  Verona,  Benedict  of  Soracte, 
Gerbert,  the  transactions  of  the  Councils  in  Rome,  Rheims,  etc.),  and  are  frankly 
admitted  with  devout  indignation  by  Baronius  and  other  Roman  Catholic 
historians,  but  turned  by  them  into  an  argument  for  the  divine  origin  of  the 
papacy,  whose  restoration  to  power  appears  all  the  more  wonderful  from  the 
depth  of  its  degradation.  Mohler  {Kirchengesch.  ed.  by  Gams,  II.  183)  calls 
Sergius  III.,  John  X.,  John  XL,  and  John  XII.  "  horrible  popes,"  and  says 
that  "crimes -alone  secured  the  papal  dignity."  Others  acquit  the  papacy  of 
guilt,  since  it  was  not  independent.  The  best  lesson  which  Romanists  might 
derive  from  this  period  of  prostitution  is  humility  and  charity.  It  is  a  terrible 
rebuke  to  pretensions  of  superior  sanctity. 

1  Baronius,  following J^iutprand,  calls  Sergius  " homo vitlorum omnium  senms" 
But  Flodoard  and  the  inscriptions  give  him  a  somewhat  better  character. 
See  Ilefele  IV.  576,  Gregorovius  III.  269,  and  von  Reumont  II.  273. 

2  Gfrorer  makes  him  the  paramour  of  the  younger  Theodora,  which  on 
chronological  grounds  is  more  probable;  but  Hefele,  Gregoroyius,  von  Reu- 
mont, and  Greenwood  link  him  with  the  elder  Theodora.  This  seems  to  be 
the  meaning  of  Liutprand  (II.  47  and  48),  who  says  that  she  fell  in  love  with 
John  for  his  great  beauty,  and  actually  forced  him  to  sin  (seamque  hunc  seor- 
tari  non  solum  voluit,  verum  etiam  atque  etiam  compulit).  She  could  not  stand 
the  separation  from  her  lover,  and  called  him  to  Rome.  Baronius  treats  John 
X.  as  a  pseudopapa.  Muratori,  Duret,  and  Hefele  dissent  from  Liutprand  and 
give  John  a  somewhat  better  character,  without,  however,  denying  his  relation 
to  Theodora.     See  Hefele,  IV.  579  sq. 


286  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

gaged  in  a  fierce  contest  for  power  with  Marozia  and  her  lover 
or  husband,  the  Marquis  Alberic  I.  Unwilling  to  yield  any  of 
her  secular  power  over  Rome,  Marozia  seized  the  Castle  of  St. 
Angclo,  had  John  cast  into  prison  and  smothered  to  death,  and 
raised  three  of  her  creatures,  Leo  VI.,  Stephen  VII.  (VIII.), 
and  at  last  John  XI.,  her  own  (bastard)  son  of  only  twenty-one 
years,  successively  to  the  papal  chair  (928-936).^ 

After  the  murder  of  Alberic  I.  (about  926),  Marozia,  who 
called  herself  Senatrix  and  Patricia,  offered  her  hand  and  as 
much  of  her  love  as  she  could  spare  from  her  numerous  para- 
mours, to  Guido,  Markgrave  of  Tuscany,  who  eagerly  accepted 
the  prize ;  and  after  his  death  she  married  king  Hugo  of  Italy, 
the  stap-brother  of  her  late  husband  (932);  he  hoped  to  -gain 
the  imperial  crown,  but  he  was  soon  expelled  from  Rome  by  a 
rebellion  excited  by  her  own  son  Alberic  II.,  who  took  offence  at 
his  overbearing  conduct  for  slapping  him  in  the  face.^  She  now 
disappears  from  the  stage,  and  probably  died  in  a  convent.  Her 
son,  the  second  Alberic,  was  raised  by  the  Romans  to  the  dig- 
nity of  Consul,  and  ruled  Rome  and  the  papacy  from  the  Castle 
of  St.  Angelo  for  twenty-two  years  with  great  ability  as  a  despot 
under  the  forms  of  a  republic  (932-954).  After  the  death  of 
his  brother,  John  XI.  (936),  he  appointed  four  insignificant 
pontiffs,  and  restricted  them  to  the  performance  of  their  religious 
duties. 

*  Liutprand,  Antapodosis  III.  43  (Migne,  I.e.,  852) :  " Papam  [John  X.]  cus- 
todia  maniciparunt,  in  qua  non  multo  post  est  defunctus;*aiunt  enm  quod  cervical 
super  OS  eius  imponerent,  sicque  eum  pessime  suffocarent.  Quo  mortuo  ipsius  Maro- 
tlce  fiUum  Johannem  nomine  [.John  XL]  quern  ex  Sergio  papa  meretrix  genuerat^ 
papam  ronstiluunl."  Tlie  parentage  of  John  XI.  from  pope  Sergius  is  adopted 
by  Grcgoroviiis,  Diimmler,  Greenwood,  and  Baxmann,  but  disputed  by  Mura- 
tori,  Ilefele,  and  (Ifrorer,  who  maintain  that  John  XI.  was  the  son  of  Marozia's 
husband,  Alberic  I.,  if  they  ever  were  married.  For,  according  to  Benedict  of 
Soraete,  Marozia  accepted  him  "non  quasi  uxor,  sed  in consuetudinem  malignam." 
Albericus  Marchio  was  an  adventurer  before  he  became  Markgrave,  about  897, 
and  must  not  be  confounded  with  Albertus  Marchio  or  Adalbert  the  Rich  of 
Tuscanv.  See  Gregorovius,  III.  275;  von  Reumont,  II.  228,  231,  and  the 
genealogical  tables  in  Hofler,  Vol.  I.,  Append.  V.  and  VI. 

'  See  the  account  in  Liutprand  III.  44. 


2  63.  DEGRADATION  OF  THE  PAPACY  IN  TENTH  CENTURY.  287 


JOHN    XII. 

On  the  death  of  Alberic  in  954,  his  son  Octavian,  the  grand- 
son of  Marozia,  inherited  the  secular  government  of  Rome,  and 
was  elected  pope  when  only  eighteen  years  of  age.  He  thus 
united  a  double  supremacy.  He  retained  his  name  Octavian  as 
civil  ruler,  but  assumed,  as  pope,  the  name  John  XII.,  either  by 
compulsion  of  the  clergy  and  people,  or  because  he  wished  to  secure 
more  license  by  keeping  the  two  dignities  distinct.  This  is  the 
first  example  of  such  a  change  of  name,  and  it  was  followed  by 
his  successors.  He  completely  sunk  his  spiritual  in  his  secular 
character,  appeared  in  military  dress,  and  neglected  the  duties  of 
the  papal  office,  though  he  surrendered  none  of  its  claims. 

John  XII.  disgraced  the  tiara  for  eight  years  (955-963).  He 
was  one  of  the  most  immoral  and  wicked  popes,  ranking  with 
Benedict  IX.,  John  XXIII.,  and  Alexander  YI.  He  was 
charged  by  a  Roman  Synod,  no  one  contradicting,  with  almost 
every  crime  of  which  depraved  human  nature  is  capable,  and 
deposed  as  a  monster  of  iniquity.^ 


*  Among  the  charges  of  the  Synod  against  him  were  that  he  appeared  con- 
stantly armed  with  sword,  lance,  helmet,  and  breastplate,  that  he  neglected 
matins  and  vespers,  that  he  never  signed  himself  with  the  sign  of  the  cross,  that 
he  was  fond  of  hunting,  that  he  had  made  a  boy  of  ten  years  a  bishop,  and  or- 
dained a  bishop  or  deacon  in  a  stable,  that  he  had  mutilated  a  priest,  that  he  had 
set  houses  on  fire,  like  Nero,  that  he  had  committed  homicide  and  adultery,  had 
violated  virgins  and  widows  high  and  low,  lived  with  his  father's  mistre-^s,  con- 
verted the  pontifical  palace  into  a  brothel,  drank  to  the  health  of  the  devil,  and 
invoked  at  the  gambling-table  the  help  of  Jupiter  and  Venus  and  other  heathen 
demons !  The  emperor  Otho  would  not  believe  these  enormities  until  they 
were  proven,  but  the  bishops  replied,  that  they  were  matters  of  public  notoriety 
requiring  no  proof.  Before  the  Synod  convened  John  XII.  had  made  his 
escape  from  Rome,  carrying  with  him  the  portable  part  of  the  treasury  of  St. 
Peter.  But  after  the  departure  of  the  emperor  he  was  readmitted  to  the  city, 
restored  for  a  short  time,  and  killed  in  an  act  of  adultery  ("  dwn  se  cum  viri 
cvjusdam  uxore  obleetaret")  by  the  enraged  husband  of  his  paramour,  or  by  the 
devil  {"adiabolo  est  percussus").  Liutprand,  Be  rebus  gestis  Ottonis  (in  Migne, 
Tom.  XXXVI.  898-910).     Hefele  (IV.  619)  thinks  that  he  died  of  apoplexy. 


288  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

§  64.   The  Interference  of  Otho  the  Great. 

Comp.,  besides  the  works  quoted  in  §  63,  Floss  :  Die  Papsiicahl  imfer  den 
Ottoiien.  Freiburg,  1858,  and  Kopke  and  Dummler;  Otto  der 
Grosse.     Leipzig,  1876. 

From  this  state  of  infamy  the  papacy  was  rescued  for  a  brief 
time  by  the  interference  of  Otho  I.,  justly  called  the  Great  (936- 
973).  He  had  subdued  the  Danes,  the  Slavonians,  and  the 
Hungarians,  converted  the  barbarians  on  the  frontier,  estab- 
lished order  and  restored  the  Carolingian  empire.  He  was 
called  by  the  pope  himself  and  several  Italian  princes  for  pro- 
tection against  the  oppression  of  king  Berengar  II.  (or  the 
Younger,  who  was  crowned  in  950,  and  died  in  exile,  966). 
He  crossed  the  Aljjs,  and  was  anointed  Roman  emperor  by  John 
XII.  in  962.  He  promised  to  return  to  the  holy  see  all  the 
lost  territories  granted  by  Pepin  and  Charlemagne,  and  received 
in  turn  from  the  pope  and  the  Romans  the  oath  of  allegiance 
on  the  sepulchre  of  St.  Peter. 

Hereafter  the  imperial  crown  of  Rome  was  always  held  by  the 
German  nation,  but  the  legal  assumption  of  the  titles  of  Emperor 
and  Augustus  depended  on  the  act  of  coronation  by  the  pope. 

After  the  departure  of  Otho  the  perfidious  pope,  unwilling  to 
obey  a  superior  master,  rebelled  and  entered  into  conspiracy  with 
his  enemies.  The  emperor  returned  to  Rome,  convened  a  Synod 
of  Italian  and  German  bishops,  which  indignantly  deposed  John 
XII.  in  his  absence,  on  the  ground  of  most  notorious  crimes,  yet 
M-ithout  a  regular  trial  (963).^ 

The  emperor  and  the  Synod  elected  a  respectable  layman,  the 
chief  secretary  of  the  Roman  see,  in  his  place.  He  was  hur- 
riedly promoted  through  the  orders  of  reader,  subdeacon,  deacon, 

'  A  full  account  of  this  Synod  see  in  Liutprand,  De  rebus  gestis  Ottonis,  and  in 
BaroniuR,  Annal.  ad  ann.  963.  Comp.  also  Greenwood,  Bk  VIII.  ch.  12,  Gfrorer, 
vol.  III.,  P.  iii.,  1249  6qq.,  Giescbrecht,  I.  465  and  828,  and  Hcfele,  IV.  612 
sqq.  Gfrorer,  Avithout  defending  John  XII.,  charges  Otho  with  having  first 
violated  the  engagement  (p.  12.53).  The  pope  was  tliree  times  summoned  be- 
fore tlie  Synod,  but  the  answer  came  from  Tivoli  that  he  had  gone  hunting. 
Baronius,  Floss,  and  Hefele  regard  this  synod  as  uncanonical. 


§  64.     THE  INTERFERENCE  OF  OTHO  THE  GREAT.    289 

priest  and  bishop,  and  consecrated  as  Leo  YIII.,  but  not  recog- 
nized by  the  strictly  hierarchical  party,  because  he  surrendered 
the  freedom  of  the  papacy  to  the  empire.  The  Romans  swore 
that  they  would  never  elect  a  pope  again  without  the  emperor's 
consent.     Leo  confirmed  this  in  a  formal  document.^ 

The  anti-imperial  party  readmitted  John  XII.,  who  took 
cruel  revenge  of  his  enemies,  but  was  suddenly  struck  down  in 
his  sins  by  a  violent  death.  Then  they  elected  an  anti-pope, 
Benedict  Y.,  but  he  himself  begged  pardon  for  his  usurpation 
when  the  emperor  reappeared,  was  divested  of  the  papal  robes, 
degraded  to  the  order  of  deacon,  and  banished  to  Germany. 
Leo  VIII.  died  in  April,  965,  after  a  short  pontificate  of  six- 
teen months. 

The  bishop  of  Narni  was  unanimously  elected  his  successor 
as  John  XIII.  (965-972)  by  the  Roman  clergy  and  people, 
after  first  consulting  the  will  of  the  emperor.  He  crowned  Otho 
II.  emperor  of  the  Romans  (973-983).  He  was  expelled  by  the 
Romans,  but  reinstated  by  Otho,  who  punished  the  rebellious 
city  with  terrible  severity. 

Thus  the  papacy  was  morally  saved,  but  at  the  expense  of  its 
independence ;  or  rather  it  had  exchanged  its  domestic  bondage 
for  a  foreign  bondao;e.  Otho  restored  to  it  its  former  dominions 
which  it  had  lost  during  the  Italian  disturbances,  but  he  re- 
garded the  pope  and  the  Romans  as  his  subjects,  who  owed  him 
the  same  temporal  allegiance  as  the  Germans  and  Lombards. 

It  would  have  been  far  better  for  Germany  and  Italy  if  they 
had  never  meddled  with  each  other.  The  Italians,  especially  the 
Romans,  feared  the  German  army,  but  hated  the  Germans  as 
Northern  semi-barbarians,  and  shook  off  their  yoke  as  soon  as 
they  had  a  chance.^     The  Germans  suspected  the  Italians  for 

'  Baronius,  ad  ann.  964,  pronounced  the  document  spurious,  chiefly  because 
it  is  very  inconvenient  to  his  ultramontane  doctrine.  It  is  printed  in  Mon. 
Germ.  iv.  2  (Leges,  II.  167),  and  in  a  more  extensive  form  from  a  MS.  at  Treves 
in  Leonis  VIII.  privilegium  de  investitui'is,  by  H.  J.  Floss,  Freib-,  1858.  This 
pulilication  has  changed  the  state  of  the  controversy  in  favor  of  a  genuine  ele- 
ment in  the  document.     See  the  discussion  in  FTefele,  IV.  622  sqq. 

^  This  antipathv  found  its  last  expression  and  termination  in  the  expulsion  of 

19 


290  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

dishonesty  and  trickery,  were  always  in  danger  of  fever  and 
poison,  and  lost  armies  and  millions  of  treasure  without  any  re- 
turn of  profit  or  even  military  glory .^  The  two  nations  were 
always  jealous  of  each  other,  and  have  only  recently  become 
friends,  on  the  basis  of  mutual  independence  and  non-inter- 
ference. 

PROTEST  AGAINST  PAPAL  CORRUPTION. 

The  shocking  immoralities  of  the  popes  called  forth  strong 
protests,  though  they  did  not  shake  the  faith  in  the  institution 
itself.  A  Galilean  Synod  deposed  archbishop  Arnulf  of  Rheims 
as  a  traitor  to  king  Hugo  Capet,  without  waiting  for  an  answer 
from  the  pope,  and  without  caring  for  the  Pseudo-Isidorian 
Decretals  (991).  The  leading  spirit  of  the  Synod,  Arnulf, 
bishop  of  Orleans,  made  the  following  bold  declaration  against 
the  prostitution  of  the  papal  office  :  "  Looking  at  the  actual  state 
of  the  papacy,  what  do  we  behold  ?  John  [XII.]  called  Octa- 
vian,  wallowing  in  the  sty  of  filthy  concupiscence,  conspiring 
against  the  sovereign  whom  he  had  himself  recently  crowned; 
then  Leo  [VIIL]  the  neophyte,  chased  from  the  city  by  this 
Octavian;  and  that  monster  himself,  after  the  commission  of 
many  murders  and  cruelties,  dying  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin. 
Next  we  see  the  deacon  Benedict,  though  freely  elected  by  the 
Romans,  carried  away  captive  into  the  wilds  of  Germany  by  the 
new  Caesar  [Otho  I.]  and  his  pope  Leo.  Then  a  second  Caesar 
[Otho  II.],  greater  in  arts  and  arms  than  the  first  [?],  succeeds ; 
and  in  his  absence  Boniface,  a  very  monster  of  iniquity,  reeking 
with  the  blood  of  his  jiredecessor,  mounts  the  throne  of  Peter. 
True,  he  is  expelled  and  condemned ;  but  only  to  return  again, 

the  Austrians  from  Lombardy  and  Venice,  and  the  formation  of  a  united  king- 
dom of  Italy. 

*  Ditmar  of  Merseburg,  the  liistorian  of  Henry  II.,  expresses  the  sentiment 
of  that  time  when  he  says  (Chon.  IV.  22) :  ''Neither  the  climate  nor  the  people 
suit  our  countrymen.  Both  in  Rome  and  Lombardy  treason  is  always  at  work. 
Strangers  who  visit  Italy  expect  no  hospitality :  everything  they  require  must 
be  instantly  paid  for ;  and  even  then  they  must  submit  to  be  over-reached  and 
cheated,  and  not  unfrequently  to  be  poisoned  after  all." 


2  64.  THE  INTERFERENCE  OF  OTHO  THE  GREAT.       291 

and  redden  his  hands  with  the  blood  of  the  holy  bishop  John 
[XIV.].  Are  there,  indeed,  any  bold  enough  to  maintain  that 
the  priests  of  the  Lord  over  all  the  world  are  to  take  their  law 
from  monsters  of  guilt  like  these — men  branded  with  ignominy, 
illiterate  men,  and  ignorant  alike  of  things  human  and  divine  ? 
If,  holy  fathers,  we  be  bound  to  weigh  in  the  balance  the  lives, 
the  morals,  and  the  attainments  of  the  meanest  candidate  for  the 
sacerdotal  office,  how  much  more  ought  we  to  look  to  the  fitness 
of  him  who  aspires  to  be  the  lord  and  master  of  all  priests !  Yet 
how  would  it  fare  with  us,  if  it  should  happen  that  the  man 
the  most  deficient  in  all  these  virtues,  one  so  abject  as  not  to  be 
worthy  of  the  lowest  place  among  the  priesthood,  should  be 
chosen  to  fill  the  highest  place  of  all  ?  What  w^ould  you  say  of 
such  a  one,  when  you  behold  him  sitting  upon  the  throne  glit- 
tering in  purple  and  gold  ?  Ifust  he  not  be  the  '  Antichrist,  sit- 
ting in  the  temple  of  God,  and  showing  himself  as  God '  f  Verily 
such  a  one  lacketh  both  wisdom  and  charity;  he  standeth  in  the 
temple  as  an  image,  as  an  idol,  from  which  as  from  dead  marble 
you  would  seek  counsel/ 

"  But  the  Church  of  God  is  not  subject  to  a  wicked  pope ;  nor 
even  absolutely,  and  on  all  occasions,  to  a  good  one.  Let  us 
rather  in  our  difficulties  resort  to  our  brethren  of  Belgium  and 
Germany  than  to  that  city,  where  all  things  are  venal,  where 
judgment  and  justice  are  bartered  for  gold.  Let  us  imitate  the 
great  church  of  Africa,  which,  in  reply  to  the  pretensions  of  the 
Roman  pontiff,  deemed  it  inconceivable  that  the  Lord  should 
have  invested  any  one  person  with  his  own  plenary  prerogative 
of  judicature,  and  yet  have  denied  it  to  the  great  congregations 
of  his  priests  assembled  in  council  in  different  parts  of  the  world. 
If  it  be  true,  as  we  are  informed  by  common  report,  that  there  is 

*  "  Quid  hunc,  rev.  Patres,  in  sublimi  solio  residentem  veste  purpurea  el  aurea  ra- 
diantem,  quid  hunc,  inquam,  esse  censetis  f  Nimirum  si  caritate  destituitur,  solaque 
sdentia  inflatur  et  extollitur,  Antichristus  est,  in  templo  Dei  sedens,  et  se  ostendens 
tamquam  sit  Deus.  Si  autem  nee  caritate  fundatur,  nee  scientia  erigitur,  in  templo 
Dei  tamquam  statua,  tanquam  idolum  est,  a  quo  responsa  petere,  marmora  consulere 
est." 


292  FOUKTH  PEKIOD.     A.  D.  590  TO  1049. 

in  Rome  scarcely  a  man  acquainted  with  letters, — without  which, 
as  it  is  written,  one  may  scarcely  be  a  doorkeeper  in  the  house  of 
God, — with  what  face  may  he  who  hath  himself  learnt  nothing 
set  himself  up  for  a  teacher  of  others?  In  the  simple  priest 
ignorance  is  bad  enough ;  but  in  the  high  priest  of  Rome, — in 
him  to  whom  it  is  given  to  pass  in  review  the  faith,  the  lives, 
the  morals,  the  discipline,  of  the  whole  body  of  the  priesthood, 
yea,  of  the  universal  church,  ignorance  is  in  nowise  to  be 
tolerated.  .  .  .  Why  should  he  not  be  subject  in  judgment  to 
those  who,  though  lowest  in  place,  are  his  superiors  in  virtue 
and  in  wisdom  ?  Yea,  not  even  he,  the  prince  of  the  apostles, 
declined  the  rebuke  of  Paul,  though  his  inferior  in  place,  and, 
saith  the  great  pope  Gregory  [I.], '  if  a  bishop  be  in  fault,  I^know 
not  any  one  such  who  is  not  subject  to  the  holy  see;  but  if 
faultless,  let  every  one  understand  that  he  is  the  equal  of  the 
Roman  pontiff  himself,  and  as  well  qualified  as  he  to  give  judg- 
ment in  any  matter.'  " ' 

The  secretary  of  this  council  and  the  probable  framer  of  this 
remarkable  speech  was  Gerbert,  who  became  archbishop  of 
Rheims,  afterwards  of  Ravenna,  and  at  last  pope  under  the 
name  of  Sylvester  II.  But  pope  John  XV.  (or  his  master 
Crescentius)  declared  the  proceedings  of  this  council  null  and 
void,  and  interdicted  Gerbert.  His  successor,  Gregory  V., 
threatened  the  kingdom  of  France  with  a  general  interdict  un- 
less Arnulf  was  restored.  Gerbert,  forsaken  by  king  Robert  I., 
who  needed  the  favor  of  the  pope,  was  glad  to  escape  from  his 
uncomfortable  scat  and  to  accept  an  invitation  of  Otho  III.  to 
become  his  teacher  (995).     Arnulf  was  reinstated  in  Rheims. 

'  The  acts  of  this  Synod  were  first  published  in  the  Magdeburg  Centuries, 
then  by  Mansi,  Cone.  XIX.  107,  and  Pertz,  3fon.  V.  658.  Rironins  pronounced 
them  spurious,  and  interspersed  them  with  indignant  notes;  but  Mansi  (p.  107) 
says :  "  Censent  vulgo  omnes,  Gerbertum  reipsa  et  sincere  recitasse  acta  concilii  vere 
habid."  See  Gieseler,  Greenwood  (Book  VIII.  ch.  G),  and  Hefele  (IV.  637  sqq.). 
Hefele  pronounces  the  speech  schismatical. 


§  65.  THE  SECOND  DEGEADATION  OF  THE  PAPACY.    293 


§  65.  The  Second  Degradation  of  the  Papacy  from  Oiho  I.  to 
Henry  III.     A.  D.  973-1046. 

I.  The  sources  for  the  papacy  in  the  second  half  of  the  tenth  and  in  the 

eleventh  century  are  collected  in  Muratori's  Annali  d'  Italia  (Milano 
1744_t9) ;  in  Migne's  Patrol,  Tom.  CXXXVII.-CL. ;  Leibnitz,  An- 
nales  Imp.  Occid.  (down  to  A.  D.  1005 ;  Han.,  1843,  3  vols. ) ;  Pertz, 
3Ion.  Germ.  (Auctores),  Tom.  V.  (Leges),  Tom.  IL ;  Ranke,  Jahr- 
bucher  des  deutschen  Seiches  unter  dem  Sachs.  Hause  (Berlin  1837-40, 
3  vols. ;  the  second  vol.  by  Giesebrecht  and  Wilmans  contains  the 
reigns  of  Otho  IL  and  Otho  IIL).  On  the  sources  se§  Giesebrecht, 
Gesch.  der  deutschen  Kaiserzeit,  II.  568  sqq. 

II.  Stenzel:    Geschichte  Deutschlands  unter  den  Frankischen   Kaisern. 

Leipz.,  1827,  1828,  2  vols. 

C.  F.  Hock  (R.  C.)  :  Gerbert  oder  Papst  Sylvester  und  sein  Jahrhundert. 
Wien,  1837.  . 

C.  HoFLER  (R.  0.) :  Die  deutschen  Pdpste.    Regensb.,  1839,  2  vols. 

H.  J.  Floss  (R.  C.) :  Die  Papstwahl  unter  den  Ottonen.     Freib.,  1858. 

C.  Will  :  Die  Anfdnge  der  Bestauration  der  Kirche  im  elften  Jahrh.  Mar- 
burg, 1859-'62,  2  vols. 

R.  KoPKE  und  E.  Dummler  :  Otto  der  Grosse.     Leipz.  1876. 

Comp.  Baronius  [Annal.) ;  Jaffe  [Reg.  325-364) ;  Hefele  [Concilien- 
geschichte  IV.  632  sqq.,  2d  ed.) ;  Gfrorer  (vol.  III.,  P.  HL,  1358- 
1590,  and  vol.  IV.,  1846);  Gregorovius  (vols.  IIL  and  IV.);  v. 
Reumont  (IL  292  sqq.) ;  Baxmann  (II.  125-180) ;  and  Giese- 
brecht (L  569-762,  and  II.  1-431). 

The  reform  of  the  papacy  was  merely  temporary.  It  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  second  period  of  disgrace,  which  lasted  till  the  middle 
of  the  eleventh  century,  but  was  interrupted  by  a  few  respectable 
popes  and  signs  of  a  coming  reformation. 

After  the  death  of  Otho,  during  the  short  and  unfortunate 
reign  of  his  son,  Otho  II.  (973-983),  a  faction  of  the  Roman 
nobility  under  the  lead  of  Crescentius  or  Cencius  (probably  a 
son  of  pope  John  X.  and  Theodora)  gained  the  upper  hand.' 
He  rebelled  against  the  imperial  pope,  Benedict  VI.,  who  was 

1  He  is  called  Crescentius  de  Theodora,  and  seems  to  have  died  in  a  convent 
about  984.  Some  make  him  the  sou  of  Pope  John  X.  and  the  elder  Theodora, 
others,  of  the  younger  Theodora.  See  Gregorovius,  III.  407  sqq  ;  von  Eeu- 
mont,  II.  292  sqq. ;  and  the  genealogy  of  the  Crescentii  in  Hofler,  I.  300. 


29-i  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

murdered  (974),  and  elected  an  Italian  anti-pope,  Boniface 
VII.,  who  had  soon  to  flee  to  Constantinople,  but  returned 
after  some  years,  murdered  another  imperial  pope,  John  XIV. 
(983),  and  maintained  himself  on  the  blood-stained  throne  by  a 
lavish  distribution  of  stolen  money  till  he  died,  probably  by 
violence  (985).' 

During  the  minority  of  Otho  III.,  the  imperialists,  headed  by 
Alberic,  Count  of  Tusculum,  and  the  popular  Roman  party 
under  the  lead  of  the  younger  Crescentius  (perhaps  a  grandson 
of  the  infamous  Theodora),  contended  from  their  fortified  places 
for  the  mastery  of  Rome  and  the  papacy.  Bloodshed  was  a 
daily  amusement.  Issuing  from  their  forts,  the  two  parties  gave 
battle  to  each  other  whenever  they  met  on  the  street.  They  set 
up  rival  popes,  and  mutilated  their  corpses  with  insane  fury. 
The  contending  parties  were  related.  Marozia's  son,  Alberic, 
had  probably  inherited  Tusculum  (which  is  about  fifteen  miles 
from  Rome).^  After  the  death  of  Alberic  of  Tusculum,  Crescen- 
tius acquired  the  government  under  the  title  of  Consul,  and  in- 
dulged the  Romans  with  a  short  dream  of  republican  freedom  in 
opposition  to  the  hated  rule  of  the  foreign  barbarians.  He  con- 
trolled pope  John  XV. 

GREGORY  V. 

Otho  III.,  on  his  way  to  Rome,  elected  his  worthy  chaplain 
and  cousin  Bruno,  who  Avas  consecrated  as  Gregory  V.  (996)  and 
then  anointed  Otho  III.  emperor.  He  is  the  first  pope  of  Ger- 
man blood .^  Crescentius  was  treated  with  great  leniency,  but 
after  the  departure  of  the  German  army  he  stirred  up  a  rebellion, 

'  Gerbert  (afterwards  pope  Sylvester  II.)  called  tliis  Bonifaoiiis  a  "Malefactor" 
(Malifacius  )  and  "  horrendum  monstrvm,  cunctos  mortales  nequida  superans,  eliam 
prions  ponfificis  sanguine  cruentus."     Gregorovius,  III.  410. 

*  The  Tiiscidan  family  claimed  descent  from  Julius  Cnesar  and  Octavian. 
See  Gregorovius,  IV.  10,  and  Giesebrecht  II.  174;  also  the  genealogical  table 
of  Hofler  at  the  close  of  Vol.  I. 

'  Baronius,  however,  says  that  Stephen  VIII.  (939-942)  was  a  German,  and 
for  this  reason  opposed  by  the  Romans.  Bruno  was  only  twenty-four  years  old 
when  elected.     Ilofler  (I.  94  sqq.)  gives  him  a  very  high  character. 


^  Go.  THE  SECOND  DEGRADATION  OF  THE  PAPACY.  295 

expelled  the  German  pope  and  elevated  Philagathus,  a  Calabrian 
Greek,  under  the  name  of  John  XVI.  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter. 
Gregory  V.  convened  a  large  synod  at  Pavia,  which  unanimously 
pronounced  the  anathema  against  Crescentius  and  his  pope. 
The  emperor  hastened  to  Rome  with  an  army,  stormed  the  castle 
of  St.  Angelo  (the  mole  of  Hadrian),  and  beheaded  Crescentius 
as  a  traitor,  while  John  XVI.  by  order  of  Gregory  V.  was, 
according  to  the  savage  practice  of  that  age,  fearfully  mutilated, 
and  paraded  through  the  streets  on  an  ass,  with  his  face  turned 
to  the  tail  and  with  a  wine-bladder  on  his  head. 

SYLVESTER  II. 

After  the  sudden  and  probably  violent  death  of  Gregory  V. 
(999),  the  emperor  elected,  with  the  assent  of  the  clergy  and  the 
people,  his  friend  and  preceptor,  Gerbert,  archbishop  of  Rheims, 
and  then  of  Ravenna,  to  the  papal  throne.  Gerbert  was  the  first 
French  pope,  a  man  of  rare  learning  and  ability,  and  moral  in- 
tegrity. He  abandoned  the  liberal  views  he  had  expressed  at 
the  Council  at  Rheims,^  and  the  legend  says  that  he  sold  his  soul 
to  the  devil  for  the  papal  tiara.  He  assumed  the  significant  name 
of  Sylvester  II.,  intending  to  aid  the  youthful  emperor  (whose 
mother  was  a  Greek  princess)  in  the  realization  of  his  Utopian 
dream  to  establish  a  Grseco-Latin  empire  with  old  Rome  for  its 
capital,  and  to  rule  from  it  the  Christian  world,  as  Constantine 
the  Great  had  done  during  the  pontificate  of  Sylvester  I.  But 
Otho  died  in  his  twenty-second  year,  of  Italian  fever  or  of  jDoison 
(1002).2 

Sylvester  II.  followed  his  imperial  pupil  a  year  after  (1003). 
His  learning,  acquired  in  part  from  the  Arabs  in  Spain,  appeared 

^  See  preceding  section,  p.  290. 

2  According  to  several  Italian  writers  he  was  poisoned  by  Stephania,  under 
the  disguise  of  a  loving  mistress,  in  revenge  of  the  murder  of  Crescentius,  her 
husband.  Muratori  and  Milman  accept  the  story,  but  it  is  not  mentioned  by 
Ditmar  (Chron.  IV.  30),  and  discredited  by  Leo,  Gfrorer,  and  Greenwood. 
Otho  had  restored  to  the  son  of  Stephania  all  his  father's  property,  and  made 
him  prefect  of  Rome.  The  same  remorseless  Stephania  is  said  to  have  adminis- 
tered subtle  poison  to  pope  Sylvester  II. 


296  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

a  marvel  to  his  ignorant  age,  and  suggested  a  connection  with 
magic.  He  sent  to  St.  Stephen  of  Hungary  the  royal  crown, 
and,  in  a  pastoral  letter  to  Europe  where  Jerusalem  is  repre- 
sented as  crying  for  help,  he  gave  the  first  impulse  to  the  cru- 
sades (1000),  ninety  years  before  they  actually  began.* 

In  the  expectation  of  the  approaching  judgment,  crowds  of 
pilgrims  flocked  to  Palestine  to  greet  the  advent  of  the  Saviour. 
But  the  first  millennium  passed,  and  Christendom  awoke  with 
a  sigh  of  relief  on  the  first  day  of  the  year  1001. 

BENEDICT  VIII.,  AND  EMPEROR  HENRY  II. 

Upon  the  whole  the  Saxon  emperors  were  of  great  service  to 
the  papacy  :  they  emancipated  it  from  the  tyranny  of  domestic 
political  factions,  they  restored  it  to  wealth,  and  substituted 
worthy  occupants  for  monstrous  criminals. 

During;  the  next  reign  the  confusion  broke  out  once  more. 
The  anti-imperial  party  regained  the  ascendency,  and  John  Cres- 
centius,  the  son  of  the  beheaded  consul,  ruled  under  the  title  of 
Senator  and  Patricius.  But  the  Counts  of  Tusculum  held  the 
balance  of  power  pretty  evenly,  and  gradually  superseded  the 
house  of  Crescentius.  They  elected  Benedict  VIII.  (1012- 
1024),  a  member  of  their  family ;  while  Crescentius  and  his 
friends  appointed  an  anti-pope  (Gregory). 

Benedict  proved  a  very  energetic  pope  in  the  defence  of  Italy 
against  the  Saracens.  He  forms  the  connecting  link  between 
the  Ottonian  and  the  Hildebrandian  popes.  He  crowned  Henry 
11.  (1014),  as  the  faithful  patron  and  protector  simply,  not  as  the 
liege-lord,  of  the  pope. 

This  last  emperor  of  the  Saxon  house  was  very  devout,  ascetic, 
and  liberal  in  endowing  bishoprics.  He  favored  clerical  celibacy. 
Pie  aimed  earnestly  at  a  moral  reformation  of  the  church.     He 

'  See  Gfrorer,  III.  P.  Ifl.  IojO  sq.  He  regards  Sylvester  II.  one  of  the 
greatest  of  popes  and  statesmen  who  developed  all  the  germs  of  the  system,  and 
showed  the  way  to  his  successors.  Comp.  on  him  Milman,  Bk.  V.  ch.  13 ; 
Giesebrecht,  I.  613  sqq.  and  690  sqq. 


§  65.  THE  SECOND  DEGRADATION  OF  THE  PAPACY.   297 

declared  at  a  diet,  that  he  had  made  Christ  his  heir,  and  would 
devote  all  he  possessed  to  God  and  his  church.  He  filled  the 
vacant  bishoprics  and  abbeys  with  learned  and  worthy  men  ; 
and  hence  his  right  of  appointment  was  not  resisted.  He  died 
after  a  reign  of  twenty-two  years,  and  was  buried  at  his  favorite 
place,  Bamberg  in  Bavaria,  where  he  had  founded  a  bishopric 
(1007).  He  and  his  chaste  wife,  Kunigunde,  were  canonized  by 
the  grateful  church  (1146).^ 

THE  TUSCULAN   POPES.       BENEDICT  IX. 

With  Benedict  VIII.  the  papal  dignity  became  hereditary  in 
the  Tusculan  family.  He  had  bought  it  by  open  bribery.  He 
was  followed  by  his  brother  John  XIX.,  a  layman,  who  bought 
it  likewise,  and  passed  in  one  day  through  all  the  clerical  degrees. 

After  his  death  in  1033,  his  nephew  Theophylact,  a  boy  of 
only  ten  or  twelve  years  of  age,^  ascended  the  papal  throne  under 
the  name  of  Benedict   IX.  (1033-1045).     His  election  was  a 

^  His  historian,  bisliop  Thitmar  or  Ditinar  of  Merseburg,  relates  that  Henry 
never  held  carnal  intercourse  with  his  wife,  and  submitted  to  rigid  penances  and 
frequent  flagellations  for  the  subjugation  of  animal  passions.  But  Hase  (§  160, 
tentli  ed.)  remarks:  "Die  Monche,  die  er  zu  Gunsten  der  Bisth'dmer  beraubt  hat, 
dachten  ihn  nur  eben  von  der  Solle  gerettet;  aueh  den  Heiligenschein  der  jungfrdu- 
lichen  Kaiserin  hat  der  Teufd  zu  verdunkeln  gewusst."  Comp.  C.  Schurzfleisch, 
JDe  innocentia  Cunig.,  Wit.,  1700.  A.  Noel,  Leben  der  heil.  Kunigunde,  Luxerab, 
1856.  For  a  high  and  just  estimate  of  Henry's  character  see  Giesebrecht  II.  94-96. 
"  The  legend,"  he  says,  "  describes  Henry  as  a  monk  in  purple,  as  a  penitent 
with  a  crown,  who  can  scarcely  drag  along  his  lame  body ;  it  places  Kunigunde 
at  his  side  not  as  wife  but  as  a  nun,  who  in  prayer  and  mortification  of  the  flesh 
seeks  with  him  the  path  to  heaven.  History  gives  a  very  diSerent  picture  of 
king  Henry  and  his  wife.  It  bears  witness  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  active 
and  energetic  rulers  that  ever  sat  on  the  German  throne,  and  possessed  a  sharp 
understanding  and  a  power  of  organization  very  rare  in  those  times.  It  was  a 
misfortune  for  Germany  that  such  a  statesman  had  to  spend  most  of  his  life  in 
internal  and  external  wars.  Honorable  as  he  was  in  arms,  he  would  have 
acquired  a  higher  fame  in  times  of  peace." 

2  Rodulfus  Glaber,  Histor.  sui  temporis,  TV.  5  (in  Migne,  Tom.  142,  p.  979)  : 
"puerferme  (fere)  decennis;"  but  in  V.  5:  ''fiierat  sedi  ordinatus  quidam  puer 
circiter  annorum  duodecim,  contra  jus  nefasque."  Hefele  stated,  in  the  first  ed. 
(IV.  673),  that  Benedict  was  eighteen  when  elected.  In  the  second  ed.  (p.  706), 
he  corrects  himself  and  makes  him  twelve  vears  at  his  election. 


298  FOUKTH  PEKIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

mere  money  bargain  between  the  Tusculan  family  and  the  venal 
•  clergy  and  populace  of  Rome.  Once  more  the  Lord  took  from 
Jerusalem  and  Judah  the  stay  and  the  staff,  and  gave  children 
to  be  their  princes,  and  babes  to  rule  over  them.^ 

This  boy-pope  fully  equaled  and  even  surpassed  John  XII.  in 
precocious  wickedness.  He  combined  the  childishness  of  Cali- 
gula and  the  viciousness  of  Heliogabalus.^  He  grew  worse  as  he 
advanced  in  years.  He  ruled  like  a  captain  of  banditti,  com- 
mitted murders  and  adulteries  in  open  day-light,  robbed  pilgrims 
on  the  graves  of  martyrs,  and  turned  Rome  into  a  den  of  thieves. 
These  crimes  went  unpunished;  for  w^ho  could  judge  a  pope? 
And  his  brother,  Gregory,  was  Patrician  of  the  city.  At  one 
time,  it  is  reported,  he  had  the  crazy  notion  of  marrying  his 
cousin  and  enthroning  a  woman  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter ;  but 
the  father  of  the  intended  bride  refused  unless  he  abdicated  the 
papacy."*  Desiderius,  who  himself  afterwards  became  pope 
(Victor  III.),  shrinks  from  describing  the  detestable  life  of 
this  Benedict,  who,  he  says,  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Simon 
Magus  rather  than  of  Simon  Peter,  and  proceeded  in  a  career 
of  rapine,  murder,  and  every  species  of  felony,  until  even  the 
people  of  Rome  became  weary  of  his  iniquities,  and  expelled 
him  from  the  city.  Sylvester  III.  w'as  elected  antipope  (Jan., 
1044),  but  Benedict  soon  resumed  the  papacy  with  all  his 
vices  (April  10,  1044),  then  sold  it  for  one  or  two  .thousand 
pounds  silver*  to  an  archpresbyter  John  Gratian  of  the  same 

iIsa.3:l-4. 

*  Gregorovius,  IV.  42,  says:  "iJ/j<  Benedict  IX.  erreichte  das  Papstthum  jenen 
dussersien  Grad  des  sittlichen  Verfalk,  n-elcher  nach  den  Gesetzen  der  mensMichen 
Natiir  den  Umschkuj  ziim  Bess^ern  erzeucjt." 

^Bonitho,  ed.  Jaffu  p.  50:  ''Post  midla  turpia  adnlteria  et  homicidia  manibus 
suis  perpctratu,  posfrcmo  cum  vellet  consobrinum  accipcre  coniugem,  filiam  scilicet 
Girardi  deSaxo,  et  ille  diceret:  nidlo  rnodo  se  datarum  nisi  renunciaret  pontificalui 
(id  qaendam  sacerdotem  Johannem  se  contulit."  A  similar  report  is  found  in  the 
AmuUes  AltAihenses.  But  Steinuorfr  and  Hefele  (IV.  707)  discredit  the  mar- 
riage project  as  a  malignant  invention  or  fable. 

*  An  old  catalogue  of  popes  (in  Muratori,  Script.  III.  2,  p.  345)  states  the  oum 
as  mille  librce  denariorum  Papensium,  but  Benno  as  libnc  tnUle  quingentce.  Others 
give  two  thousand  pounds  ;is  the  sura.     Otto  of  Freising  adds  that  Benedict 


?  66.  HENRY  III.  AND  THE  SYNOD  OF  SUTRI.  299 

house  (May,  1045),  after  he  had  emptied  the  treasury  of  every 
article  of  value,  and,  rueing  the  bargain,  he  claimed  the  dignity 
again  (Nov.,  1047),  till  he  was  finally  expelled  from  Rome  (July, 
1048), 

GREGOEY  VT. 

John  Gratian  assumed  the  name  Gregory  YI.  He  was 
revered  as  a  saint  for  his  chastity  which,  on  account  of  its 
extreme  rarity  in  Rome,  was  called  an  angelic  virtue.  He 
bought  the  papacy  with  the  sincere  desire  to  reform  it,  and  made 
the  monk  Hildebrand,  the  future  reformer,  his  cljaplain.  He 
acted  on  the  principle  that  the  end  sanctifies  the  means. 

Thus  there  were  for  a  while  three  rival  popes.  Benedict  IX. 
(before  his  final  expulsion)  held  the  Laterau,  Gregory  VI.  Maria 
Maggiore,  Sylvester  III.  St.  Peter's  and  the  Vatican/ 

Their  feuds  reflected  the  general  condition  of  Italy.  The 
streets  of  Rome  swarmed  with  hired  assassins,  the  whole  country 
with  robbers,  the  virtue  of  pilgrims  was  openly  assailed,  even 
churches  and  the  tombs  of  the  apostles  were  desecrated  by  blood- 
shed. 

Again  the  German  emperor  had  to  interfere  for  the  restoration 

of  order. 

§  66.  Henry  III.  and  the  Synod  of  Sutri.     Deposition  of  three 
rival  Popes.     A.  D.  1046. 

BoNizo  (or  Bonitho,  bishop  of  Sutri,  afterwards  of  Piacenza,  and  friend 
of  Gregory  VII.,  d.  1089) :  Liber  ad  amicum,  s.  de  persecutione  Eccle- 
sicB  (in  CEfelii  Scriptores  rerum  Boicarum  IL,  794,  and  better  in 
Jaffe's  Momunenta  Gregoriana,  1865).  Contains  in  lib.  V.  a  history 
of  the  popes  from  Benedict  IX.  to  Gregory  VII.,  with  many  errors. 

EODULFUS  Glaber  (or  Glaber  Eadulfus,  monk  of  Cluny,  about  1046) : 
Historia  sui  temporis  (in  Migne,  Tom.  142). 

reserved  besides  the  Peter's  pence  from  England.     See  Giesebrecht,  IT.  643,  and 
Hefele  IV.  707. 

1  Migne,  Tom.  141,  p.  1343.  Steindorff  and  Hefele  (IV.  708)  dissent  from 
this  usual  view  of  a  three-fold  schism,  and  consider  Gregory  as  the  only  pope- 
But  all  three  were  summoned  to  the  Synod  of  Sutri  and  deposed;  consequently 
they  must  all  have  claimed  possession. 


300  FOUKTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Desideritts  (Abbot  of  M.  Cassino,  afterwards  pope  Victor  Iir.,d.  1086); 

De  MiracuUs  a  S.  Benedicto  aliisque  monachis   Cassiniensibus  gestis 

Dialog.,  in  "  Bibl.  Patr."     Lugd.  XVIII.  853. 
Annales  Romani  in  Pertz,  Mon.  Germ.  VII. 
Annales  Corbeienses,  in  Pertz,  Mon.  Germ.  V. ;  and  in  JafFe,  Monumenta 

Corbeiensia,  Berlin,  18G4. 
Ernst  Steixdorff:  Jahrbiicher  des  deufschen  Eeichs  unter  Hemrich  III. 

Leipzig,  1874. 
Hefele:   Coneiliengesch.  IV.  706  sqq.  (2d  ed.). 
See  Lit.  in  g  64,  especially  Hofler  and  Will. 

Emperor  Henry  III.,  of  the  house  of  Franconia,  was  appealed 
to  by  the  advocates  of  reform,  and  felt  deeply  the  sad  state  of  the 
church.  He  was  only  twenty-two  years  old,  but  ripe  in  intel- 
lect, full  of  energy  and  zeal,  and  aimed  at  a  reformation  of  the 
church  under  the  control  of  the  empire,  as  Hildebrand  ^after- 
wards labored  for  a  reformation  of  the  church  under  the  control 
of  the  papacy. 

On  his  way  to  Rome  for  the  coronation  he  held  (Dec.  20, 
1046)  a  synod  at  Sutri,  a  small  town  about  twenty-five  miles 
north  of  Rome,  and  a  few  days  afterwards  another  synod  at 
Rome  which  completed  the  work.^  Gregory  VI.  presided  at 
first.  The  claims  of  the  three  rival  pontiffs  were  considered. 
Benedict  IX.  and  Sylvester  III.  were  soon  disposed  of,  the  first 
having  twice  resigned,  the  second  being  a  mere  intruder.  Gre- 
gory VI.  deserved  likewise  deposition  for  the  sin  of  simony  in 
buying  the  papacy;  but  as  he  had  convoked  the  synod  by  order 
of  the  emperor  and  was  otherwise  a  worthy  person,  he  was  al- 
lowed to  depose  lumself  or  to  abdicate.  He  did  it  in  these 
words :  "  I,  Gregory,  bishop,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  do 
hereby  adjudge  myself  to  be  removed  from  the  pontificate  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Church,  because  of  the  enormous  error  Avhich 
by  simoniacal  impurity  has  crept  into  and  vitiated  my  election." 
Then   he   aaked   the  assembled  fathers :   "  Is  it  your  pleasure 

*  The  sources  differ  in  the  distribution  of  the  work  between  the  two  synods : 
some  assign  it  to  Sutri,  others  to  Rome,  others  divide  it.  Steindorff  and  Hefele 
(IV.  710)  assume  that  Gregory  and  Sylvester  were  deposed  at  Sutri ;  Benedict 
(who  did  not  appear  at  Sutri)  was  deposed  in  Rome.  All  agree  that  the  new 
pope  was  elected  in  Rome. 


2  66.  HENRY  IH.  AND  THE  SYNOD  OF  SUTRI.    30 i 

that  SO  it  shall  be?"  to  which  they  unanimously  replied :  "Your 
pleasure  is  our  pleasure ;  therefore  so  let  it  be."  As  soon  as  the 
humble  pope  had  pronounced  his  own  sentence,  he  descended 
from  the  throne,  divested  himself  of  his  pontifical  robes,  and  im- 
plored pardon  on  his  knees  for  the  usurpation  of  the  highest 
dignity  in  Christendom.  He  acted  as  pope  de  facto,  and  pro- 
nounced himself  no  pope  dejure.  He  was  used  by  the  synod  for 
deposing  his  two  rivals,  and  then  for  deposing  himself.  ^  In  that 
way  the  synod  saved  the  principle  that  the  pope  was  above  every 
human  tribunal,  and  responsible  to  God  alone.  This  view  of 
the  case  of  Gregory  rests  on  the  reports  of  Bonitho  and  Deside- 
rius.  According  to  other  reports  in  the  Annales  Corbeienses  and 
Peter  Damiani,  who  was  present  at  Sutri,  Gregory  was  deposed 
directly  by  the  Synod.^  At  all  events,  the  deposition  was  real 
and  final,  and  the  cause  was  the  sin  of  simony. 

But  if  simony  vitiated  an  election,  there  were  probably  few 
legitimate  popes  in  the  tenth  century  when  everything  was  venal 
and  corrupt  in  Rome.  Moreover  bribery  seems  a  small  sin  com- 
pared with  the  enormous  crimes  of  several  of  these  Judases. 
Hildebrand  recognized  Gregory  VI.  by  adopting  his  pontifical 
name  in  honor  of  his  memory,  and  yet  he  made  relentless  war 
upon  the  sin  of  simony.  He  followed  the  self-deposed  pope  as 
chaplain  across  the  Alps  into  exile,  and  buried  him  in  peace  on 
the  banks  of  the  Rhine. 

Henry  III.  adjourned  the  Synod  of  Sutri  to  St.  Peter's  in 
Rome  for  the  election  of  a  new  pope  (Dec  23  and  24,  1046). 
The  synod  was  to  elect,  but  no  Roman  clergyman  could  be  found 
free  of  the  pollution  of  "  simony  and  fornication."  Then  the 
king,  vested  by  the  synod  with  the  green  mantle  of  the  patriciate 
and  the  plenary  authority  of  the  electors,  descended  from  his 
throne,  and  seated  Suidger,  bishop  of  Bamberg,  a  man  of  spot- 
less character,  on  the  vacant  chair  of  St.  Peter  amid  the  loud 
hosannas  of  the  assembly .^     The  new  pope  assumed  the  name  of 

1  See  JaflK,  Steindorff,  and  Hefele  (IV.  711  sq.)- 

»  According  to  the  Annal.  Corb.,  Suidger  wa3  elected  "canoniee  et  synodicc  . .  • 
unanimi  eleri  et  populi  electione." 


302  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Clement  II.,  and  crowned  Henry  emperor  on  the  festival  of 
Christmas,  on  which  Charlemagne  had  been  crowned.  The 
name  was  a  reminder  of  the  conflict  of  the  first  Clement  of  Rome 
with  Simon  Magus.  But  he  outlived  his  election  only  nine 
months,  and  his  body  was  transferred  to  his  beloved  Bamberg^ 
The  wretched  Benedict  IX.  again  took  possession  of  the  Lateran 
(till  July  16,  1048).  He  died  afterwards  in  Grotto  Ferrata, 
according  to  one  report  as  a  penitent  saint,  according  to  another 
as  a  hardened  sinner  whose  ghost  frightened  the  living.  A  third 
German  pontiff,  Poppo,  bishop  of  Brixen,  called  Damasus  II., 
was  elected,  but  died  twenty-three  days  after  his  consecration 
(Aug,  10,  1048),  of  the  Roman  fever,  if  not  of  jioison. 

The  emperor,  at  the  request  of  the  Romans,  appointed  at 
"Worms  in  December,  1048,  Bruno,  bishop  of  Toul,  to  the  papal 
chair.  He  was  a  man  of  noble  birth,  fine  appearance,  consider- 
able learning,  unblemished  character,  and  sincere  piety,  in  full 
sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  reform  which  emanated  from  Cluny. 
He  accepted  the  appointment  in  presence  of  the  Roman  depu- 
ties, subject  to  the  consent  of  the  clergy  and  j)eople  of  Rome.^ 
He  invited  the  monk  Hildebrand  to  accompany  him  in  his  pil- 
grimage to  Rome.  Hildebrand  refused  at  first,  because  Bruno 
had  not  been  canonically  elected,  but  by  the  secular  and  royal 
power ;  but  he  was  persuaded  to  follow  him. 

Bruno  reached  Rome  in  the  month  of  February,  1049,  in 
the  dress  of  a  pilgrim,  barefoot,  weeping,  regardless  of  the 
hymns  of  welcome.  His  election  was  unanimously  confirmed  by 
the  Roman  clergy  and  people,  and  he  was  solemnly  consecrated 
Feb.  12,  as  Leo  IX.  He  found  the  papal  treasury  empty,  and 
liis  own  means  were  soon  exhausted.  He  chose  Hildebrand  as 
his  subdeacon,  financier,  and  confidential  adviser,  who  hereafter 
was  the  soul  of  the  papal  reform,  till  he  himself  ascended  the 
papal  throne  in  1073. 

'  So  says  Wibert,  his  friend  and  biographer,  but  Bonitho  reports  that  Hilde- 
brand induced  liim  to  submit  first  to  a  Roman  election,  since  a  pope  elected 
by  the  emperor  was  not  an  apoatolicus,  but  an  apostaticua.  See  Baxmann,  IL 
215-217.     Ctomp,  also  Hunkler :  Leo  iX  wTid  seine  Zet^     Mainz,  1S51. 


^  66.  HENRY  III.  AND  THE  SYNOD  OF  SUTEI.    303 

We  stand  here  at  the  close  of  the  deepest  degradation  and  on 
the  threshold  of  the  highest  elevation  of  the  papacy.  The  synod 
of  Sutri  and  the  reign  of  Leo  IX.  mark  the  beginning  of  a  dis- 
ciplinary reform.  Simony  or  the  sale  and  purchase  of  ecclesias- 
tical dignities,  and  Nicolaitism  or  the  carnal  sins  of  the  clergy, 
including  marriage,  concubinage  and  unnatural  vices,  were  the 
crying  evils  of  the  church  in  the  eyes  of  the  most  serious  men, 
especially  the  disciples  of  Cluny  and  of  St.  Komuald.  A  refor- 
mation therefore  from  the  hierarchical  standpoint  of  the  middle 
ages  was  essentially  a  suppression  of  these  two  abuses.  And  as 
the  corruption  had  reached  its  climax  in  the  papal  chair,  the 
reformation  had  to  begin  at  the  head  before  it  could  reach  the 
members.  It  was  the  work  chiefly  of  Hildebrand  or  Gregory 
VII- ,  with  whom  the  next  period  opens. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  EASTEKN  AND  WESTERN  CHURCHES 
AND  THEIR  SEPARATION. 

•§67.  Sources  and  Literature, 

The  chief  sources  on  the  beginning  of  tlie  controversy  between  Photiua 
and  Nicolas  are  in  Mansi  :  Cone.  Tom.  XV.  and  XVI. ;  in  Har- 
DUIN :  Co7ic.  Tom.  V.  Hergenrother  :  Monumenta  Grceca  ad 
Photium  ejusque  historiam  pertinentia.     Regensb.  1869. 

I.  On  the  Greek  side  : 

PhotitJS  :  'EynvKlioQ  kn-caro^,  etc.  and  especially  his  Ao'yof  nepl  Tfjq  tuv  dytoB 

YlvEvfiaToq  fivarayuyiac,  etc.      See   Photii  Ojjera  omnia,  ed.  -Migne. 

Paris,  1860-'61,  4  vols.     {Patr.  Gr.  Tom.  CI. -CIV.)     The  Encycl. 

Letter  is  in  Tom.  II.  722-742 ;  and  his  treatise  on  the  uvarayuyia  tov 

ayiov  RvEv/iarng  in  Tom.  II.  279-391. 
Later  champions : 
CiERULARius,  NiCETAS  Pectoratus,  Theophylact  (12th  century). 

EuTHYMius  ZiCxABENUS,  Phurxus,  Eustratius,  and  many  others. 

In  recent  times  Prokopovitch  (1772),  Zoernicav  (1774,  2  vols.). 
J.  G.  PiTZiPios :  L"  Egl-  orienfale,  sa  separation  et  sa  reunion  avec  celle  de 

Rome.      Rome,  1855.     L"  Orient.    Les  r^formes  de  V empire  hyzanthi, 

Paris,  1858. 
A.  N.  ]\IouRAVlEFF  (Russ.)  :   (Question  religieuse  d' Orient  et  d' Occident. 

Moscow,  1856. 
GuETTERE  :  La  papaut6  schismatique.     Par.  1863. 
A.  PiCHLER :   Gesch.  d.  kirchUchen  Trennung  zivischen  dem  Orient  und 

Occident  von  den  ersten  Anfdngen  bis  zur  jilngsten  Gegenwart.     jMiin- 

chen,  1865,  2  Bde.   The  author  was  a  Roman  Catholic  (Privatdocent 

der  Theol.  in  Miinchen)  when  he  wrote  this  work,  but  blamed  the 

West  fully  as  much  as  the  East  for  the  schism,  and  afterwards  joined 

the  Greek  church  in  Russia. 
AndRONICOS  DimITRACOPULOS  :  'loTopia  Toi)  axto/xaToc.    Lips.  1867.     Also 

his  Bi3?iio^^KTf  EKK?iT)(7.     Lips.  1866. 
Theodorus  Lascaris  junior  :  Be  Processione  Spiritus  S.  Oratio  Apo- 

logetiea.     London  and  Jena,  1875. 

II.  On  the  Latin  (Roman  Catholic)  side: 

Ratramnus  ( Contra  Groicorum  Opposita)  ;  Anselm  of  Canterbury 
[De  Proccmone  Spiritus  S.  1098);  Petrus  Chrysolanus  (1112); 
Thomas  Aquinas  (d.  1274),  etc. 

304 


?  67.  SOURCES  AND  LTTEE  VTUEE.  305 

Leo  Allatius  (Allacci,  a  Greek  of  Chios,  but  converted  to  the  Eoman 
Church  and  guardian  of  the  Vatican  library,  d.  1669) :  De  ecdesice 
Occident,  atque  orient,  perpetua  consensione.  Cologne,  1648,  4to. ;  new 
ed.  1665  and  1694.  Also  his  Grwcia  orthodoxa,  1659,  2  vols.,  new 
ed.  by  Lammer,  Freib.  i.  B.  1864  sq. ;  and  his  special  tracts  on  Pur- 
gatory (Eom.  1655),  and  on  the  Procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
(Rom.  1658). 

Maimburg  :  Hist,  du  schisme  des  Grecs.     Paris,  1677,  4to. 

Steph.  de  Altimura  (Mich,  le  Quien) :  Panoplia  contra  schisvia 
Grcecorum.     Par.  1718,  4to. 

Michael  le  Quien  (d.  1733) :  Oriens  Christianus.  Par.  1740,  3 
vols.  fol. 

Abbe  Jager  :  Histoire  de  Photius  d^apr^s  les  monuments  oric/inaux.  2nd 
ed.     Par.  1845. 

LuiGl  TosTi :    Storia    deW  origine  dello  scisma  greco.     Firenze,  1856. 

2  vols. 

H.  Lammer  :  Papst  Nikolaus  I.  und  die  bijzantinische  Staatskirche  seiner 
Zeit.     Berlin,  1857. 

Ad.  d' Avril  :  Documents  relatifs  aux  ^glises  de  V  Orient,  considerde  dans 
leur  rapports  avec  le  saint-si6ge  de  Rome.     Paris,  1862. 

Karl  Werner:  Geschichte  der  apol.  und polemischen  Literatur.  Schaff- 
hausen,  1864,  vol.  IIL  3  ff. 

J.  Hergenrother  (Prof,  of  Church  History  in  Wiirzburg,  now  Cardi- 
nal in  Rome) :  Photius,  Patriarch  von  Constantinopcl.  Scin  Leben, 
seine  Schriften  und  das  griechische  Schisma.     Eegensburg,  1867-1869, 

3  vols. 

C.  Jos.  VON  Hefele  (Bishop  of  Rottenburg) :  Conciliengeschichte.  Frei- 
burg i.  B.,  vols.  IV.,  v.,  VL,  VII.  (revised  ed.  1879  sqq.) 

III.  Protestant  writers : 

J.  G.  Walch  ( Luth. ) :  Historia  controversioe,  Grcecorum  Latinorumque  de 
Processione  Sp.  S.     Jena,  1751. 

Gibbon:  Decline  and  Fall,  etc.,  Ch.  LX.  He  views  the  schism  as  one 
of  the  causes  which  precipitated  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman 
empire  in  the  East  by  alienating  its  most  useful  allies  and  strength- 
ening its  most  dangerous  enemies. 

John  Mason  Neale  (Anglican) :  A  History  of  the  Holy  Eastern  Church. 
Lond.  1850.     Introd.  vol.  II.  1093-1169. 

Edmund  S.  Foulkes  (Anglic.) :  An  Historical  Account  of  the  Addition- 
of  the  word  Filioque  to  the  Creed  of  the  West.     Lond.  1867. 

W.  Gass:  SymboUk  der  griechischen  Kirche.     Berlin,  1872. 

H.  B.  SWETE  (Anglic.)  :  Early  History  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
Cambr.  1873  ;  and  History  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Procession  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  from  the  Apost.  Age  to  the  Death  of  Charlemagne.   Cambr.  1876.. 
20 


306  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

IV.  Old  Catholic  Writers  (irenical) : 

Joseph  Langex  :  Die  Tr'mitarische  Lehrdifferenz  zwisehen  der  ahendldndi- 
schen  und  der  morgenldndlschen  Kirche.     Bonn,  1876. 

The  Proceedings  of  the  second  Old  Catholic  Union-Conference  in  Bonn, 
1875,  ed.  in  German  by  Heinrich  Reusch  ;  English  ed.  with  intro- 
duction by  Canon  Liddon  (Lond.  1876)  ;  Amer.  ed.  transl.  by  Dr. 
Samuel  Buel,  with  introduction  by  Dr.  R.  Nevin  (N.  Y.  1876). 
The  union-theses  of  Bonn  are  given  in  Schaff  :  Creeds  of  Christen- 
dom, vol.  II.,  645-550. 

§  68.  The  Consensus  and  Dlssensus  between  the  Greek  and  Latin 

Churches. 

No  two  churches  in  the  world  are  at  this  day  so  much  alike, 
and  yet  so  averse  to  each  other  as  the  Oriental  or  Greek,  and  the 
Occidental  or  Roman.  They  hold,  as  an  inheritance  from  the 
patristic  age,  essentially  the  same  body  of  doctrine,  the  same 
canons  of  discipline,  the  same  form  of  worship ;  and  yet  their 
.antagonism  seems  irreconcilable.  The  very  affinity  breeds 
jealousy  and  friction.  They  are  equally  exclusive  :  the  Oriental 
Ohurch  claims  exclusive  orthodoxy,  and  looks  upon  Western 
Christendom  as  heretical;  the  Roman  Church  claims  exclusive 
•catholiGity,  and  considers  all  other  churches  as  heretical  or  schis- 
matical  sects.  The  one  is  proud  of  her  creed,  the  other  of  her 
dominion.  In  all  the  points  of  controversy  between  Romanism 
and  Protestantism  the  Greek  Church  is  much  nearer  the  Roman, 
and  yet  there  is  no  more  prospect  of  a  union  between  them  than 
of  a  union  between  Rome  and  Geneva,  or  Moscow  and  Oxford. 
The  Pope  and  the  Czar  are  the  two  most  powerful  rival-despots 
in  Christendom.  Where  the  two  churches  meet  in  closest  prox- 
imity, over  the  traditional  spots  of  the  birth  and  tomb  of  our 
.Saviour,  at  Bctlilehem  and  Jerusalem,  they  hate  each  other  most 
bitterly,  and  their  ignorant  and  bigoted  monks  have  to  be  kept 
from  violent  collision  hy  Mohammedan  soldiers. 

I.  Let  us  first  briefly  glance  at  the  consensus. 
Both  churches  own  the  Nicenc  creed  (with  the  exception  of 
'the  FiUoqae),  and  all  the  doctrinal  decrees  of  the  seven  cecu- 


§  68.  THE  CONSENSUS  AND  DISSENSUS,  ETC.  307 

menical  Synods  from  A.  D.  325  to  78T,  including  the  worship 
of  images. 

They  agree  moreover  in  most  of  the  post-CECumenical  or 
mediseval  doctrines  against  which  the  evangelical  Reformation 
protested,  namely :  the  authority  of  ecclesiastical  tradition  as  a 
joint  rule  of  faith  with  the  holy  Scriptures ;  the  worship  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  of  the  saints,  their  pictures  (not  statues),  and 
relics;  justification  by  faith  and  good  works,  as  joint  conditions; 
the  merit  of  good  works,  especially  voluntary  celibacy  and 
poverty ;  the  seven  sacraments  or  mysteries  (with  minor  differ- 
ences as  to  confirmation,  and  extreme  unction  or  chrfsma) ;  bap- 
tismal regeneration  and  the  necessity  of  water-baptism  for  salva- 
tion; trausubstantiation  and  the  consequent  adoration  of  the 
sacramental  elements ;  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  for  the  living  and 
the  dead,  with  prayers  for  the  dead;  priestly  absolution  by 
divine  authority  ;  three  orders  of  the  ministry,  and  the  necessity 
of  an  episcopal  hierarchy  up  to  the  patriarchal  dignity ;  and  a 
vast  number  of  religious  rites  and  ceremonies. 

In  the  doctrine  of  purgatory,  the  Greek  Church  is  less 
explicit,  yet  agrees  with  the  Roman  in  assuming  a  middle  state 
of  purification,  and  the  efficacy  of  prayers  and  masses  for  the 
departed.  The  dogma  of  transubstautiatiou,  too,  is  not  so  clearly 
formulated  in  the  Greek  creed  as  in  the  Roman,  but  the  differ- 
ence is  very  small.  As  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  Greek 
Church  has  never  prohibited  the  popular  use,  and  the  Russian 
Church  even  favors  the  free  circulation  of  her  authorized  ver- 
nacular version.  But  the  traditions  of  the  Greek  Church  are 
as  strong  a  barrier  against  the  exercise  of  private  judgment  and 
exegetical  progress  as  those  of  Rome. 

II.  The  dissensus  of  the  two  churches  covers  the  following 
points : 

1.  The  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit :  the  East  teaching  the 
single  procession  from  the  Father  only,  the  AVest  (since 
Augustin),  the  double  procession  from  the  Father  and  tJie 
Son  [Filioque), 


308  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

2.  The  universal  authority  and  infallibility  of  the  pope, 
which  is  asserted  by  the  Roman,  denied  by  the  Greek  Church. 
TJie  former  is  a  papal  monarchy,  the  latter  a  patriarchal 
oligarchy.  There  are,  according  to  the  Greek  theory,  five 
patriarchs  of  equal  rights,  the  pope  of  Rome,  the  pati'iarchs 
of  Constantinople,  Alexandria,  Antioch,  and  Jerusalem.  They 
were  sometimes  compared  to  the  five  senses  in  the  body.  To 
them  was  afterwards  added  the  patriarch  of  Moscow  for  the 
Russian  church  (which  is  now  governed  by  the  "  Holy 
Synod ").  To  the  bishop  of  Rome  was  formerly  conceded  a 
primacy  of  honor,  but  this  primacy  passed  with  the  seat  of 
empire  to  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  who  therefore  signed 
himself  "Archbishop  of  New  Rome  and  QixjumeuicaL Patri- 
arch."^ 

3.  The  immaculate  conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  pro- 
claimed as  a  dogma  by  the  pope  in  1854,  disowned  by  the  East, 
which,  however,  in  the  practice  of  Mariolatry  fully  equals  the 
West. 

4.  The  marriage  of  the  lower  clergy,  allowed  by  the  Eastern, 
forbidden  by  the  Roman  Church  (yet  conceded  by  the  pope  to 
the  United  Greeks). 

5.  The  withdrawal  of  the  cup  from  the  laity.  In  tlie  Greek 
Church  the  laymen  receive  the  consecrated  bread  dipped  in  the 
wine  and  administered  with  a  golden  spoon. 

6.  A  number  of  minor  ceremonies  peculiar  to  the  Eastern 
Church,  such  as  trine  immersion  in  baptism,  the  use  of  leavened 
bread  in  the  eucharist,  infant-communion,  the  repetition  of  the 
holy  unction  {zb  eo/ihov)  in  sickness. 

Notwithstanding  these  differences  the  Roman  Church  has 
always  been  obliged  to  recognize  the  Greek  Church  as  essentially 
orthodox,  though  schismatic.  And,  certainly,  the  diflTcrcnces 
are  insignificant  as  compared  with  the  agreement.  The  sep- 
aration and  antagonism  must  therefore  be  explained  fully  as 
much  and  more  from  an  alienation  of  spirit  and  change  of 

condition. 

*  See  the  passages  in  Gieseler  II.  227  sq. 


§  69.  THE  CAUSES  OF  SEPAEATION.  309 


NOTE  ON  THE  EASTERN  ORTHODOX  CHURCH. 

For  the  sake  of  brevity  the  usual  terminology  is  employed  in  this 
chapter,  but  the  proper  name  of  the  Greek  Church  is  the  Holy 
Oriental  Orthodox  Apostolic  Church.  The  terms  mostly  in  use 
in  that  church  are  Orthodox  and  Oriental  (Eastern).  The  term  Greek  is 
used  in  Turkey  only  of  the  Greeks  proper  (the  Hellens) ;  but  the  great 
majority  of  Oriental  Christians  in  Turkey  and  Russia  belong  to  the 
Slavonic  race.  The  Greek  is  the  original  and  classical  language  of  the 
Oriental  Church,  in  which  the  most  important  works  are  written  ;  but  it 
has  been  practically  superseded  in  Asiatic  Turkey  by  the  Arabic,  in 
Russia  and  European  Turkey  by  the  Slavonic. 

The  Oriental  or  Orthodox  Church  now  embraces  three  .distinct  divi- 
sions : 

1.  The  Orthodox  Church  in  Turkey  (European  Turkey  and  the  Greek 
islands,  Asia  Minor,  Syria  and  Palestine)  under  the  patriarchs  of  Con- 
stantinople, Alexandria,  Antioch,  and  Jerusalem. 

2.  The  state  church  of  Russia,  formerly  under  the  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, then  under  the  patriarch  of  Moscow,  since  1725  under  the 
Holy  Synod  of  St.  Petersburg  and  the  headship  of  the  Czar.  This  is  by 
far  the  largest  and  most  important  branch. 

3.  The  church  of  the  kingdom  of  Greece  under  the  Holy  Synod  of 
Greece  (since  1833). 

There  are  also  Greek  Christians  in  Egypt,  the  Sinaitic  Peninsula  (the 
monks  of  the  Convent  of  St.  Catharine),  the  islands  of  the  ^gean  Sea,  in 
Malta,  Servia,  Austria,  etc. 

Distinct  from  the  Orthodox  Church  are  the  Oriental  Schismatics,  the 
Nestorians,  Armenians,  Jacobites,  Copts,  and  Abyssinians,  who  separated 
from  the  former  on  the  ground  of  the  christological  controversies.  The 
Maronites  of  Mount  Lebanon  were  originally  also  schismatics,  but  sub- 
mitted to  the  pope  during  the  Crusades. 

The  United  Greeks  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  the  pope,  but  retain 
certain  peculiarities  of  the  Oriental  Church,  as  the  marriage  of  the  lower 
clergy,  the  native  language  in  worship.  They  are  found  in  lower  Italy, 
Austria,  Russia,  and  Poland. 

The  Bulgarians,  who  likewise  call  themselves  orthodox,  and  who  by  the 
treaty  of  Berlin  in  1878  have  been  formed  into  a  distinct  principality, 
occupy  an  independent  position  between  the  Greek  and  the  Roman 
Churches. 

§  69.   The  Causes  of  Separation. 

Church  history,  like  the  world's  history,  moves  with  the  suu 
from  East  to  West.  In  the  first  six  centuries  the  Eastern  or 
Greek  church  represented  the  main  current  of  life  and  progress. 


310  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

In  the  middle  ages  the  Latin  chui'ch  chiefly  assumed  the  task  of 
christianiziug  and  civilizing  the  new  races  which  came  upon  the 
stage.  The  Greek  church  has  had  no  Middle  Ages  in  the  usual 
sense,  and  therefore  no  Reformation.  She  planted  Christianity 
among  the  Slavonic  races,  but  they  were  isolated  from  the 
progress  of  European  history,  and  have  not  materially  affected 
either  the  doctrine  or  polity  or  oultus  of  the  church.  Their 
conversion  was  an  external  expansion,  not  an  internal  develop- 
ment. 

The  Greek  and  Latin  churches  were  never  organically  united 
under  one  government,  but  differed  considerably  from  the  begin- 
ning in  nationality,  language,  and  various  ceremonies.  These 
difl'ereuces,  however,  did  not  interfere  with  the  general  harmony 
of  faith  and  Christian  life,  nor  prevent  cooperation  against  com- 
mon foes.  As  long  and  as  far  as  the  genuine  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity directed  them,  the  diversity  was  an  element  of  strength  to 
the  common  cause. 

The  principal  sees  of  the  East  were  directly  founded  by  the 
apostles — with  the  exception  of  Constantinople — and  had  even  a 
clearer  title  to  apostolic  succession  and  inheritance  than  Rome. 
The  Greek  church  took  the  lead  in  theology  down  to  the  sixth 
or  seventh  century,  and  the  Latin  gratefully  learned  from  her. 
All  the  oecumenical  Councils  were  held  on  the  soil  of  the  Byzan- 
tine empire  in  or  near  Constantinople,  and  carried  on  in  the 
Greek  language.  The  great  doctrinal  controversies  on  the  holy 
Trinity  and  Christology  were  fought  out  in  the  East,  yet  not 
without  the  powerful  aid  of  the  more  steady  and  practical  West. 
Athanasius,  when  an  exile  from  Alexandria,  found  refuge  and 
support  in  the  bishop  of  Rome.  Jerome,  the  most  learned  of 
the  Latin  fathers  and  a  friend  of  Pope  Damasus,  was  a  connect- 
ing link  between  the  East  and  the  West,  and  concluded  his 
labors  in  Bethlehem.  Pope  Leo  I.  was  the  theological  master- 
spirit who  controlled  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  and  shajjed  the 
orthodox  formula  concerning  the  two  natures  in  the  one  person 
of  Christ.     Yet  this  very  pope  strongly  protested  against  the 


2  69.  THE  CAUSES  OF  SEPAEATION.  311 

action  of  the  Council  which,  in  conformity  with  a  canon  of  the 
second  oecumenical  Council,  put  him  on  a  par  with  the  new 
bishop  of  Constantinople. 

And  here  we  approach  the  secret  of  the  ultimate  separation 
and  incurable  antagonism  of  the  churches.  It  is  due  chiefly  to 
three  causes.  The  first  cause  is  the  politico-ecclesiastical  rivalry 
of  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople  backed  by  the  Byzantine  em- 
pire, and  the  bishop  of  Rome  in  connection  with  the  new  Ger- 
man empire.  The  second  cause  is  the  growing  centralization 
and  overbearing  conduct  of  the  Latin  church  in  and  through  the 
papacy.  The  third  cause  is  the  stationary  character  of  the  Greek 
and  the  progressive  character  of  the  Latin  church  during  the 
middle  ages.  The  Greek  church  boasts  of  the  imaginary  per- 
fection of  her  creed.  She  still  produced  considerable  scholars 
and  divines,  as  Maximus,  John  of  Damascus,  Photius,  CEcu- 
menius,  and  Theophylact,  but  they  mostly  confined  themselves 
to  the  work  of  epitomizing  and  systematizing  the  traditional 
theology  of  the  Greek  fathers,  and  produced  no  new  ideas,  as  if 
all  wisdom  began  and  ended  with  the  old  oecumenical  Councils. 
She  took  no  interest  in  the  important  anthropological  and  soteri- 
ological  controversies  which  agitated  the  Latin  church  in  the  age 
of  St.  Augustin,  and  she  continued  to  occuj)y  the  indefinite  posi- 
tion of  the  first  centuries  on  the  doctrines  of  sin  and  grace.  On 
the  other  hand  she  was  much  distracted  and  weakened  by  barren 
metaphysical  controversies  on  the  abstrusest  questions  of  theology 
and  christology ;  and  these  quarrels  facilitated  the  rapid  progress 
of  Isldm,  which  conquered  the  lands  of  the  Bible  and  pressed  hard 
on  Constantinople.  When  the  Greek  church  became  stationary, 
the  Latin  church  began  to  develop  her  greatest  energy;  she  be- 
came the  fruitful  mother  of  new  and  vigorous  nations  of  the 
North  and  West  of  Europe,  produced  scholastic  and  mystic  theo- 
logy and  a  new  order  of  civilization,  built  magnificent  cathedrals, 
discovered  a  new  Continent,  invented  the  art  of  printing,  and 
with  the  revival  of  learning  prepared  the  way  for  a  new  era  in 
the  history  of  the  world.     Thus  the  Latin  daughter  outgrew  the 


312  •       FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1041. 

Greek  mother,  and  is  numerically  twice  as  strong,  without  coimt- 
ing  the  Protestant  secession.  At  the  same  time  the  Eastern 
church  still  may  look  forward  to  a  new  future  among  the 
Slavonic  races  which  she  has  christianized.  \Yhat  she  needs  is 
a  revival  of  the  spirit  and  power  of  primitive  Christianity. 

When  once  the  two  churches  were  alienated  in  spirit  and  en- 
gaged in  an  unchristian  race  for  supremacy,  all  the  little  doctri- 
nal and  ritualistic  differences  which  had  existed  long  before, 
assumed  an  undue  weight,  and  were  branded  as  heresies  and 
crimes.  The  bishop  of  Rome  sees  in  the  Patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinople an  ecclesiastical  upstart  who  owed  his  power  to  political 
influence,  not  to  apostolic  origin.  The  Eastern  jjatriarclis  look 
upon  the  Pope  as  an  anti-christian  usurper  and  as  the  first  Pro- 
testant. They  stigmatize  the  papal  supremacy  as  "  the  chief 
heresy  of  the  latter  days,  which  flourishes  now  as  its  predecessor, 
Arianism,  flourished  in  former  days,  and  which  like  it,  will  in 
like  manner  be  cast  down  and  vanish  away."  * 

§  70.   The  Patriarch  and  the  Pope.     Photius  and  Nicolas. 

Comp.  I  61  (p.  273),  the  Lit.  in  ?  67  (p.  304).  especially  the  letters  of 
Photius  and  Nicolas. 

Heegexeother  :  Photius  (Regensb.  1867-69,  vol.  I.  373  sqq. ;  505  sqq.  ; 
and  the  second  vol.),  and  his  Monuraenta  Grceca  ad  Photium  cj'us- 
que  historiam  pertinentia  (Ratisb.  1869,  181  pages).  Milman: 
Hist,  of  Latin  Christianity,  Bk.V.  Ch.  IV.  Hefele  IV.  224  sqq.; 
384  sqq. ;  436  sqq.  The  chief  documents  are  also  given  by  Gieselee, 
II.  213  sqq.  (Am.  ed.) 

The  doctrinal  difference  on  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
will  be  considered  in  the  chapter  on  the  Theological  Con- 
troversies. Although  it  existed  before  the  schism,  it  assumed 
a  practical  importance  only  in  connection  with  the  broader 
ecclesiastical  and  political  conflict  between  the  patriarch  and 
the  pope,  between  Constantinople  and  Rome. 

The  first  serious  outbreak  of  this  conflict  took  place  after  the 
middle  of  the  ninth  century,  when  Photius  and  Nicolas,  two 

»  Encycl.  Epistle  of  the  Eastern  Patriarchs,  1844,  I  5. 


§  70.  THE  PATKIARCH  AND  THE  POPE.  313 

of  the  ablest  representatives  of  the  rival  churches,  came  into 
collision.  Photius  is  one  of  the  greatest  of  patriarchs,  as 
Nicolas  is  one  of  the  greatest  of  popes.  The  former  was  super- 
ior in  learning,  the  latter  in  statesmanship ;  while  in  moral  inte- 
grity, official  pride  and  obstinacy  both  were  fairly  matched,  except 
that  the  papal  ambition  towered  above  the  patriarchal  dignity. 
Photius  would  tolerate  no  superior,  Nicolas  no  equal ;  the  one 
stood  on  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  the  other  on  Pseudo-Isidor. 

The  contest  between  them  was  at  first  personal.  The  deposi- 
tion of  Ignatius  as  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  for  rebuking 
the  immorality  of  Csesar  Bardas,  and  the  election  of  Photius, 
then  a  mere  layman,  in  his  place  (858),  were  arbitrary  and 
uncanonical  acts  which  created  a  temporary  schism  in  the  East, 
and  prepared  the  way  for  a  permanent  schism  between  the  East 
and  the  West.  Nicolas,  being  appealed  to  as  mediator  by  both 
parties  (first  by  Photius),  assumed  the  haughty  air  of  supreme 
judge  on  the  basis  of  the  Pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals,  but 
was  at  first  deceived  by  his  own  legates.  The  controversy  was 
complicated  by  the  Bulgarian  quarrel.  King  Bogoris  had  been 
converted  to  Christianity  by  missionaries  from  Constantinople 
(861),  but  soon  after  applied  to  Rome  for  teachers,  and  the  pope 
eagerly  seized  this  opportunity  to  extend  his  jurisdiction  (866). 

Nicolas,  in  a  Roman  Synod  (863),  decided  in  favor  of  the 
innocent  Ignatius,  and  pronounced  sentence  of  deposition  against 
Photius  with  a  threat  of  excommunication  in  case  of  disobe- 
dience.^    Photius,  enraged  by  this  conduct  and  the  Bulgarian 

^  The  Synod,  claiming  to  be  the  infallible  organ  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  com- 
pared Photius  with  a  robber  and  adulterer  for  obtruding  himself  into  the  see  of 
Constantinople  during  the  lifetime  of  Ignatin?,  deprived  him  of  all  priestly 
honors  and  functions  "  by  authority  of  Almiglity  God,  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul, 
the  princes  of  the  apostles,  of  all  saints,  of  the  six  [why  not  seven  ?]  cecumeni- 
cal  councils,  as  also  by  tlie  judgment  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  threatened  him 
and  all  his  adherents  with  the  anathema  and  excommunication  from  the 
eucharist  till  the  moment  of  death,  "tliat  no  one  may  dare  hereafter  from  the 
state  of  the  laity  to  break  into  the  camp  of  the  Lord,  as  has  often  been  the 
case  in  the  church  of  Constantinople."  See  on  this  Synod  Hergenrother,  Phot. 
I.  519  sqq.,  and  Hefele  IV.  269  sqq. 


314  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

interference,  held  a  counter-synod,  and  deposed  in  turn  the 
successor  of  St.  Peter  (867).  In  his  famous  Encyclical  Letter 
of  invitation  to  the  Eastern  patriarchs,  he  charged  the  whole 
Western  church  with  heresy  and  schism  for  interfering  with 
the  jurisdiction  over  the  Bulgarians,  for  fasting  on  Saturday, 
for  abridging  the  time  of  Lent  by  a  week,  for  taking  milk- 
food  (milk,  cheese,  and  butter)  during  the  quadragesimal  fast, 
for  enforcing  clerical  celibacy,  and  despising  priests  who  lived 
in  virtuous  matrimony,  and,  most  of  all,  for  corrupting  the 
Nicene  Creed  by  the  msertion  of  the  Filioque,  and  thereby 
introducing  two  principles  into  the  Holy  Trinity.^ 

This  letter  clearly  indicates  all  the  doctrinal  and  ritual 
differences  which  caused  and  perpetuated  the  schism  to  tliis  day. 
The  subsequent  history  is  only  a  renewal  of  the  same  charges 
aggravated  by  the  misfortunes  of  the  Greek  church,  and  the 
arrofmnce  and  intolerance  of  old  Rome. 

Photius  fell  with  the  murder  of  his  imperial  patron,  INIichael 
III.  (Sept.  23,  867).  He  was  imprisoned  in  a  convent,  and 
deprived  of  society,  even  of  books.  He  bore  his  misfortune 
with  great  dignity,  and  nearly  all  the  Greek  bishops  remained 
faithful  to  him.  Ignatius  was  restored  after  ten  years  of  exile 
by  the  emperor  Basil,  the  Macedonian  (867-886),  and  entered 
into  communication  with  Pope  Hadrian  II.  (Dec.  867).  He 
convened  a  general  council  in  the  church  of  St.  Sophia  (October, 
869),  which  is  numbered  by  the  Latins  as  the  Eighth  Oecumeni- 
cal Council.  The  pontifical  legates  presided  and  presented  a 
formula  of  union  which  every  bishop  was  required  to  sign 
before  taking  part  in  the  proceedings,  and  which  contained  an 
anathema  against  all  heresies,  and  against  Photius  and  his 
adherents.  But  the  council  was  poorly  attended  (the  number 
of  bishops  being  at  first  only  eighteen).  Photius  was  forced  to 
appear  in  the  fifth  session  (Oct.  20),  but  on  being  questioned 

1  See  the  Enrydica  ad  Ptitriarchas  Orienlahf:  in  the  original  Greek  in  Photius, 
Opera  II.  722-742  (ed.  Migne),  also  in  Gieseler  II.  216  sq.  Baronius  (ad 
ann.  803  no.  34  sq.)  gives  it  in  Latin. 


I  70.  THE  PATKIAKCH  AND  THE  POPE.  315 

he  either  kept  silence,  or  answered  in  the  words  of  Christ  before 
Caiaphas  and  Pilate.  In  the  tenth  and  last  session,  attended  by 
the  emperor  and  his  sous,  and  one  hundred  and  two  bishops, 
the  decrees  of  the  pope  against  Photius  and  in  favor  of  Ignatius 
were  confirmed,  and  the  anathemas  against  the  Monothelites  and 
Iconoclasts  renewed.  The  papal  delegates  signed  "  with  reser- 
vation of  the  revision  of  the  pope." 

But  the  peace  was  artificial,  and  broken  up  again  immediately 
after  the  Synod  by  the  Bulgarian  question,  which  involved  the 
political  as  well  as  the  ecclesiastical  power  of  Constantinople. 
Ignatius  himself  was  unwilling  to  surrender  that  point,  and 
refused  to  obey  when  the  imperious  Pope  John  VIII.  com- 
manded, on  pain  of  suspension  and  excommunication,  that 
he  should  recall  all  the  Greek  bishops  and  priests  from  Bul- 
garia. But  death  freed  him  from  fmther  controversy  (Oct.  23, 
877). 

Photius  was  restored  to  the  patriarchal  see  three  days  after 
the  death  of  Ignatius,  with  whom  he  had  been  reconciled.  He 
convened  a  council  in  November,  879,  which  lasted  till  March, 
880,  and  is  acknowledged  by  the  Orientals  as  the  Eighth 
Oecumenical  Council,^  but  denounced  by  the  Latins  as  the 
Pseudo-Sy nodus  Photiana.  It  was  three  times  as  large  as  the 
Council  of  Ignatius,  and  held  with  great  pomp  in  St.  Sophia 
under  the  presidency  of  Photius.  It  annulled  the  Council  of 
869  as  a  fraud  ;  it  readopted  the  Nicene  Creed  with  an  anathema 
against  the  Filioque,  and  all  other  changes  by  addition  or 
omission,  and  it  closed  with  a  eulogy  on  the  unrivalled  virtues 
and  learning  of  Photius.  To  the  Greek  acts  was  afterwards 
added  a  (pretended)  letter  of  Pope  John  VIII.  to  Photius, 
declaring  the  Filioque  to  be  an  addition  which  is  rejected  by 
the  church  of  Rome,  and  a  blasphemy  which  must  be  abolished 
calmly  and  by  degrees.^     The  papal  legates  assented  to  all,  and 

^  Strictly  speaking,  however,   the  Orthodox   Eastern  Church   counts   only 
seven  (Ecumenical  Councils. 

*  The  Koman  Catholic  historians  regard  this  letter  as  a  Greek  fraud.    '^  Ich 


316  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

60  deceived  their  master  by  false  accounts  of  the  surrender  of 
Bulgaria  that  he  thanked  the  emperor  for  the  service  he  had 
done  to  the  Church  by  this  synod. 

But  when  the  pope's  eyes  Avere  opened,  he  sent  the  bishop 
Marinus  to  Constantinople  to  declare  invalid  what  the  legates 
had  done  contrary  to  his  instructions.  For  this  Marinus  was 
shut  up  in  prison  for  thirty  days.  After  his  return  Pope  John 
VIII.  solemnly  pronounced  the  anathema  on  Photius,  who  had 
dared  to  deceive  and  degrade  the  holy  see,  and  had  added  new 
frauds  to  the  old.  INIarinus  renewed  the  anathema  after  he  was 
elected  pope  (882).  Photius  denied  the  validity  of  his  election, 
and  developed  an  extraordinary  literary  activity. 

But  after  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Basilius  (886),  he  was 
again  deposed  by  Leo  VI.,  miscalled  the  Wise  or  the  Philoso- 
pher, to  make  room  for  his  youngest  brother  Stephen,  at  that 
time  only  sixteen  years  of  age.  Photius  spent  the  last  five 
years  of  his  life  in  a  cloister,  and  died  891.  For  learning, 
energy,  position,  and  influence,  he  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
men  in  the  history  of  Eastern  Christianity.  He  formulated  the 
doctrinal  basis  of  the  schism,  checked  the  papal  despotism,  and 
secured  the  independence  of  the  Greek  church.  He  announced 
in  an  Encyclical  of  866  :  "  God  be  praised  for  all  time  to  come ! 
The  Rassians  have  received  a  bishop,  and  show  a  lively  zeal 
for  Christian  worship."  Roman  waiters  have  declared  this  to 
be  a  lie,  but  history  has  proved  it  to  be  an  anticipation  of  an 
important  fact,  the  conversion  of  a  new  nation  which  was  to 
become  the  chief  support  of  the  Eastern  church,  and  the  most 
formidable  rival  of  the  papacy. 

Greek  and  Roman  historians  are  apt  to  trace  the  guilt  of  the 
schism  exclusively  to  one  party,  and  to  charge  the  other  with 
unholy  ambition  and  intrigue  ;  but  we  must  acknowledge  on 


kann  nicht  (jlaubm"  says  Hefele  (IV.  482),  "dassje  ein  Papst  seine  SteUunq  so 
sehr  vergessen  habe,  wie  es  Johann  VIII.  gethan  haben  miinste,  wenn  diesrr  Brief 
dcht  wiire.  Es  ist  in  cienifielben  auch  keine  Spur  des  Papcdbewusstseiiis,  vielmehr 
ist  die  Superior  itdt  des  Photius  fast  avsdriicklich  anerkannt." 


§71.  PROGRESS  AND  COMPLETION  OF  THE  SCHISM.  317 

the  one  hand  the  righteous  zeal  of  Nicolas  for  the  cause  of  the 
injured  Ignatius,  and  on  the  other  the  many  virtues  of  Photius 
tried  in  misfortune,  as  well  as  his  brilliant  learning  in  theology, 
l)hilology,  philosophy,  and  history  ;  while  we  deplore  and  de- 
nounce the  schism  as  a  sin  and  disgrace  of  both  churches. 

NOTES. 

The  accounts  of  the  Roman  Catholic  historians,  even  the  best,  are 
colored  by  sectarianism,  and  must  be  accepted  with  caution.  Cardinal 
Hergenrother  {Kirchengesch.  I.  684)  calls  the  Council  of  879  a  ''  Pho- 
tianische  Pseudo-Synode,'"  and  its  acts  "  ein  dcht  byzantinisches  Machicerk 
ganz  vorn  Geiste  des  verschmitzten  Photius  durchdrungen.'"  Bishpp  Hefele, 
in  the  revised  edition  of  his  ConciUengesch.  (IV.  464  sqq.),  treats  this 
Aftersynode,  as  he  calls  it,  no  better.  Both  follow  in  the  track  of  their 
old  teacher,  Dr.  DoUinger  who,  in  his  History  of  the  Church  (translated 
by  Dr.  Edward  Cox,  London  1841,  voL  III.  p.  100),  more  than  forty 
years  ago,  described  this  Synod  "  in  all  its  parts  as  a  worthy  sister  of  the 
Council  of  Robbers  of  the  year  449;  with  this  difference,  that  in  the 
earlier  Synod  violence  and  tyranny,  in  the  later  artifice,  fraud,  and  fiilse- 
hood  were  employed  by  wicked  men  to  work  out  their  wicked  designs." 
But  when  in  1870  the  Vatican  Council  sanctioned  the  historical  false- 
hood of  papal  infallibility,  Dollinger,  once  the  ablest  advocate  of  Ro- 
manism in  Germany,  protested  against  Rome  and  was  excommunicated. 
Whatever  the  Latins  may  say  against  the  Synod  of  Photius,  the  Latin 
Synod  of  869  was  not  a  whit  better,  and  Rome  understood  the  arts  of 
intrigue  fully  as  well  as  Constantinople.  The  whole  controversy  be- 
tween the  Greek  and  the  Roman  churches  is  one  of  the  most  humiliating 
chapters  in  the  history  of  Christianity,  and  both  must  humbly  confess 
their  share  of  sin  and  guilt  before  a  reconciliation  can  take  place. 

§  71.  Progress  and  Completion  of  the  Schism.     Cerulariiis. 

Heegenrother  :  Photius,  vol.  III.  653-887 ;  comp.  his  Kirchengesch. 
vol.  I.  688  sq. ;  690-694.  Hefele  :  ConciUengesch.  IV.  587 ;  765 
sqq. ;  771,  775  sqq.     Gieseler  :  II.  221  sqq. 

We  shall  briefly  sketch  the  progress  and  consolidation  of  the 

schism. 

The  Difference  about  Tctragamy. 

The  fourth  marriage  of  the  emperor  Leo  the  Philosopher 

(886-912),  which  was  forbidden  by  the  laws  of  the  Greek 

church,  caused  a  great  schism  in  the  East  (905).^    The  Patriarch 

^  Leo  himself  had  forbidden  not  only  tetragamy,  but  even  trigamy.  His 
four  wives  were  Theophano,  Zoe  (his  former  mistress),  Eudokia,  and  Zoe 


318  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Nicqlas  Mysticus  solemnly  protested  and  was  deposed  (906),  but 
Pope  Sergius  III.  (904-911),  instead  of  siding  with  suffering 
virtue  as  Pope  Nicolas  had  done,  sanctioned  the  fourth  mar- 
riage (which  Avas  not  forbidden  in  the  West)  and  the  deposition 
of  the  conscientious  patriarch. 

Leo  on  his  death-bed  restored  the  deposed  patriarch  (912). 
A  Synod  of  Constantinople  in  920,  at  which  Pope  John  X.  was 
represented,  declared  a  fourth  marriage  illegal,  and  made  no 
concessions  to  Rome.  The  Emperor  Constantine,  Leo's  son, 
prohibited  a  fourth  marriage  by  an  edict;  thereby  casting  a 
tacit  imputation  on  his  own  birth.  The  Greek  church  regards 
marriage  as  a  sacrament,  and  a  necessary  means  for  the  propa- 
gation of  the  race,  but  a  second  marriage  is  prohibited^  to  the 
clergy,  a  third  marriage  is  tolerated  in  laymen  as  a  sort  of  legal 
concubinage,  and  a  fourth  is  condemned  as  a  sin  and  a  scandal. 
The  pope  acquiesced,  and  the  schism  slumbered  during  the  dark 
tenth  century.  The  venal  Pope  John  XIX.  (1024)  was  ready 
for  an  enormous  sum  to  renounce  all  the  claim  of  superiority 
over  the  Eastern  patriarchs,  but  was  forced  to  break  off  the 
negotiations  when  his  treasonable  plan  wvls  discovered. 

Cei^larius  and  Leo  IX. 

Michael  Cerularius  (or  Coerularius),^  who  was  patriarch  from 
1043  to  1059,  renewed  and  completed  the  schism.  Heretofore 
the  mutual  anathemas  were  hurled  only  against  the  contending 
heads  and  their  party ;  now  the  churches  excommunicated  each 
other.  The  Emperor  Constantinus  INIonachus  courted  the 
friendship  of  the  pope  for  political  reasons,  but  his  patriarch 
checkmated  him.  Cerularius,  in  connection  with  the  learned 
Bulgarian  metropolitan  Leo  of  Achrida,  addressed  in  1053  a 
letter  to  John,  bishop  of  Trani,  in  Apulia  (then  subject  to  the 
Eastern  rule),  and  through  him  to  all  the  bishops  of  France 

Karl)onopsvne,  who  in  905  bore  him  a  son,  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus  (or 
Por|iIiyron;ennetos,  d.  959).     See  Hergenrcither,  Phot.  III.  656  sq. 

*  Kr;pnv?nf)iog^  probably  from  the  Latin  cerula  {Krjpio'Xoq),  ceriolarium,  a  cande- 
labrum for  wax-tapera. 


§71.  PROGRESS  AND  COMPLETION  OF  THE  SCHISM.  319 

and  to  the  pope  himself,  charging  the  churches  of  the  West 
that,  following  the  practice  of  the  Jews,  and  contrary  to  the 
usage  of  Christ,  they  employ  in  the  eucharist  unleavened 
bread ;  that  they  fast  on  Saturday  in  Lent ;  that  tliey  eat 
blood  and  things  strangled  in  violation  of  the  decree  of  the 
Council  of  Jerusalem  (Acts,  ch.  15);  and  that  during  the  fast 
they  do  not  sing  the  hallelujah.  He  invented  the  new  name 
Azymites  for  the  heresy  of  using  unleavened  bread  (azyma) 
instead  of  common  bread.^  Nothing  was  said  about  the  pro- 
cession of  the  Spirit.  This  letter  is  only  extant  in  the  Latin 
translation  of  Cardinal  Humbert.^ 

Pope  Leo  IX.  sent  three  legates  under  the  lead  of  the  im- 
perious Humbert  to  Constantinople,  with  counter-charges  to  the 
effect  that  Cerularius  arrogated  to  himself  the  title  of  "  oecu- 
menical "  patriarch ;  that  he  wished  to  subject  the  patriarchs 
of  Alexandria  and  of  Antioch ;  that  the  Greeks  rebaptized  the 
Latins;  that,  like  the  Mcolaitans,  they  permitted  their  priests 
to  live  in  wedlock ;  ^  that  they  neglected  to  baptize  their  chil- 
dren before  the  eighth  day  after  birth  ;  that,  like  the  Pneuma- 
tomachi  or  Theomachi,  they  cut  out  of  the  symbol  the  Proces- 

1  Azyma  is  from  a^vfioc,  unleavened  {^vfiv,  leaven)  ;  hence  y  kopTfj  ruv  aC,vfiuv 
{apT(ji'),  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread  (the  passover),  during  which  the  Jews  were 
to  eat  unleavened  bread.  The  Greeks  insist  that  our  Lord  in  instituting  the 
eucliarist  after  the  passover-meal  used  true,  nourishing  bread  [aprog  from  nlpu), 
as  the  sign  of  the  new  dispensation  of  joy  and  gladness ;  while  the  lifeless,  un- 
leavened bread  (at^v/uov)  belongs  to  the  Jewish  dispensation.  The  Latins 
argued  that  aproQ  means  unleavened  as  well  as  leavened  bread,  and  that  Christ 
during  the  feast  of  the  passover  could  not  get  any  other  but  unleavened  bread. 
They  called  the  Greeks  in  turn  Fermentarei  in  opposition  to  Azymitce.  See  Nice- 
tas  Stethatus  (a  cotemporary  of  Cerularius) :  De  Fermentato  et  Azymis,  publ. 
in  Greek  by  Dimitracopulos,  Lips.  1866  (B;/37,wi?.  ekkX.  I.  18-36),  and  in  Greek 
and  Latin  by  Hergenrother,  in  Monumenta  Grceca,  etc.,  p.  139-154.  Comp. 
also  the  Dissertation  concerning  Azymes  in  Neale's  Eastern  Church,  Introd.  II. 
1051  sqq. ;  J.  G.  Hermann,  Hist,  concertationis  de  pane  ozymo  et  fermentato  in 
cosna  Domini,  Lips.  1737 ;  and  Hergenrother,  Photius  III.  739  sqq. 

2  Baronius  Annal.  ad  ann.  1053  no.  22;  and  Gieseler  II.  222  sq. 

^  "  Sicut  Nicolaitce  carnales  nuptias  concedunt  et  defendunt  sacri  altaris  minis- 
tris."  On  tlie  other  hand,  Photius  and  the  Greeks  traced  to  the  clerical  celibacy 
the  fact  that  the  West  had  "  so  many  children  who  knew  not  their  fathers.'' 


320  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

sion  of  the  Spirit  from  the  Son.^  The  legates  were  lodged  in 
the  imperial  palace,  but  Cerularius  avoided  all  intercourse  with 
them.  Finally,  on  the  16th  of  July,  1054,  they  excommuni- 
cated the  patriarch  and  all  those  who  should  persistently  censure 
the  faith  of  the  church  of  Rome  or  its  mode  of  offering  the 
holy  sacrifice.  They  placed  the  writ  on  the  altar  of  the  church 
of  Hagia  Sophia  with  the  words  :  "Vldeat  Deus  etjudicet.'' 

Cerularius,  supported  by  his  clergy  and  the  people,  imme- 
diately answered  by  a  synodical  counter-anathema  on  the  papal 
lesrates,  and  accused  them  of  fraud.  In  a  letter  to  Peter,  the 
patriarch  of  Antioch  (who  at  first  acted  the  part  of  a  mediator), 
he  charged  Rome  with  other  scandals,  namely,  that  two  brothers 
were  allowed  to  espouse  two  sisters;  that  bishops  woje  rings 
and  engaged  in  warfare ;  that  baptism  was  administered  by  a 
single  immersion;  that  salt  was  put  in  the  mouth  of  the  bap- 
tized ;  that  the  images  and  relics  of  saints  were  not  honored ; 
and  that  Gregory  the  Theologian,  Basil,  and  Chrysostom  were 
not  numbered  among  the  saints.  The  Filioque  was  also  men- 
tioned. ^ 

The  charge  of  the  martial  spirit  of  the  bishops  was  well 
founded  in  that  semi-barbarous  age.  Cerularius  was  all-power- 
ful for  several  years ;  he  dethroned  one  emperor  and  crowned 
another,  but  died  in  exile  (1059). 

The  patriarchs  of  Alexandria,  Antioch,  and  Jerusalem  ad- 
hered to  the  see  of  Constantinople.  Thus  the  schism  between 
the  Christian  East  and  West  was  completed.  The  number  of 
episcopal  sees  at  that  time  was  nearly  equal  on  both  sides,  but 
in  the  course  of  years  the  Latin  church  far  outgrew  the  East. 

The  Latin  Empire  in  the  East.     1204-1261. 

During  the  Crusades  the  schism  was  deepened  by  the  brutal 
atrocities  of  the  French  and  Venetian  soldiers  in  the  pillage  of 
Constantinople  (1204),  the  establishment  of  a   Latin  empire, 

1  See  a  full  resum^  of  Humbert's  arguments  in  Hergenrother,  III.  7-41-756. 

2  See  the  documents  in  Gieseler  II.  225  sqq. 


I  72.  FRUITLESS  ATTEMPTS  AT  EEUNION.  321 

and  the  appointment  by  the  pope  of  Latin  bishops  in  Greek 
sees.^  Although  this  artificial  empire  lasted  only  half  a  century 
(1204-1261),  it  left  a  legacy  of  burning  hatred  in  the  memories 
of  horrible  desecrations  and  innumerable  insults  and  outrages, 
which  the  East  had  to  endure  from  the  Western  barbarians. 
Churches  and  monasteries  were  robbed  and  desecrated,  the 
Greek  service  mocked,  the  clergy  persecuted,  and  every  law  of 
decency  set  at  defiance.  In  Constantinople  "  a  prostitute  was 
seated  on  the  throne  of  the  patriarch ;  and  that  daughter  of 
Belial,  as  she  is  styled,  sung  and  danced  in  the  church  to 
ridicule  the  hymns  and  processions  of  the  Orientals."  Even 
Pope  Innocent  III.  accuses  the  pilgrims  that  they  spared  in 
their  lust  neither  age  nor  sex,  nor  religious  profession,  and  that 
they  committed  fornication,  adultery,  and  incest  in  open  day  (m 
ocuHs  omnium),  "  abandoning  matrons  and  virgins  dedicated  to 
God  to  the  lewdness  of  grooms."  And  yet  this  great  pope  in- 
sulted the  Eastern  church  by  the  establishment  of  a  Latin  hier- 
archy on  the  ruins  of  the  Byzantine  empire.^ 

§  72.  Fruitless  Attempts  at  Reunion. 
The  Greek  emperors,  hard  pressed  by  the  terrible  Turks,  who 

1  Cardinal  Hergenrother  {Kirchengeseh.  I.  903)  admits  that  it  was  largely  (he 
ought  to  say,  chiefly)  through  the  guilt  of  the  Latin  conquerors  (" grossentheUs 
durch  Schuld  der  laieinischen  Eroberer")  that  "  the  hatred  of  the  Greeks  at  the 
conquest  of  Constantinople,  1204,  assumed  gigantic  dimensions." 

»  See  Gibbon's  graphic  description  (in  ch.  Lx.)  of  the  horrors  of  tlie  sack  of 
Constantinople,  gathered  from  the  concurrent  accounts  of  the  French  marshall 
Villehardouin  (who  does  not  betray  a  symptom  of  pity  or  remorse)  and  the 
Byzantine  senator  Nicetas  (one  of  the  sufTerers).  On  the  barbarities  pre- 
viously committed  at  Thessalonica  by  the  Normans  in  1186,  see  Eustathius 
De  capia  Thessalonica  (ed.  Bonnae  1842,  quoted  by  Gieseler  II.  609);  on  the 
barbarities  in  the  island  of  Cyprus  after  its  delivery  by  Richard  to  Guy,  king 
of  Jerusalem,  in  1192,  see  the  anonymous  account  in  Allatius,  De  ecclcs.  Occi- 
dent, et  orient  perpet.  consens.  1.  11.  c.  XIII.  693  sq.  Leo  Allatius  was  a  Greek 
convert  to  the  Roman  church,  and  found  no  fault  with  these  cruelties  against 
the  church  of  his  fathers ;  on  the  contrary  he  says :  "  Opus  erat,  effrcenes  pro- 
pria^que  fidei  rebelles  et  veritatis  oppugnatores  non  exilio,  sci  ferro  et  igne  in 
saidorem  mentem  reducere.  Hceretici  proxcribendi  sunt,  exterminandi  sunt,  puniendi 
sunt  el  pertinaces  Decidendi,  cremnndi.  Itn  leges  sanciunf,  ita  observavit  antiquitas, 
nee  alius  mos  est  recentioris  ecclesiae  turn  GraeccB  turn  Latince.'' 
21 


322  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

threatened  to  overthrow  their  throne,  sought  from  time  to  time 
by  negotiations  with  the  pope  to  secure  the  powerful  aid  of  the 
West.  But  all  the  projects  of  reunion  split  on  the  rock  of  papal 
absolutism  and  Greek  obstinacy. 

The  Council  of  Lyons,     a.  d.  1274.^ 

Michael  Paljeologus  (1260-1282),  who  expelled  the  Latins 
from  Constantinople  (July  25,  1261),  restored  the  Greek 
patriarchate,  but  entered  into  negotiations  with  Pope  Urban 
IV.  to  avert  the  danger  of  a  new  crusade  for  the  reconquest 
of  Constantinople.  A  general  council  (the  14th  of  the  Latins) 
was  held  at  Lyons  in  1273  and  1274  with  great  solemnity  and 
splendor  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  a  reunion.  Five  tiundred 
Latin  bishops,  seventy  abbots,  and  about  a  thousand  other 
ecclesiastics  were  present,  together  with  ambassadors  from 
England,  France,  Germany,  and  other  countries.  Palaeologus 
sent  a  large  embassy,  but  only  three  were  saved  from  ship- 
wreck, Germanus,  ex-patriarch  of  Constantinople,  Theophanes, 
metropolitan  of  Nicaea,  and  the  chancellor  of  the  empire.  The 
pope  opened  the  Synod  (May  7,  1274)  by  the  celebration  of 
high  mass,  and  declared  the  threefold  object  of  the  Synod  to 
be  :  help  for  Jerusalem,  union  with  the  Greeks,  and  reform  of 
the  church.  Bonaventura  preached  the  sermon.  Thomas 
Aquinas,  the  prince  of  schoolmen,  who  had  defended  the  Latin 
doctrine  of  the  double  procession,^  Avas  to  attend,  but  had  died 
on  the  journey  to  Lyons  (March  7,  1274),  in  his  49th  year. 
The  imperial  delegates  were  treated  with  marked  courtesy, 
abjured  the  schism,  submitted  to  the  pope  and  accepted  the 
distinctive  tenets  of  the  Roman  church. 

But  the  Eastern  patriarchs  Avere  not  represented,  the  people 
of  Constantinople  abhorred  the  union  with  Rome,  and  the 
death  of  the  despotic  Michael  Palseologus  (1282)  was  also  the 

*  See  a  full  account  of  it  in  the  sixth  volume  of  Hefele's  Conciliengeschichte, 
p.  103-147. 

'  111  his  book  Contra  errores  Grcecorum. 


2  72.  FRUITLESS  ATTEMPTS  AT  REUNION.  323 

death  of  the  Latin  party,  and  the  formal  revocation  of  the  act 
of  submission  to  the  pope. 

The  Council  at  Ferrara — Florence.  A.  D.  1438-1439.^ 
Another  attempt  at  reunion  was  made  by  John  VII.  Palaeo- 
logus  in  the  Council  of  Ferrara,  which  was  convened  by  Pope 
Eugenius  IV.  in  opposition  to  the  reformatory  Council  of  Basle. 
It  was  afterwards  transferred  to  Florence  on  account  of  the 
plague.  It  was  attended  by  the  emperor,  the  patriarch  of 
Constantinople,  and  twenty-one  Eastern  prelates,  am,0Dg  them 
the  learned  Bessarion  of  Nicsea,  Mark  of  Ephesus,  Dionysius 
of  Sardis,  Isidor  of  Kieff.  The  chief  points  of  controversy 
were  discussed :  the  procession  of  the  Spirit,  purgatory,  the  use 
of  unleavened  bread,  and  the  supremacy  of  the  pope.^  Bes- 
sarion became  a  convert  to  the  Western  doctrine,  and  was 
rewarded  by  a  cardinal's  hat.  He  was  twice  near  being  elected 
pope  (d.  1472).  The  decree  of  the  council,  published  July  6, 
1439,  embodies  his  views,  and  was  a  complete  surrender  to  the 
pope  with  scarcely  a  saving  clause  for  the  canonical  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  Eastern  patriarchs.  The  Greek  formula  on 
the  procession,  ex  Patre  per  Filium,  Mas  declared  to  be  identical 
with  the  Latin  Filioque;  the  pope  was  acknowledged  not  only 
as  the  successor  of  Peter  and  Vicar  of  Christ,  but  also  as  "  the 
head  of  the  whole  church  and  father  and  teacher  of  all  Chris- 
tians," but  with  variations  in  the  Greek  texts.^  The  document 
of  reunion  was  signed  by  the  pope,  the  emperor,  many  arch- 
bishops and   bishops,  the   representatives  of   all   the   Eastern 

1  See  Cecconi  (R.  C),  Stmli  storici  sul  Concilio  di  Firenze  (Florence  18(39) ; 
Hefele  (R.  C),  Condliengesch.  vol.  VII.  Pt.  II.  (1874),  p.  659-761 ;  B.  Popoft 
(Gr.),  History  of  the  Council  of  Florence,  translated  from  the  Russian,  ed.  by  J. 
M.  Neale  (Lond.  1861);  Frommann  (Prot.),  £^rit,  Beitrdge  zur  Gesch.  der 
florentin.  Kirchenvereinigung  (Halle,  1872). 

^  On  the  subject  of  purgatory  the  Greeks  disagreed  among  themselves.  The 
doctrine  of  transubstantiation  was  conceded,  and  therefore  not  brought  under 
discussion. 

3  Hefele  {I.  c.  p.  741-761)  gives  the  Latin  and  Greek  texts  with  a  critical 
discussion.     Frommann  and  Dollinger  charge  the  decree  with  falsification. 


324  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

patriarchs  cxcc^pt  that  of  Constantinople,  who  had  previously 
died  at  Florence,  but  had  left  as  his  last  sentence  a  disputed 
submission  to  the  catholic  and  apostolic  church  of  old  Rome. 
For  the  'triumph  of  his  cause  the  pope  could  easily  promise 
material  aid  to  his  Eastern  ally,  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the 
deputation,  to  support  three  hundred  soldiers  for  the  protection 
of  Constantinople,  and  to  send,  if  necessary,  an  army  and  navy 
for  the  defense  of  the  emperor  against  his  enemies. 

But  when  the  humiliating  terms  of  the  reunion  were  divulged, 
the  East  and  Russia  rose  in  rebellion  against  the  Latinizers  as 
traitors  to  the  orthodox  faith  ;  the  compliant  patriarchs  openly 
recanted,  and  the  new  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  Metrophanes, 
now  called  in  derision  Metrophonus  or  Matricide,  was  forced  to 
resign. 

Afier  the  Fall  of  Constantinople. 

The  capture  of  Constantinople  by  the  Mohammedan  Turks 
(1453)  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Byzantine  empire  put  an  end 
to  ail  political  schemes  of  reunion,  but  opened  the  way  for  papal 
propagandism  in  the  East.  The  division  of  the  church  facili- 
tated that  catastrophe  which  delivered  the  fairest  lands  to  the 
blasting  influence  of  Islam,  and  keeps  it  in  power  to  this  day, 
although  it  is  slowly  waning.  The  Turk  has  no  objection  to 
fights  among  the  despised  Christians,  provided  they  only  injure 
themselves  and  do  not  touch  the  Koran.  He  is  tolerant  from 
intolerance.  The  Greeks  hate  the  pope  and  the  FiUoque  as 
much  as  they  hate  the  false  prophet  of  Mecca ;  while  the  pope 
loves  his  own  power  more  than  the  common  cause  of  Christianity, 
and  would  rather  see  the  Sultan  rule  in  the  city  of  Constantino 
than  a  rival  patriarch  or  the  Czar  of  schismatic  Russia. 

During  the  nineteenth  century  the  schism  has  been  intensified 
by  the  creation  of  two  new  dogmas, — the  immaculate  eoncej)tion 
of  Mary  (18-54)  and  the  infallibility  of  the  pope  (1870).  When 
Pius  IX.  invited  the  Eastern  ])atrinr('hs  to  attend  the  Vatican 
Council,  they  indignantly  refused,  and  renewed  their  old  pro- 


§  72.  FEUITLESS  ATTEMPTS  AT  KEUNION.  325 

test  against  the  antichristian  usurpation  of  the  papacy  and  the 
heretical  Filioque.  They  could  not  submit  to  the  Vatican 
decrees  without  stultifying  their  whole  history  and  committing 
moral  suicide.  Papal  absolutism  ^  and  Eastern  stagnation  are 
insuperable  barriers  to  the  reunion  of  the  divided  churches, 
which  can  only  be  brought  about  by  great  events  and  by  the 
"wonder-working  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

^  Or,  as  the  modern  Greeks  call  it,  the  papolatria  of  the  Latins. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MORALS    AND   RELIGION. 

§  73.  Literaiure. 

I.  The  chief  and  almost  only  sources  for  this  chapter  are  the  acts  of 

Synods,  the  lives  of  saints  and  missionaries,  and  the  chronicles  of 
monasteries.  The  Acta  Sanctorum  mix  facts  and  legends  in  inextri- 
cable confusion.  The  most  important  are  the  biographies  of  the 
Irish,  Scotch,  and  Anglo-Saxon  missionaries,  and  the  letters  of 
Boniface.  For  the  history  of  France  during  the  sixth  and  seventh 
centuries  we  have  the  Historia  Francorum  by  Gregory  OF  TouRS, 
the  Herodotus  of  France  (d.  594),  first  printed  in  Paris,  1511,  better 
by  Euinart,  1699;  best  by  Giesebrecht  (in  German),  Berlin  1851, 
9th  ed.  1873,  2  vols. ;  and  Gregorii  Historue  Epitomata  by  his  con- 
tinuator,  Fredegar,  a  clergyman  of  Burgundy  (d.  about  660),  ed. 
by  Ruinart,  Paris  1699,  and  by  Abel  (in  German),  Berlin  1849.  For 
the  age  of  Charlemagne  we  have  the  Capitularies  of  the  emperor, 
and  the  historical  works  of  Einhard  or  Eginard  (d.  840).  See 
Ouvres  completes  d'  Eginard,  reiinies  j)our  la  premilre  fois  et  traduites 
enfranqais,  par  A.  Teulet,  Paris  1840-43,  2  vols.  For  an  estimate 
of  these  and  other  writers  of  oiir  period  comp.  part  of  the  first,  and 
the  second  vol.  of  Ad.  Ebert's  Allgem.  Gesch.  der  Lit.  des  Mittelalters 
im  A.bendlande,  Leipz.  1874  and  1880. 

II.  Hefele:    Conciliengesch.  vols.  III.  and  IV.  (from  A.  D.  560-1073), 

revised  ed.  1877  and  1879. 
Neander:    Denkwurdigkeiten    aus    der  Geschichte    des   christl.    Lebens. 

8d  ed.  Hamburg,  1845,  '46,  2  vols. 
Aug.  Thierry  :    Eecits  des  temps  merovingiens.     Paris  1855  (based  on 

Gregory  of  Tours). 
LOEBELL :     Gregor  von  Tours  und  seine  Zeit.     Leipz.  1839,  second  ed. 

1868. 
MONOD:    Etudes   critiques   sur    les    sources   de   Vhistoire   meroviiigienne. 

Paris  1872. 
Lecky  :    History  of  European  Morals  from  Augustus   to    Charlemagne, 

fifth  ed.     Lond.  1882,  2  vols,  (part  of  the  second  vol.). 
Brace:   Gesta  Christi,  N.  York,  third  ed.  1883,  p.  107  sqq. 
Comp.  GuizOT  (Protest.,  d.  1874) :    Histoire  genirale  de  la  civilisation 
326 


§  74.  GENERAL  CHAEACTER  OF  MEDIEVAL  MORALS.  327 

en  Europe  et  en  France  depuis  la  chute  de  V empire  romainjusqu*  il  la 
revolution  frangaise,  Paris  1830 ;  seventh  ed.  1860,  5  vols,  (one  vol. 
on  Euroi^e  in  general). 
Balmez,  (a  Spanish  philosopher  and  apologist  of  the  Roman  church,  d. 
1848):  El Protestantismo  comparado  con  el  Catolicismo  en  sus  relaciones 
con  la  civilisacion  europea.  Barcelona,  1842-44,  4  vols.  The  same 
in  French,  German,  and  English  translations.  A  Roman  Catholic 
counterpart  to  Guizot. 

§  7.4.   General  Character  of  Mediaeval  Morals. 

The  middle  age  of  Western  Christendom  resembles  the  period 
of  the  Judges  in  the  history  of  Israel  when  "  the  highways  were 
unoccupied,  and  the  travelers  walked  through  by-ways,"  and 
when  "every  man  did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes."^ 
It  was  a  time  of  civil  and  political  commotions  and  upheavings, 
of  domestic  wars  and  foreign  invasions.  Society  was  in  a 
chaotic  state  and  bordering  on  the  brink  of  anarchy.  Might 
was  right.  It  was  the  golden  age  of  border- ruffians,  filibusters, 
pirates  and  bold  adventurers,  but  also  of  gallant  knights, 
genuine  heroes  and  judges,  like  Gideon,  Jephthah,  Samson,  and 
Samuel  of  old.  It  presents,  in  striking  contrasts.  Christian 
virtues  and  heathen  vices,  ascetic  self-denial  and  gross  sensuality. 
Nor  were  there  wanting  idyllic  episodes  of  domestic  virtue  and 
happiness  which  call  to  mind  the  charming  story  of  Ruth  from 
the  period  of  the  Judges. 

Upon  the  whole  the  people  were  more  religious  than  moral. 
Piety  was  often  made  a  substitute  or  atonement  for  virtue. 
Belief  in  the  supernatural  and  miraculous  was  universal; 
scepticism  and  unbelief  were  almost  unknown.  Men  feared 
purgatory  and  hell,  and  made  great  sacrifices  to  gain  heaven  by 
founding  churches,  convents,  and  charitable  institutions.  And 
yet  there  was  a  frightful  amount  of  immorality  among  the 
rulers  and  the  people.  In  the  East  the  church  had  to  contend 
with  the  vices  of  an  effete  civilization  and  a  corrupt  court.  In 
Italy,  France  and  Spain  the  old  Roman  vices   continued  and 

»  Comp.  Judges  5  :  6 ;  17  :  6. 


328  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

were  even  invigorated  by  the  infusion  of  fresh  and  barbaric 
blood.  The  history  of  the  Merovingian  rulers,  as  we  learn  from 
Bishop  Gregory  of  Tours,  is  a  tragedy  of  murder,  adultery,  and 
incest,  and  ends  in  destruction.* 

The  church  was  unfavorably  affected  by  the  state  of  sur- 
rounding society,  and  often  drawn  into  the  current  of  prevailing 
immorality.  Yet,  upon  the  whole,  she  was  a  powerful  barrier 
against  vice,  and  the  chief,  if  not  the  only  promoter  of  educa- 
tion, virtue  and  piety  in  the  dark  ages.  From  barbaric  and 
semi-barbaric  material  she  had  to  build  up  the  temple  of  a 
Christian  civilization.  She  taught  the  new  converts  the  Apos- 
tles' Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Ten  Commandments — 
the  best  popular  summaries  of  faith,  piety,  and  duty.  She 
taught  them  also  the  occupations  of  peaceful  life.  She  restrained 
vice  and  encouraged  virtue.  The  synodical  legislation  was 
nearly  always  in  the  right  direction.  Great  stress  was  laid  on 
prayer  and  fasting,  on  acts  of  hospitality,  charity,  and  benevo- 
lence, and  on  pilgrimages  to  sacred  places.  The  rewards  of 
heaven  entered  largely  as  an  inducement  for  leading  a  virtuous 
and  holy  life ;  but  it  is  far  better  that  people  should  be  good 
from  fear  of  hell  and  love  of  heaven,  than  ruin  themselves  by 
immorality  and  vice. 

A  vast  amount  of  private  virtue  and  piety  is  never  recorded 
on  the  pages  of  history,  and  is  spent  in  modest  retirement.  So 
the  wild  flowers  in  the  woods  and  on  the  mountains  bloom 
and  fade  away  unseen  by  human  eyes.  Every  now  and  then 
incidental  allusion  is  made  to  unknown  saints.  Pope  Gre- 
gory mentions  a  certain  Servulus  in  Rome  who  was  a  poor 
cripple  from  childhood,  but  found  rich  comfort  and  peace  in 
the  Bible,  although  he  could  not  read  himself,  and  had  to  ask 
pious  friends  to  read  it  to  him  while  he  was  lying  on  his  couch  ; 

1  "  It  would  be  difficult,"  saya  Gibbon  of  this  period,  "  to  find  anywhere  more 
vice  or  less  virtue."  The  judgments  of  Ilallam,  Milman,  and  Lecky  are  to 
the  eame  effect.  Compare  also  the  description  of  Montalembert,  quoted  above, 
p.  82  sq. 


2  74.  GENEEAL  CHAKACTER  OF  MEDIEVAL  MORALS.  329 

he  never  complained,  but  was  full  of  gratitude  and  praise; 
when  death  drew  near  he  requested  his  friends  to  sing  psalms 
with  him  ;  then  stopped  suddenly  and  expired  with  the  words  : 
"  Peace,  hear  ye  not  the  praises  of  God  sounding  from  heaven  ?  " 
This  man's  life  of  patient  suffering  was  not  in  vain,  but  a 
benediction  to  many  who  came  in  contact  with  it.  "  Those  also 
serve  who  only  stand  and  wait." 

The  moral  condition  of  the  middle  age  varied  considerably. 
The  migration  of  nations  was  most  unfavorable  to  the  peaceful 
work  of  the  church.  Then  came  the  bright  reign  of  Charle- 
magne with  his  noble  efforts  for  education  and  religion,  but  it 
was  soon  followed,  under  his  weak  successors,  by  another  period 
of  darkness  which  grew  worse  and  worse  till  a  moral  reforma- 
tion began  in  the  convent  of  Cluny,  and  reached  the  papal  chair 
under  the  lead  of  Hildebraud. 

Yet  if  we  judge  by  the  number  of  saints  in  the  Roman 
Calendar,  the  seventh  century,  which  is  among  the  darkest,  was 
more  pious  than  any  of  the  preceding  and  succeeding  centuries, 
except  the  third  and  fourth  (which  are  enriched  by  the  martyrs). 

NOTES. 

The  following  is  the  table  of  saints  in  the  Eoman  Calendar  (accord- 
ing to  Alban  Butler's  Lives  of  the  Saints) :  saints. 

First  Century 53 

Second  Century 43 

Third  Century 139 

Fourth  Century 213 

Fifth  Century 130 

Sixth  Century 123 

Seventh  Century 174 

Eighth  Century 78 

Ninth  Century 49 

Tenth  Century 28 

Eleventh  Century 45 

Twelfth  Century 54 

Thirteenth  Century 49 

Fourteenth  Century 27 

Fifteenth  Century 17 


330  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

SAINTS. 

Sixteenth  Century 24 

Seventeenth  Century 15 

Eighteenth  Century 20 

In  the  first  centuries  the  numerous  but  nameless  martyrs  of  the  Nero- 
nian  and  other  persecutions  are  not  separately  counted.  The  Holy 
Innocents,  the  Seven  Sleepers  (in  the  third  century),  the  Forty  Martyrs 
of  Sebaste  (fourth  century,)  and  other  groups  of  martyrs  are  counted 
only  one  each.  Lecky  asserts  too  confidently  that  the  seventh  century 
was  the  most  prolific  in  saints,  and  yet  the  most  immoral.  It  is  strange 
that  the  number  of  saints  should  have  declined  from  the  seventh  century, 
while  the  church  increased,  and  that  the  eighteenth  century  of  infidelity 
should  have  produced  five  more  saints  than  the  seventeenth  century.  It 
would  therefore  be  very  unsafe  to  make  tliis  table  the  basis  for  general 
estimates. 

§  75.   Clerical  3Iorals. 

1.  Social.  Position.     The  clergy  stood,  during  the  middle  ; 
ages,  at  the  head  of  society,  and  shared  with  kings  and  nobles  i 
the  rule  of  the  people.     They  had   the  guardianship  of  the 
souls  and  consciences  of  men,  and  handled  the  keys  of  the 
kino-dom  of  heaven.     They  possessed  nearly  all  the  learning, '] 
but  it  was  generally  very  limited,  and  confined  to  a  little  Latin  ,■ 
without  any  Greek.    Some  priests  descended  from  noble  and  even 
royal  blood,  others  from  slaves  who  belonged  to  monasteries. 
Thev  enjoyed  many  immunities  from  public  burdens,  as  military 
duty  and  taxation.     Charlemagne  and  his  successors  granted  to 
them  all  the  privileges  which  the  Eastern  emperors  from  the 
time  of  Constantine  had  bestowed  upon  them.     They  could  not 
be  sued  before  a  civil  court,  and  had  their  own  episcopal  tri- 
bunals.    No  lay  judge  could  apprehend  or  punish  an  ecclesiastic 
without  the  permission  of  his  bishop. 

They  were  supported    by  the   income  from  landed  estates, 
cathedral  funds,  and  the  annual  tithes  which  were  enacted  after 
the  precedent  of  the  Mosaic  law.     Pepin,  by  a  decree  of  764,  \ 
imposed  the  payment  of  tithes  upon   all  the  royal  possessions,  f 
Charlemagne  extended  it  to  all  lands,  and  made  the  obligation  / 
general  by  a  capitulary  in  779.     The  tithes  were  regarded  as 


275.  CLERICAL  MORALS.  331 

the  minimum  contribution  for  the  maintenance  of  religion  and 
the  support  of  the  poor.  They  were  generally  paid  to  the 
bishop,  as  the  administrator  of  all  ecclesiastical  goods.  Many 
nobles  had  their  own  domestic  chaplains  who  depended  on  their 
lords,  and  were  often  employed  in  degrading  offices,  as  waiting 
at  table  and  attending  to  horses  and  hounds. 

2.  Morals.  The  priests  were  expected  to  excel  in  virtue 
as  well  as  in  education,  and  to  commend  their  profession  by  an 
exemplary  life.  Upon  the  whole  they  were  superior  to  their 
flock,  but  not  unfrequently  they  disgraced  their  profession  by 
scandalous  immorality.  According  to  ancient  discipline  every 
priest  at  his  ordination  was  connected  with  a  particular  church, 
except  missionaries  to  heathen  lands.  But  many  priests  defied 
the  laws,  and  led  an  irregular  wandering  life  as  clerical  tramps. 
They  were  forbidden  to  wear  the  sword,  but  many  a  bishop  lost 
his  life  on  the  battle  field,  and  even  some  popes  engaged  in 
warfare.  Drunkenness  and  licentiousness  were  common  vices. 
Gregory  cf  Tours  mentions  a  bishop  named  Cautinus  who, 
when  intoxicated,  had  to  be  carried  by  four  men  from  the  table. 
Boniface  gives  a  very  unfavorable  but  partizan  account  of  the 
French  and  German  clergymen  who  acted  independently  of 
Rome.  The  acts  of  Synods  are  full  of  censures  and  punish- 
ments of  clerical  sins  and  vices.  They  legislated  against  forni- 
cation, intemperance,  avarice,  the  habits  of  hunting,  of  visiting 
horse-races  and  theatres,  and  enjoined  even  corporal  punish- 
ments.^ 

Clerical  immorality  reached  the  lowest  depth  in  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  centuries,  when  Rome  was  a  sink  of  iniquity,  and  the 
popes  themselves  set  the  Avorst  example.  But  a  new  reform 
began  with  the  Hildebrandian  popes. 

*  It  seems  incredible  that  there  should  have  been  an  occasion  for  legislation 
against  clergymen  keeping  houses  of  prostitution ;  and  yet  the  Quinisexta  or 
Trullan  Synod  of  692  enacted  the  canon :  "  He  who  keeps  a  brothel,  if  a 
clergyman,  shall  be  deposed  and  excommunicated ;  if  a  layman,  excommuni- 
cated."    Hefele  III.  341. 


332  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

3.  Canonical  Life.  Chrodegang,  bishop  of  Metz  (a.  d. 
760),  reformed  the  clergy  by  introducing,  or  reviving,  after  the 
example  of  St.  Augustin,  the  "  canonical "  or  semi-monastic 
life.  The  bishop  and  lower  clergymen  lived  in  the  same  house, 
near  the  cathedral,  ate  at  the  same  table,  prayed  and  studied 
together,  like  a  family  of  monks,  only  diiFering  from  them  in 
dress  and  the  right  of  holding  property  or  receiving  fees  for 
official  services.  Such  an  establishment  was  called  Chapter,^ 
and  the  members  of  it  were  called  Canons? 

The  example  was  imitated  in  other  places.  Charlemagne 
made  the  canonical  life  obligatory  on  all  bishops  as  far  as  pos- 
sible. Many  chapters  were  liberally  endowed.  But  during  the 
civil  commotions  of  the  Carolingians  the  canonical  life  degener- 
ated or  was  broken  up. 

4.  Celibacy.  In  the  East  the  lower  clergy  were  always 
allowed  to  marry,  and  only  a  second  marriage  is  forbidden.  In 
the  West  celibacy  was  the  prescribed  rule,  but  most  clergymen 
lived  either  wuth  lawful  wives  or  with  concubines.  In  Milan 
all  the  priests  and  deacons  were  married  in  the  middle  of  the 
eleventh  century,  but  to  the  disgust  of  the  severe  moralists  of 
the  time.^  Hadrian  II.  was  married  before  he  became  pope, 
and  had  a  daughter,  who  was  murdered  by  her  husband, 
together  with  the  pope's  wife,  Stephania  (868).*  The  wicked 
pope  Benedict  IX.  sued  for  the  daughter  of  his  cousin,  who 
consented  on  condition  that  he  resign  the  papacy  (1033)."  The 
Hildebrandian  popes,  Leo  IX.  and  Nicolas  II.,  made  attempts 

'  Capitulum,  from  the  cliapter  of  the  Bible  or  of  the  monastic  rules  which 
were  read  in  common  every  flay.  The  name  was  applied  both  to  the  clerical 
brotherhood  and  to  their  habitation  (chapter-house).  The  plural,  Capitula  or 
Capitularia  designates  codes  of  law  ecclesiastical  or  civil,  digested  under  cliap- 
ters.  See  Martene,  De  Antiqu.  Ecd.  Bitibus,  1,  IV.  c.  VI.  I  4,  and  Haddan  Iq 
Smith  and  Cheetham,  I.  347. 

'  Canonici,  either  because  they  were  bound  by  canons,  or  enrolled  on  the 
lists  of  ecclesiastical  officers.  They  occupied  an  intermediate  position  between 
the  secular  clergy  and  the  monks.  See  Dii  Cange,  and  Smith  and  Cheetham, 
Bub  Canonici. 

»  Hefele  IV.  794.  *  Ibid.  p.  373.  *  Ibid.  p.  707. 


§  76.   DOMESTIC  LIFE.  333 

to  enforce  clerical  celibacy  all  over  the  West.  They  identified 
the  interests  of  clerical  morality  and  influence  with  clerical 
celibacy  and  endeavored  to  destroy  natural  immorality  by  en- 
forcing unnatural  morality.  How  far  Gregory  VIL  succeeded 
in  this  part  of  his  reform,  will  be  seen  in  the  next  period. 

§  76.  Domestic  Life. 
The  purity  and  happiness  of  home-life  depend  on  the  position 
of  woman,  who  is  the  beating  heart  of  the  household.     Female 
deo;radation  was  one  of  the  weakest  spots  in  the  old  Greek  and 
Roman  civilization.    The  church,  in  counteracting  the  prevailing  ^, 
evil  ran  into  the  opposite  extreme  of  ascetic  excess  as  a  radical 
cure'      Instead  of  concentrating  her  strength  on  the  purification  ,^ 
and  elevation  of  the  family,  she  recommended  lonely  celibacy  ^ 
as  a  higher  degree  of  holiness  and  a  safer  way  to  heaven 

Amono-  the  Western  and  Northern  barbarians  she  found  a 
more  favorable  soil  for  the  cultivation  of  Christian  family  life. 
The  contrast  which  the  heathen  historian  Tacitus  and  the 
Christian  monk  Salvian  draw  between  the  chastity  of  the 
Teutonic  barbarians  and  the  licentiousness  of  the  Latin  races 
is  overdrawn  for  effect,  but  not  without  foundation.  The  Ger- 
man and  Scandinavian  tribes  had  an  instinctive  reverence  for 
the  female  sex,  as  being  inspired  by  a  divinity,  possessed  of  the 
prophetic  gift,  and  endowed  with  secret  charms.  Their  women 
shared  the  labors  and  dangers  of  men,  emboldened  them  in  their 
fierce  battles,  and  would  rather  commit  suicide  than  submit  to 
dishonor.  Yet  the  wife  was  entirely  in  the  power  of  her  hus- 
band, and  could  be  bought,  sold,  beaten,  and  killed. 

The  Christian  religion  preserved  and  strengthened  the  nob  e  \ 
traits,  and  developed  them  into  the  virtues  of  chivalry;  while  / 
it  diminished  or  abolished  evil  customs  and  practices  The 
Synods  often  deal  with  marriage  and  divorce.  Polygamy, 
concubinage,  secret  marriages,  marriages  with  near  relatives, 
mixed  marriages  with  heathens  or  Jews  or  heretics  were  for- 
bidden; the  marriage  tie  was  declared  sacred  and  indissoluble 


334  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A,  D.  590-1049. 

(except  by  adultery) ;  sexual  intemperance  restrained  and 
forbidden  on  Sundays  and  during  Lent;  the  personal  inde- 
pendence of  woman  and  her  rights  of  property  were  advanced. 
The  Virgin  Mary  was  constantly  held  up  to  the  imagination  as 
the  incarnation  of  female  purity  and  devotion.  Not  unfre- 
quently,  however,  marriages  were  dissolved  by  mutual  consent 
from  mistaken  ascetic  piety.  When  a  married  layman  entered 
the  priesthood  or  a  convent,  he  usually  forsook  his  wife.  In  a 
Eoman  Synod  of  827  such  separation  was  made  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  bishop.  A  Synod  of  Rouen,  1072,  forbade 
husbands  whose  wives  had  taken  the  veil,  to  marry  another. 
Wives  whose  husbands  had  disappeared  were  forbidden  by  the 
same  Synod  to  marry  until  the  fact  of  death  was  made  certain.^ 
Upon  the  whole,  the  sy nodical  legislation  on  the  subject  of 
marriage  was  wise,  timely,  restraining,  purifying,  and  ennobling 
in  its  effect.  The  purest  and  brightest  chapter  in  the  history 
of  Pope  Nicolas  I.  is  his  protection  of  injured  innocence  in 
the  person  of  the  divorced  wife  of  King  Lothair  of  Lorraine.^ 

§  77.  Slavery. 

See  the  Lit.  in  vol.  I.  |  48  (p.  444),  aud  in  vol.  II.  ?  97  (p.  347).  Comp. 
also  Balmes  (R.  C.)  :  Protestaniism  and  Catholicism  compared  in  their 
effects  on  the  Civilization  of  Europe.  Transl.  from  the  Spanish. 
Baltimore  1851,  Chs.  xv.-xix.    Brace  :  Gesta  Christi,  Ch.  xxi. 

History  is  a  slow  but  steady  progress  of  emancipation  from 
the  chains  which  sin  has  forged.  The  institution  of  slavery 
was  universal  in  Europe  during  the  middle  ages  among  bar- 
barians as  well  as  among  civilized  nations.  It  was  kept  up  by 
natural  increase,  by  war,  and  by  the  slave-trade  which  was 
carried  on  in  Europe  more  or  less  till  the  fifteenth  century,  and 
in  America  till  the  eighteenth.  Not  a  few  freemen  sold  them- 
selves into  slavery  for  debt,  or  from  poverty.  The  slaves  were 
completely  under  the  power  of  their  masters,  and  had  no  claim 

'  For  all  these  details  see  the  scattered  notices  in  vols.  III.  and  IV.  of 
Hefele. 

»  See  I  61,  p.  275  sq. 


5  77.   SLAVERY.  335 

beyond  the  satisfaction  of  their  physical  wants.  They  could 
not  bear  witness  in  courts  of  justice.  They  could  be  bought 
and  sold  with  their  children  like  other  property.  The  marriage 
tie  was  disregarded,  and  marriages  between  freemen  and  slaves 
were  null  and  void.  In  the  course  of  time  slavery  was  moder- 
ated into  serfdom,  which  was  attached  to  the  soil.  Small 
farmers  often  preferred  tliat  condition  to  freedom,  as  it  secured 
them  the  protection  of  a  powerful  nobleman  against  robbers  and 
invaders.  The  condition  of  the  serfs,  however,  during  the 
middle  ages  was  little  better  than  that  of  slaves,  and^gave  rise 
to  occasional  outbursts  in  the  Peasant  Wars,  which  occurred 
mostly  in  connection  with  the  free  preaching  of  the  Gospel  (as 
by  Wiclif  and  the  Lollards  in  England,  and  by  Luther  in 
Germany),  but  which  were  suppressed  by  force,  and  in  their 
immediate  effects  increased  the  burdens  of  the  dependent  classes. 
The  same  struggle  between  capital  and  labor  .is  still  going  on  in 
different  forms. 

The  medigeval  church  inherited  the  patristic  views  of  slavery. 
She  regarded  it  as  a  necessary  evil,  as  a  legal  right  based  on 
moral  wrong,  as  a  consequence  of  sin  and  a  just  punishment  for 
it.  She  put  it  in  the  same  category  with  war,  violence,  pesti- 
lence, famine,  and  other  evils.  St.  Augustin,  the  greatest 
theological  authority  of  the  Latin  church,  treats  slavery  as  a 
disturbance  of  the  normal  condition  and  relation.  God  did 
not,  he  says,  establish  the  dominion  of  man  over  man,  but  only 
over  the  brute.  He  derives  the  word  servus,  as  usual,  from 
servare  (to  save  the  life  of  captives  of  war  doomed  to  death), 
but  cannot  find  it  in  the  Bible  till  the  time  of  the  righteous 
Noah,  who  gave  it  as  a  punishment  to  his  guilty  son  Ham ; 
whence  it  follows  that  the  word  came  "  from  sin,  not  from 
nature."  He  also  holds  that  the  institution  will  finally  be 
abolished  when  all  iniquity  shall  disappear,  and  God  shall  be 
all  in  all.^ 

1  De  Civit.  Dei,  1.  XIX.  c.  15.     "  Nomen  {servus]  culpa  meruit,  non  natura 

Prima  servitutis  causa  peccatum  eM,  ut  homo  homini  condituyais  vinculo  suhderetur  : 


336  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  churcli  exerted  her  great  moral  power  not  so  much 
towards  the  abolition  of  slavery  as  the  amelioration  and  re- 
moval of  the  evils  connected  with  it.  Many  provincial  Synods 
dealt  with  the  subject,  at  least  incidentally.  The  legal  right  of 
holding  slaves  was  never  called  in  question,  and  slaveholders 
'were  in  good  and  regular  standing.  Even  convents  held  slaves, 
though  in  glaring  inconsistency  with  their  professed  principle 
of  equality  and  brotherhood.  Pope  Gregory  the  Great,  one  of 
the  most  humane  of  the  popes,  presented  bondservants  from  his 
own  estates  to  convents,  and  exerted  all  his  influence  to  recover 
a  fugitive  slave  of  his  brother.^  A  reform  Synod  of  Pavia, 
over  which  Pope  Benedict  VIII.,  one  of  the  forerunners  of 
Hildebrand,  presided  (a.  d.  1018),  enacted  that  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  clergymen,  whether  from  free-women  or  slaves,  whether 
from  legal  wives  or  concubines,  are  the  property  of  the  churchy 
and  should  never  be  emancipated.^  No  pope  has  ever  declared 
slavery  incompatible  with  Christianity.  The  church  was 
strongly  conservative,  and  never  encouraged  a  revolutionary  or 
radical  movement  looking  towards  universal  emancipation. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Christian  spirit  worked  silently, 
steadily   and    irresistibly    in    the    direction    of    emancipation. 

quod  nonfuit  nisi  Deo  judicante,  apud  quern  non  est  iniquitas."  ...  He  thinks  it 
will  continue  with  the  duties  prescribed  by  the  apostles,  donee  transeat  iniquitas, 
et  evacuciur  omnis  principatus,  et  potestas  humana,  et  sit  Deus  omnia  in  omnibus." 
Chrysostom  taught  substantially  the  same  views,  and  derived  from  the  sin  of 
Adam  a  threefold  servitude  and  a  threefold  tyranny,  that  of  the  husband  over 
the  wife,  the  master  over  the  slave,  and  the  state  over  the  subjects.  Thomas 
Aquinas,  the  greatest  of  the  schoolmen,  "did  not  see  in  slavery  either  differ- 
ence of  race  or  imaginary  inferiority  or  means  of  government,  but  only  a 
scourge  inflicted  on  humanity  by  the  sins  of  the  first  man"  (Balmes,  p.  112). 
But  none  of  those  great  men  seems  to  have  had  an  idea  that  slavery  would  ever 
disappear  from  the  earth  except  with  sia  itself.  Cessante  causa,  cessat  cffectits. 
See  vol.  III.  115-121. 

^  Epist.  X.  G6;  IX.  102.  See  these  and  other  passages  in  Overbeck,  Ver- 
haUnv<s  der  alten  Kirrhe  zur  Sklaverei,  in  his  "Studien  zur  Gesch.  der  alten 
Kirche"  (1875)  p.  211  sq.  Overbeck,  however,  dwells  too  much  on  the  pro- 
slavery  sentiments  of  the  fathers,  and  underrates  the  merits  of  the  church  for 
the  final  abolition  of  slavery. 

»  Hefele  IV.  670. 


§77-   SLAVERY.  337 

The  church,  as  the  organ  of  that  spirit,  proclaimed  ideas  and 
principles  which,  in  their  legitimate  working,  must  root  out 
ultimately  both  slavery  and  tyranny,  and  bring  in  a  reign  of 
freedom,  love,  and  peace.  She  humbled  the  master  and  elevated 
the  slave,  and  reminded  both  of  their  common  origin  and  des- 
tiny. She  enjoined  in  all  her  teaching  the  gentle  and  humane 
treatment  of  slaves,  and  enforced  it  by  the  all-powerful  motives 
derived  from  the  love  of  Christ,  the  common  redemption  and 
moral  brotherhood  of  men.  She  opened  her  houses  of  worship 
as  asylums  to  fugitive  slaves,  and  surrendered  them  to  their 
masters  only  on  promise  of  pardon.'  She  protected  the  freed- 
men  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  liberty.  She  educated  sons  of 
slaves  for  the  priesthood,  with  the  permission  of  their  masters, 
but  required  emancipation  before  ordination.^  Marriages  of 
freemen  with  slaves  were  declared  valid  if  concluded  with  the 
knowledge  of  the  condition  of  the  latter.^  Slaves  could  not  be 
forced  to  labor  on  Sundays.  This  was  a  most  important  and 
humane  protection  of  the  right  to  rest  and  worship.*  No 
Christian  was  permitted  by  the  laws  of  the  church  to  sell  a 
slave  to  foreign  lands,  or  to  a  Jew  or  heathen.  Gregory  I. 
prohibited  the  Jews  within  the  papal  jurisdiction  to  keep  Chris- 
tian slaves,  which  he  considered  an  outrage  upon  the  Christian 
name.     Nevertheless  even  clergymen  sometimes  sold  Christian 

1  Synod  of  Clermont,  A.  d.  549.     Hefele  III.  5 ;  comp.  II.  662. 

'^  Fifth  Synod  of  Orleans,  549 ;  Synod  of  Aachen,  789 ;  Synod  of  Francfurt, 
794.  See  Hefele  III.  3,  666,  691.  If  ordination  took  place  without  the  mas- 
ter's consent,  he  could  reclaim  the  slave  from  the  ranks  of  the  clergy.  Hefele 
IV.  26. 

^  Hefele  III.  574,  575,  611.  The  first  example  was  set  by  Pope  Callistns 
(218-223),  who  was  himself  formerly  a  slave,  and  gave  the  sanction  of  the 
Roman  church  to  marriages  between  free  Christian  ladies  and  slaves  or  low- 
born men.  Hippolytns,  Pkilosoph.  IX.  12  (p.  460  ed.  Dnncker  and  Schneide- 
win).     This  was  contrary  to  Roman  law,  and  disapproved  even  by  Hippolytus. 

*  The  16th  Synod  of  Toledo,  693,  passed  the  following  canon  :  "  If  a  slave 
works  on  Sunday  by  command  of  his  master,  the  slave  becomes  free,  and  the 
master  is  punished  to  pay  30  solidi.  If  the  slave  works  on  Sunday  without 
command  of  his  master,  he  is  whipped  or  must  pay  fine  for  his  skin.  If  a 
freeman  works  on  Sunday,  he  loses  liis  liberty  or  must  pay  60  solidi;  a  pnest 
has  to  pay  double  the  amount.''  Hefele  III.  349 ;  comp.  p.  355. 
22 


338  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

slaves  to  Jews.  The  teuth  Council  of  Toledo  (656  or  657) 
complains  of  this  practice,  protests  against  it  with  Bible  pas- 
sages, and  reminds  the  Christians  that  "the  slaves  were  re- 
deemed by  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  that  Christians  should 
rather  buy  than  sell  them."  ^  Individual  emancipation  was 
constantly  encouraged  as  a  meritorious  work  of  charity  well 
pleasing  to  God,  and  was  made  a  solemn  act.  The  master  led 
the  slave  with  a  torch  around  the  altar,  and  with  his  hands  on 
the  altar  pronounced  the  act  of  liberation  in  such  words  as 
these :  "  For  fear  of  Almighty  God,  and  for  the  cure  of  my 
soul  I  liberate  thee ; "  or :  "  In  the  name  and  for  the  love  of 
God  I  do  free  this  slave  from  the  bonds  of  slavery." 

Occasionally  a  feeble  voice  was  raised  against  the  institution 
itself,  especially  from  monks  who  were  opposed  to  all  worldly 
possession,  and  felt  the  great  inconsistency  of  convents  holding 
slave-property.  Theodore  of  the  Studium  forbade  his  convent 
to  do  this,  but  on  the  ground  that  secular  possessions  and  mar- 
riage were  proper  only  for  laymen.^  A  Synod  of  Chalons, 
held  between  644  and  650,  at  which  thirty-eight  bishops  and 
six  episcopal  representatives  were  present,  prohibited  the  selling 
of  Christian  slaves  outside  of  the  kingdom  of  Clovis,  from  fear 
that  they  might  fall  into  the  power  of  pagans  or  Jews,  and  he 
introduces  this  decree  with  the  significant  words  :  "  The  highest 
piety  and  religion  demand  that  Christians  should  be  redeemed 
entirely  from  the  bond  of  servitude."  ^  By  limiting  the  power 
of  sale,  slave-property  was  raised  above  ordinary  property,  and 
this  was  a  step  towards  abolishing  this  property  itself  by  legiti- 
mate means. 

Under  the  combined  influences  of  Christianity,  civilization, 
and  oeconomic  and  political  considerations,  the  slave  trade  was 
forbidden,  and   slavery  gradually  changed   into  serfdom,  and 

1  Hefele  III.  103;  comp.  IV.  70.     Balraes,  p.  108. 

*  Overbeck,  I.  c,  p.  219. 

•''  Cone.  Cabilonense,  can.  9 :  "  Pietatis  est.  maximce  el  rdigionls  intuitus,  ut 
rapllvitatis  vinculum  omnino  a  Chris'ianis  redimatur.'^  The  date  of  the  Council 
is  uncertain,  see  Mansi,  Cotic.  X.  1198  ;  Hefele,  III.  92. 


§  78.  FEUDS  AND  PRIVATE  WARS.  339 

finally  abolished  all  over  Europe  and  North  America.     Where 
the  spirit  of  Christ  is  there  is  liberty. 

NOTES. 

In  Europe  serfdom  continued  till  the  eighteenth  century,  in  Russia  even  till 
1861,  when  it  was  abolished  by  the  Czar  Alexander  II.  In  the  United  States, 
the  freest  country  in  the  world,  strange  to  say,  negro  slavery  flourished  and 
"waxed  fat  under  the  powerful  protection  of  the  federal  constitution,  the  fugitive 
slave-law,  the  Southern  state-laws,  and  "  King  Cotton,"  until  it  went  out  in 
blood  (1861-65)  at  a  cost  far  exceeding  the  most  liberal  compensation  which 
Congress  might  and  ought  to  have  made  for  a  peaceful  emancipation.  But 
passion,  ruled  over  reason,  self-interest  over  justice,  and  politics  over  morals 
and  religion.  Slavery  still  lingers  in  nominally  Christian  countries  of  South 
America,  and  is  kept  up  with  the  accursed  slave-trade  under  Mohammedan 
rule  in  Africa,  but  is  doomed  to  disappear  from  the  bounds  of  civilization. 


§  78.  Feuds  and  Private   Wars.     The  Truce  of  God. 

A.  Kluckhohn  :   Geschichie  des  Gottesfriedens.     Leipzig  1857. 
Henky  C.  Lea  :  Superstition  and  Force.     Essays  on  the  Wager  of  Law — 
the  Wager  of  Battle— the  Ordeal— Torture.     Phila.  186G  (407  pages). 

Among  all  barbarians,  individual  injury  is  at  once  re- 
venged on  the  person  of  the  enemy ;  and  the  family  or  tribe  to 
which  the  parties  belong  identify  themselves  with  the  quarrel 
till  the  thirst  for  blood  is  satiated.  Hence  the  feuds  ^  and  pri- 
vate wars,  or  deadly  quarrels  between  families  and  clans.  The 
same  custom  of  self-help  and  unbridled  passion  prevails  among 
the  Mohammedan  Arabs  to  this  day. 

The  influence  of  Christianity  was  to  confine  the  responsibility 
for  a  crime  to  its  author,  and  to  substitute  orderly  legal  process 
for  summary  private  vengeance.  The  sixteenth  Synod  of  Toledo 
(693)  forbade  duels  and  private  feuds.^  The  Synod  of  Poitiers, 
A.  D.  1000,  resolved  that  all  controversies  should  hereafter  be 
adjusted  by  law  and  not  by  force.^     The  belligerent  individuals 

1  Saxon  Fcehth,  or  Fceght,  Danish  feide,  Dutch  veede,  German  Fehde,  lowLatin 
faida  or  faidia.  Compare  the  German  Feind,  the  English  fend.  Du  Cange 
defines /aida :  "  Gravis  et  aperta  inimicitia  ob  ccedem  oliqwam  suscepta,  and  refers 
to  his  dissertation  De  Privatis  Bellis. 

«  Hefele  III.  349.  ^  IV.  655,  689. 


340  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

or  tribes  were  exhorted  to  reconciliation  by  a  sealed  agreement, 
and  the  party  which  broke  the  peace  was  excommunicated.  A 
Synod  of  Limoges  in  1031  used  even  the  more  terrible  punish- 
ment of  the  interdict  against  the  bloody  feuds. 

These  sporadic  efforts  prepared  the  way  for  one  of  the  most 
benevolent  institutions  of  the  middle  ages,  the  so-called  "Peace" 
or  "  Truce  of  God."  ^  It  arose  in  Aquitania  in  France  during 
or  soon  after  a  terrible  famine  in  1033,  which  increased  the 
number  of  murders  (even  for  the  satisfaction  of  hunger)  and 
inflicted  untold  misery  upon  the  people.  Then  the  bishops  and 
abbots,  as  if  moved  by  divine  inspiration  (hence  "  the  Peace  of 
6rocZ"),  united  in  the  resolution  that  all  feuds  should  cease  from 
Wednesday  evening  till  Monday  morning  [aferiae  quartce  vesper^a 
usque  ad  secundam  feriam,  incipiente  luce)  on  pain  of  excommuui- 
cation.2  In  1041  the  archbishop  Raimbald  of  Aries,  the  bishops 
Benedict  of  Avignon  and  Nitard  of  Nice,  and  the  abbot  Odilo 
of  Clugny  issued  in  their  name  and  in  the  name  of  the  French 
episcopate  an  encyclical  letter  to  the  Italian  bishops  and  clergy, 
in  which  they  solemnly  implore  them  to  keep  the  heaven-sent 
Treuga  Dei,  already  introduced  in  Gaul,  namely,  to  observe  peace 

*  Treuga  Dei,  GoUesfriede.  See  Du  Cange  sub.  "  Treva,  Treuga,  seu  Trevia 
Dei."  The  word  occurs  in  several  languages  (treuga,  tregoa,  trauva,  treva,  treve). 
It  comes  from  the  same  root  as  the  German  treri,  Treue,  and  the  English  true, 
troth,  truce,  and  signifies  a  pledge  of  faith,  given  for  a  time  to  an  enemy  for 
keeping  peace. 

2  Rodulf  Glaber,  a  monk  of  Cluny,  gives  a  graphic  account  of  this  famine 
and  the  origin  of  the  Peace  movement,  in  his  Historia  sui  Temporis.  lib.  IV. 
c.  4  and  5  (in  Migne's  Patrol.  Tom.  142,  fol.  675-679).  Hefele,  IV.  698,  traces 
the  movement  to  Provence  and  to  the  year  1040  with  a  "  perh.aps,"  but  Rodulf 
Glaber  makes  it  begin  "  in  Aquitanice  partibus  anno  incarnati  Christi  milledmo 
tricesimo  tertio"  from  whence  it  spread  rapidly  "per  Arelatensem  provinciam, 
atque  Lugdunensem,  sicque  per  universam  Burgundiam,  atque  in  ultimas  FrandcB 
partes"  (Migne,  I.  c.  fol.  678).  Comp.  lib.  V.  1  (fol.  693) :  " primitus  in  partibus 
Aquitanicis,  deinde  paulatim  per  universum  Galliarum  territorium,"  etc.  He  also 
reports  that  the  introduction  <:•?  the  Peace  was  blessed  by  innumerable  cures 
and  a  bountiful  harvest.  "  Erat  instar  Ulius  avtiqui  Mosaici  mngni  Jubiloei" 
Balderich,  in  his  Chronicle  of  the  Bishops  of  Oambray,  reports  that  in  one  of 
the  French  synods  a  bishop  showed  a  letter  which  fell  from  heaven  and  ex- 
horted to  peace.  The  bishop  of  Cambray,  however,  dissented  because  he 
thought  the  resolution  could  not  be  carried  out. 


2  79.  THE  ORDEAL.  341 

between  neighbors,  friends  or  foes  on  four  days  of  the  week, 
namely,  on  Thursday,  on  account  of  Christ's  ascension,  on 
Friday  on  account  of  his  crucifixion,  on  Saturday  in  memory  of 
his  burial,  on  Sunday  in  memory  of  his  resurrection.  They 
add  :  "  All  who  love  this  Treuga  Dei  we  bless  and  absolve ; 
but  those  who  oppose  it  we  anathematize  and  exclude  from  the 
church.  He  who  punishes  a  disturber  of  the  Peace  of  God 
shall  be  acquitted  of  guilt  and  blessed  by  all  Christians  as  a 
champion  of  the  cause  of  God." 

The  peace-movement  spread  through  all  Burgundy  and 
France,  and  was  sanctioned  by  the  Synods  of  Narbonne  (1054), 
Gerundum  in  Spain  (1068),  Toulouse  (1068),  Troyes  (1093), 
Rouen  (1096),  Rheims  (1136),  the  Lateran  (1139  and  1179),  etc. 
The  Synod  of  Clermont  (1095),  under  the  lead  of  Pope  Urban 
II.,  made  the  Truce  of  God  the  general  law  of  the  church. 
The  time  of  the  Truce  was  extended  to  the  whole  period  from 
the  first  of  Advent  to  Epiphany,  from  Ash  Wednesday  to  the 
close  of  the  Easter  week,  and  from  Ascension  to  the  close  of 
the  week  of  Pentecost ;  also  to  the  various  festivals  and  their 
vigils.     The  Truce  was  announced  by  the  ringing  of  bells.^ 

§.79,   The  Ordeal. 

Grimm  :  Deutsche  Hechtsalterthilmer,  Gottingen  1828,  p,  908  sqq.  HlL- 
DENBRAND :  Die  Purgatio  canonica  et  vulgaris,  Miincheu  1841. 
Unger  :  Der  gerichtliche  Zweikampf,  Gottingen  1847.  Phiupps  : 
Ueher  die  Ordalien,'M^x\c\\en  1847.  Dahn:  Studien  zur  Gesch.  der 
germ.  Gottesurfheile,  Miinchen  1867.  Pfalz  :  Die  german.  Ordalien, 
Leipz.  1865.  Henry  C.  Lea  :  Superstition  and  Force,  Philad.  1866, 
p.  175-280.  (I  have  especially  used  Lea,  who  gives  ample  authori- 
ties for  his  statements.)  For  synodical  legislation  on  ordeals  see 
Hefele,  vols.  III.  and  IV. 

Another  heathen  custom  with  which  the  chiu'ch  had  to  deal, 
is  the  so-called  Judgment  of  God  or  Ordeal,  that  is,  a  trial 

1  See  further  details  in  Mansi  XIX.  549  sq. ;  Kluckhohn ;  Hefele  (IV.  696- 
702,  780) ;  and  Mejer  in  Herzog^  V.  319  sqq. 


342  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1041. 

of  guilt  or  innocence  by  a  direct  appeal  to  God  through  nature.^ 
It  prevailed  in  China,  Japan,  India,  Egypt  (to  a  less  extent  in 
Greece  and  Rome),  and  among  the  barbaric  races  throughout 
Europe.^ 

The  ordeal  reverses  the  correct  principle  that  a  man  must  be 
held  to  be  innocent  until  he  is  proved  to  be  guilty,  and  throws 
the  burden  of  proof  upon  the  accused  instead  of  the  accuser. 
It  is  based  on  the  superstitious  and  presumptuous  belief  that 
the  divine  Ruler  of  the  universe  will  at  any  time  work  a 
miracle  for  the  vindication  of  justice  when  man  in  his  weakness 
cannot  decide,  and  chooses  to  relieve  himself  of  responsibility 
by  calling  heaven  to  his  aid.  In  the  Carloviugian  Capitularies 
the  following  passage  occurs  :  "  Let  doubtful  cases  be  determined 
by  the  judgment  of  God.  The  judges  may  decide  that  whicB 
they  clearly  know,  but  that  which  they  cannot  know  shall  be  re- 
served for  the  divine  judgment.  He  whom  God  has  reserved  for 
his  own  judgment  may   not  be  condemned  by  human  means." 

The  customary  ordeals  in  the  middle  ages  were  water-ordeals 
and  fire-ordeals ;  the  former  were  deemed  plebeian,  the  latter 
(as  well  as  the  duel),  patrician.  The  one  called  to  mind  the 
punishment  of  the  deluge  and  of  Pharaoh  in  the  Red  Sea ;  the 
other,  the  future  punishment  of  hell.  The  water-ordeals  were 
either  by  hot  water ,^  or  by  cold  water ;  *  the  fire-ordeals  were 

^  From  the  Anglo-Saxon  ordael  or  ordela  (from  or^^^ur,  and  dcel=theil) : 
German:  Urtheil  or  Gottesurtheil ;  Dutch:  oordeel ;  Frencli :  ordeal;  L.  Lat. ; 
ordalium,  ordale,  ordela.  See  Du  Cange  snb.  ordela,  aquae  frigidce  judicium, 
Duellum,  Ferrum  candens ;  Skeat  {Etyniol.  Did.  of  the  Engl.  Lang.)  s\ih.Deal. 

'  See  the  proof  in  Lea,  who  finds  in  the  wide  prevalence  of  this  custom  a 
confirmation  of  the  common  origin  of  the  Aryan  or  Indo-germanic  races. 

^  Judicium  aquce  ferventis,  ceneum,  cncabuf!,  caldaria.  This  is  probably  the 
oldest  form  in  Europe.  See  Lea,  p.  196.  It  is  usually  referred  to  in  the  most 
ancient  texts  of  law,  and  especially  recommended  by  Hincmar  of  Rheims,  as 
combining  the  elements  of  water — the  judgment  of  the  deluge — and  of  fire — 
the  judgment  of  the  Inst  day.  The  accused  was  obliged,  with  his  naked  arm, 
to  find  a  small  stone  or  ring  in  a  boiling  caldron  of  water  (this  was  called  in 
German  the  Kesselfang),  or  simply  to  throw  the  hand  to  the  wrist  or  to  the 
elbow  into  boiling  water.     See  Lea,  p.  196  sqq. 

*  Judicium  aquce  frigidce.     It  was  not  known  in  Europe  before  Pope  Eugenius 


§  79.  THE  ORDEAL.  343 

either  by  hot  iron/  or  by  pure  fire.^  The  person  accused  or 
suspected  of  a  crime  was  exposed  to  the  danger  of  death  or 
serious  injury  by  one  of  these  elements :  if  he  escaped  unhurt — 
if  he  plunged  his  arm  to  the  elbow  into  boiling  water,  or  walked 
barefoot  upon  heated  plough-shares,  or  held  a  burning  ball  of 

II.  (824-827),  who  seems  to  have  introduced  it.  The  accused  was  bound  with 
cords,  and  lowered  with  a  rope  into  a  reservoir  or  pond,  with  the  prayer  (St. 
Dunstan's  formula)  :  ''  Let  not  the  water  receive  the  body  of  him  who,  released 
from  the  weight  of  goodness,  is  upborne  by  the  wind  of  iniquity."  It  was 
supposed  that  the  pure  element  would  not  receive  a  criminal  into  its  bosom. 
It  required  therefore  in  this  case  a  miracle  to  convict  the  accused,  as  in  the 
natural  order  of  things  he  would  escape.  Lea  (p.  221)  relates  this  instance 
from  a  MS.  in  the  British  Museum :  ''  In  1083,  during  the  deadly  struggle 
between  the  Empire  and  the  Papacy,  as  personified  in  Henry  IV.  and  Hilde- 
brand,  the  imperialists  related  with  great  delight  that  some  of  the  leading 
prelates  of  the  papal  court  submitted  the  cause  of  their  chief  to  this  ordeal. 
After  a  three  days'  fast,  and  proper  benediction  of  the  water,  they  placed  in  it 
a  boy  to  represent  the  Emperor,  when  to  their  horror  he  sank  like  a  stone. 
On  referring  the  result  to  Hildebrand,  he  ordered  a  repetition  of  the  experi- 
ment, which  was  attended  with  the  same  result.  Then,  throwing  him  in,  as  a 
representative  of  the  Pope,  he  obstinately  floated  during  two  trials,  in  spite  of 
all  efforts  to  force  him  under  the  surface,  and  an  oath  was  exacted  from  them 
to  maintain  inviolable  secrecy  as  to  the  unexpected  result."  James  I.  of 
England  was  a  strict  believer  in  this  ordeal,  and  thought  that  the  pure  element 
would  never  receive  those  who  had  desecrated  the  privileges  of  holy  baptism. 
Even  as  late  as  1836,  an  old  woman,  reputed  to  be  a  witch,  was  twice  plunged 
into  the  sea  at  Hela,  near  Danzig,  and  as  she  persisted  in  rising  to  the  surface, 
she  was  pronounced  guilty  and  beaten  to  death.     See  Lea,  p.  228  and  229. 

*  Judicium  ferri  or  ferri  candentis.  A  favorite  mode,  administered  in  two 
different  forms,  the  one  by  six  or  twelve  red-hot  plough-shares  (vomeres  igniti), 
over  which  the  person  had  to  walk  bare-footed ;  the  other  by  a  piece  of  red- 
hot  iron,  which  he  had  to  carry  for  a  distance  of  nine  feet  or  more.  See  Lea, 
p.  201  sq. 

'^  The  accused  had  to  stretch  his  hand  into  a  fire ;  hence  the  French  proverb- 
ial expression :  ''J'en  mettrais  la  main  au  feu,"  as  an  affirmation  of  positive 
belief.  Sometimes  he  had  to  walk  bare-legged  and  bare-footed  through  the 
flames  of  huge  pyres.  Petrus  Igneus  gained  his  reputation  and  surname  by 
an  exploit  of  this  kind.  See  examples  in  Lea,  p.  209  sqq.  Savonarola  pro- 
posed this  ordeal  in  1498  to  his  enemies  in  proof  of  his  assertion  that  the 
church  needed  a  thorough  reformation,  and  that  his  excommunication  by  Pope 
Alexander  VI.  was  null  and  void,  but  he  shrunk  from  the  trial,  lo>;t  his  cause, 
and  was  hanged  and  burned  after  undergoing  frightful  tortures.  He  had  not 
the  courage  of  Hus  at  Constance,  or  Luther  at  Worms,  and  his  attempted  re- 
formation left  nothing  but  a  tragic  memory. 


344  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

iron  in  his  hand,  without  injury,  he  was  supposed  to  be  declared 
innocent  by  a  miraculous  interposition  of  God,  and  discharged ; 
otherwise  he  was  punished. 

To  the  ordeals  belongs  also  the  judicial  duel  or  battle  ordeal. 
It  was  based  on  the  old  superstition  that  God  always  gives  vic- 
tory to  the  innocent.'  It  was  usually  allowed  only  to  freemen. 
Aged  and  sick  persons,  women,  children,  and  ecclesiastics  could 
furnish  substitutes,  but  not  always.  Mediaeval  panegyrists 
trace  the  judicial  duel  back  to  Cain  and  Abel.  It  prevailed 
among  the  ancient  Danes,  Irish,  Burgundians,  Franks,  and 
Lombards,  but  was  unknown  among  the  Anglo-Saxons  before 
William  the  Conqueror,  who  introduced  it  into  England.  It 
was  used  also  in  international  litigation.  The  custom  died  out 
in  the  sixteenth  century.^ 

The  mediaeval  church,  M'ith  her  strong  belief  in  the  miracu- 
lous, could  not  and  did  not  generally  oppose  the  ordeal,  but  she 
baptized  it  and  made  it  a  powerful  means  to  enforce  her  authority 
over  the  ignorant  and  superstitious  people  she  had  to  deal  with. 
Several  councils  at  Mainz  in  880,  at  Tribur  on  the  Rhine  in 
895,  at  Tours  in  925,  at  Mainz  in  1065,  at  Auch  in  1068,  at 
Grau  in  1099,  recognized  and  recommended  it ;  the  clergy, 
bishops,  and  archbishops,  as  Hincmar  of  Rheims,  and  Burck- 
hardt  of  Worms,  and  even  popes  like  Gregory  VII.  and 
Calixtus  II.  lent  it  their  influence.  St.  Bernard  approved  of 
the  cold-water  process  for  the  conviction  of  heretics,  and  St. 
Ivo  of  Chartres  admitted  that  the  incredulity  of  mankind 
sometimes  required  an  appeal  to  the  verdict  of  Heav^eu,  though 

1  Tacitus  {German,  cap.  7)  reports  of  the  heathen  Germans:  "  [Deum] 
adesse  bellantibris  credunt." 

^  See  Lea,  p.  75-174.  The  wager  of  battle,  as  a  judicial  institution,  must 
not  be  confounded  with  the  private  duel  which  has  been  more  or  less  cus- 
tomary among  all  races  and  in  all  ages,  and  still  .survives  as  a  relic  of  bar- 
barism, though  misnamed  ''the  satisfaction  of  a  gentleman."  The  judicial 
duel  aims  at  the  discovery  of  truth  and  the  impartial  administration  of  justice, 
while  the  object  of  the  private  duel  is  personal  vengeance  and  reparation  of 
honor.  ."      *  • 


§  79.  THE  ORDEAL.  345 

such  appeals  Avere  not  commanded  by  the  law  of  God.  As  late 
as  1215  the  ferocious  inquisitor  Conrad  of  Marburg  freely  used 
the  hot  iron  against  eighty  persons  in  Strassburg  alone  who 
were  suspected  of  the  Albigeusian  heresy.  The  clergy  pre- 
pared the  combatants  by  fasting  and  prayer,  and  special  liturgi- 
cal formulas ;  they  presided  over  the  trial  and  pronounced  the 
sentence.  Sometimes  fraud  was  practiced,  and  bribes  offered  and 
taken  to  divert  the  com-se  of  justice.  Gregory  of  Tours  men- 
tions the  case  of  a  deacon  who,  in  a  conflict  with  an  Arian 
priest,  anointed  his  arm  before  he  stretched  it  into  the  boiling 
caldron ;  the  Arian  discovered  the  trick,  charged  him  with 
using  magic  arts,  and  declared  the  trial  null  and  void ;  but  a 
Catholic  priest,  Jacintus  from  Ravenna,  stepped  forward,  and 
by  catching  the  ring  from  the  bubbling  caldron,  triumphantly 
vindicated  the  orthodox  faith  to  the  admiring  multitude,  de- 
claring that  the  water  felt  cold  at  the  bottom  and  agreeably 
warm  at  the  top.  When  the  Arian  boldly  repeated  the  experi- 
ment, his  flesh  was  boiled  off  the  bones  up  to  the  elbow.^ 

The  Church  even  invented  and  substituted  new  ordeals, 
which  were  less  painful  and  cruel  than  the  old  heathen  forms, 
but  shockingly  profane  according  to  our  notions.  Profanity 
and  superstition  are  closely  allied.  These  new  methods  are 
the  ordeal  of  the  cross,  and  the  ordeal  of  the  eucharist.  They 
were  especially  used  by  ecclesiastics. 

The  ordeal  of  the  cross  ^  is  simply  a  trial  of  physical  strength. 
The  plaintiff"  and  the  defendant,  after  appropriate  religious  cere- 
monies, stood  with  uplifted  arm  before  a  cross  while  divine 
service  was  performed,  and  victory  depended  on  the  length  of 
endurance.  Pepin  first  prescribed  this  trial,  by  a  Capitulary  of 
752,  in  cases  of  application  by  a  wife  for  divorce.     Charle- 

^  De  Gloria  Martyrum  I.  81.     Lea,  p.  198. 

^  Judicium  erucis,  or  stare  ad  crucem,  Kreuzesprohe.  A  modification  of  it  was 
the  trial  of  standing  with  the  arms  extended  in  the  form  of  a  cross.  In  this 
way  St.  Lioba,  abbe.?s  of  Bischoffsheim,  vindicated  the  honor  of  her  convent 
against  the  charge  of  impurity  when  a  new-born  child  was  drowned  in  the 
neighborhood.     Lea,  p.  231. 


346  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

magne  prescribed  it  in  cases  of  territorial  disputes  which  might 
arise  between  his  sons  (806).  But  Louis-le-D6bonnaire,  soon 
after  the  death  of  Charlemagne,  forbade  its  continuance  at  a 
Council  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  816,  because  this  abuse  of  the 
cross  tended  to  bring  the  Christian  symbol  into  contempt.  His 
sou,  the  Emperor  Lothair,  renewed  the  prohibition.  A  trace 
of  this  ordeal  is  left  in  the  proverbial  allusion  to  an  experimentum 
erucis. 

A  still  worse  profanation  was  the  ordeal  of  consecrated  bread 
in  the  eucharist  with  the  awful  adjuration :  "  May  this  body 
and  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  a  judgment  to  thee  this 
day."  ^  It  was  enjoined  by  a  Synod  of  Worms,  in  868,  upon 
bishops  and  priests  who  Avere  accused  of  a  capital  crime,  such  as 
murder,  adultery,  theft,  sorcery.  It  was  employed  by  Cautinus, 
bishop  of  Auvergne,  at  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  who 
administered  the  sacrament  to  a  Count  Eulalius,  accused  of 
patricide,  and  acquitted  him  after  he  had  partaken  of  it  without 
harm.  King  Lothair  and  his  nobles  took  the  sacrament  in 
proof  of  his  separation  from  Walrada,  his  mistress,  but  died 
soon  afterwards  at  Piacenza  of  a  sudden  epidemic^  and  this  was 
regarded  by  Pope  Hadrian  II.  as  a  divine  punishment. 
Rudolfus  Glaber  records  the  case  of  a  monk  who  boldly 
received  the  consecrated  host,  but  forthwith  confessed  his  crime 
when  the  host  slipped  out  of  his  navel,  white  and  pure  as  be- 
fore. Sibicho,  bishop  of  Speier,  underwent  the  trial  to  clear 
himself  of  the  charge  of  adultery  (1049).  Even  Pope  Hilde- 
brand  made  use  of  it  in  self-defense  against  Emperor  Henry 
IV.  at  Canossa,  in  1077.  "Lest  I  should  seem,"  he  said,  "to 
rely  rather  on  human  than  divine  testimony,  and  that  I  may 
remove  from  the  minds  of  all,  by  immediate  satisfaction,  every 
scruple,  behold  this  body  of  our  Lord  which  I  am  about  to 
take.  Let  it  be  to  me  this  day  a  test  of  my  innocence,  and 
may  the  Omnipotent  God  this  day  by  his  judgment  absolve  me 

^  Judicium  offce,  panis  conjuralio,  corsnced,  Abendmahlsprobe.     Cnmp.   Hefele 
IV.  370,  552,  735. 


2  79.  THE  OEDEAL.  347 

of  the  accusations  if  I  am  innocent,  or  let  me  perish  by  sudden 
death,  if  guilty."  Then  the  pope  calmly  took  the  wafer,  and 
called  upon  the  trembling  emperor  to  do  the  same,  but  Henry 
evaded  it  on  the  ground  of  the  absence  of  both  his  friends  and 
his  enemies,  and  promised  instead  to  submit  to  a  trial  by  the 
imperial  diet. 

The  purgatorial  oath,  when  administered  by  wonder-working 
relics,  was  also  a  kind  of  ordeal  of  ecclesiastical  origin.  A 
false  oath  on  the  black  cross  in  the  convent  of  Abington,  made 
from  the  nails  of  the  crucifixion,  and  derived  from  the  Emperor 
Constantine,  was  fatal  to  the  malefactor.  In  many  cases  these 
relics  were  the  means  of  eliciting  confessions  which  could  not 
have  been  obtained  by  legal  devices. 

The  genuine  spirit  of  Christianity,  however,  urged  towards 
an  abolition  rather  than  improvement  of  all  these  ordeals. 
Occasionally  such  voices  of  protest  were  i-aised,  though  for  a 
long  time  without  effect.  Avitus,  bishop  of  Vienne,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  sixth  century,  remonstrated  with  Gundobald 
for  giving  prominence  to  the  battle-ordeal  in  the  Burgundian 
code.  St.  Agobard,  archbishop  of  Lyons,  before  the  middle 
of  the  ninth  century  (he  died  about  840)  attacked  the  duel  and 
the  ordeal  in  two  special  treatises,  which  breathe  the  gospel 
spirit  of  humanity,  fraternity  and  peace  in  advance  of  his  age.^ 
He  says  that  the  ordeals  are  falsely  called  judgments  of  God; 
for  God  never  prescribed  them,  never  approved  them,  never 
willed  them ;  but  on  the  contrary,  he  commands  us,  in  the  law 
and  the  gospel,  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves,  and  has  ap- 
pointed judges  for  the  settlement  of  controversies  among  men. 
He  warns  against  a  presumptuous  interpretation  of  providence 
whose  counsels  are  secret  and  not  to  be  revealed  by  water  and 
fire.     Several  popes,  Leo  IV.  (847-855),  Nicolas  I.  (858-867), 

'  Liber  adversus  Legem  Gundobadi  (i.  e..  Leg.  Burgundionum)  el  impia  cer- 
tarmina  quce  per  earn  geruntur  ;  and  Liber  Contra  Judicium  Dei.  See  his  Opera 
ed.  Baluzius,  Paris  1666,  T.  I.  107  sqq.,  300  sqq.,  and  in  Mlgne's  Patrologia, 
Tom.  CIV.  f.  113-126,  and  f.  250-258  (with  the  notes  of  Baluzius). 


348  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

Stephen  VI.  (885-891),  Sylvester  II.  (999-1003),  Alex- 
ander II.  (1061-3073),  Alexander  III.  (1159-1181),  Colestin 
III.  (1191-1198),  Honorius  III.  (1222),  and  the  fourth 
Lateran  Council  (1215),  condemned  more  or  less  clearly  the 
superstitious  and  frivolous  provocation  of  miracles.*  It  was 
by  their  influence,  aided  by  secular  legislation,  that  these  God- 
tempting  ordeals  gradually  disappeared  during  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries,  but  the  underlying  idea  survived  in  the 
torture  which  for  a  long  time  took  the  place  of  the  ordeal. 

§  80.   The   Torture. 

Henry   C.  Lea:    Superstition  and  Force   (Philad.   1866),  p.   281-391. 

Paul  Lacroix  :  Manners,  Customs,  and  Dress  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
during  the  Renaissance  Period  (transl.  from  the  French,  N.  York 
1874),  p.  407-434.     Brace:   Gesta  Christi,  ch.  XV. 

The  torture  rests  on  the  same  idea  as  the  ordeal.^  It  is  an 
attempt  to  prove  innocence  or  guilt  by  imposing  a  physical  pain 
which  no  man  can  bear  without  special  aid  from  God.  When 
the  ordeal  had  fulfilled  its  mission,  the  torture  was  substituted 
as  a  more  convenient   mode  and   better  fitted  for  an  age  less 

*"At  length,  when  the  Papal  authority  reached  its  culminating  point,  a 
vigorous  and  sustained  effort  to  abolish  the  wliole  system  wa^  made  by  the 
Popes  who  occupied  the  pontifical  throne  from  1159-1227.  Nothing  can  be 
more  peremptory  than  the  prohibition  uttered  by  Alexander  III.  In  1181, 
Lucius  III.  pronounced  null  and  void  the  acquittal  of  a  priest  charged  with 
homicide,  who  had  undergone  the  water-ordeal,  and  ordered  him  to  prove  his 
innocence  witli  compurgators,  and  the  blow  was  followed  up  by  his  successors. 
Under  Innocent  III.,  the  Fourth  Council  of  Lateran,  in  1215,  formally  forbade 
the  employment  of  any  ecclesiastical  ceremonies  in  such  trials ;  and  as  the 
moral  influence  of  the  ordeal  depended  entirely  upon  its  religious  associatioas, 
a  strict  observance  of  this  canon  must  speedily  have  swept  the  whole  system 
into  oblivion.  Yet  at  this  very  time  the  inquisitor  Conrad  of  Marburg  was 
employing  in  Germany  the  red-hot  iron  as  a  means  of  condemning  his  unfor- 
tunate victims  by  wholesale,  and  the  chronicler  relates  that,  whether  innocent 
or  guilty,  few  escaped  tlie  test.  The  canon  of  Lateran,  however,  was  actively 
followed  up  by  the  Papal  legates,  and  the  effect  was  soon  discernible."  Lea, 
p.  272. 

2  Tortura  from  torqueo,  to  twist,  to  torment.  Ital.  and  Spanish:  tortura; 
French  :  torture ;  Germ.  :  Falter. 


2  so.  THE  TORTUKE.  349 

superstitious  and  more  sceptical,  but  quite  as  despotic  and  in- 
tolerant. It  forms  one  of  the  darkest  chapters  in  history.  For 
centuries  this  atrocious  system,  opposed  to  the  Mosaic  legislation 
and  utterly  revolting  to  every  Christian  and  humane  feeling, 
was  employed  in  civilized  Christian  countries,  and  sacrificed 
thousands  of  human  beings,  innocent  as  well  as  guilty,  to  tor- 
ments worse  than  death. 

The  torture  was  unknown  among  the  Hindoos  and  the 
S.emitic  nations,  but  recognized  by  the  ancient  Greeks  and 
Romans,  as  a  regular  legal  proceeding.  It  was  originally  con- 
fined to  slaves  who  were  deemed  unfit  to  bear  voluntary  testi- 
mony, and  to  require  force  to  tell  the  truth.'  Despotic  emperors 
extended  it  to  freemen,  first  in  cases  of  crimen  Icesoe  majestatls. 
Pontius  Pilate  employed  the  scourge  and  the  crown  of  thorns  in 
the  trial  of  our  Saviour.  Tiberius  exhausted  his  ingenuity  in 
inventing  tortures  for  persons  suspected  of  conspiracy,  and  took 
delight  in  their  agony.  The  half-insane  Caligula  enjoyed  the 
cruel  spectacle  at  his  dinner-table.  Nero  resorted  to  this  cruelty 
to  extort  from  the  Christians  the  confession  of  the  crime  of 
incendiarism,  as  a  pretext  of  his  persecution,  which  he  intensified 
by  the  diabolical  invention  of  covering  the  innocent  victims 
with  pitch  and  burning  them  as  torches  in  his  gardens.  The 
younger  Pliny  employed  the  torture  against  the  Christians  in 

1  "Their  evidence  was  inadmissible,  except  when  given  under  torture,  and 
then  by  a  singular  confusion  of  logic,  it  was  estimated  as  the  most  convincing 
kind  of  testimony."  Lea,  283.  "  The  modes  of  torture  sanctioned  by  the 
Greeks  were  the  wheel  {r(i6x<^g),  the  ladder  or  rack  {Klifia^),  the  comb  with 
sharp  teeth  {Kvd<poq),  the  low  vault  {kv^uv)  in  which  the  unfortunate  witness 
was  thrust  and  bent  double,  the  burning  tiles  {-nlivdoL),  the  heavy  hog-skin 
whip  {vaTpix'ic),  and  the  injection  of  vinegar  into  the  nostrils."  Lea,  p.  284. 
The  Eoraans  used  chiefly  the  scourge.  The  instruments  of  torture  employed 
during  the  middle  ages  were  the  rack,  the  thumbscrew,  tlie  Spanish  boot,  iron 
gauntlets,  heated  iron  stools,  fire,  the  wheel,  the  strappado,  enforced  sleepless- 
ness, and  various  mutilations.  Brace  says  (p.  182)  that  "  nine  hundred  (?) 
different  instruments  for  inflicting  pain  were  invented  and  used."  One  tenth 
of  the  number  would  be  bad  enough.  Collections  of  these  devilish  instru- 
ments may  be  seen  in  the  London  Tower,  and  in  antiquarian  museums  on  the 
Continent. 


350  FOUKTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

Bithynia  as  imperial  governor.  Diocletian,  in  a  formal  edict, 
submitted  all  professors  of  the  hated  religion  to  this  degrading 
test.  The  torture  was  gradually  developed  into  a  regular  sys- 
tem and  embodied  in  the  Justinian  Code.  Certain  rules  were 
prescribed,  and  exemptions  made  in  favor  of  the  learned  pro- 
fessions, especially  the  clergy,  nobles,  children  below  fourteen, 
women  during  pregnancy,  etc.  The  system  was  thus  sanctioned 
by  the  highest  legal  authorities.  But  opinions  as  to  its  efficiency 
differed.  Augustus  pronounced  the  torture  the  best  form  of 
proof.  Cicero  alternately  praises  and  discredits  it.  Ulpian, 
with  more  wisdom,  thought  it  unsafe,  dangerous,  and  deceitful. 

Among  the  Northern  barbarians  the  torture  was  at  first  un- 
known except  for  slaves.  The  common  law  of  England  does 
not  recognize  it.  Crimes  were  regarded  only  as  injuries  to 
individuals,  not  to  society,  and  the  chief  resource  for  punish- 
ment was  the  private  vengeance  of  the  injured  party.  But  if 
a  slave,  who  was  a  mere  piece  of  property,  was  suspected  of  a 
theft,  his  master  would  flog  him  till  he  confessed.  All  doubtful 
questions  among  freemen  were  decided  by  sacramental  purgation 
and  the  various  forms  of  ordeal.  But  in  Southern  Europe, 
where  the  Roman  population  gave  laws  to  the  conquering  bar- 
barians, the  old  practice  continued,  or  revived  with  the  study 
of  the  Roman  law.  In  Southern  France  and  in  Spain  the 
torture  was  an  unbroken  ancestral  custom.  Alfonso  the  Wise, 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  in  his  revision  of  Spanish  jurispru- 
dence, known  as  Las  Siete  Partidas,  retained  the  torture,  but 
declared  the  person  of  man  to  be  the  noblest  thing  on  earth,^ 
and  required  a  voluntary  confession  to  make  the  forced  con- 
fession valid.  Consequently  the  prisoner  after  torture  was 
brought  before  the  judge  and  again  interrogated ;  if  he  recanted, 
he  was  tortured  a  second,  in  grave  cases,  a  third  time ;  if  he 
persisted  in  his  confession,  he  was  condemned.  During  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  the  system  of  torture  was 

'  "  La  persona  del  home  es  la  mas  noble  cosa  del  mundo." 


?  80.  THE  TORTURE.  351 

generally  introduced  in  Europe,  and  took  the  place  of  the 
ordeal. 

The  church,  true  to  her  humanizing  instincts,  was  at  first 
hostile  to  the  whole  system  of  forcing  evidence.  A  Synod  of 
Auxerre  (585  or  578)  prohibited  the  clergy  to  witness  a  torture.^ 
Pope  Gregory  I.  denounced  as  worthless  a  confession  extorted 
by  incarceration  and  hunger.^  Nicolas  I.  forbade  the  new  con- 
verts in  Bulgaria  to  extort  confession  by  stripes  and  by  pricking 
with  a  pointed  iron,  as  contrary  to  all  law,  human  and  divine 
(866).^  Gratian  lays  down  the  general  rule  that  "  confessio 
cruciatibus  extorqucnda  non  est. " 

But  at  a  later  period,  in  dealing  with  heretics,  the  Roman 
church  unfortunately  gave  the  sanction  of  her  highest  authority 
to  the  use  of  the  torture,  and  thus  betrayed  her  noblest  instincts 
and  holiest  mission.  The  fourth  Lateran  Council  (1215)  in- 
spired the  horrible  crusades  against  the  Albigenses  and  Wal- 
denses,  and  the  establishment  of  the  infamous  ecclesiastico-political 
courts  of  Inquisition.  These  courts  found  the  torture  the  most 
effective  means  of  punishing  and  exterminating  heresy,  and 
invented  new  forms  of  refined  cruelty  worse  than  those  of  the 
persecutors  of  heathen  Rome.  Pope  Innocent  TV.,  in  his  in- 
struction for  the  guidance  of  the  Inquisition  in  Tuscany  and 
Lombardy,  ordered  the  civil  magistrates  to  extort  from  all 
heretics  by  torture  a  confession  of  their  own  guilt  and  a  be- 
trayal of  all  their  accomplices  (1252).*  This  was  an  ominous 
precedent,  which  did  more  harm  to  the  reputation  of  the  papacy 
than  the  extermination  of  any  number  of  heretics  could  possibly 
do  it  good.     In  Italy,  owing  to  the  restriction  of  the  ecclesias- 

1  Can.  33 •  "Non  licet  presbytero  nee  diacono  ad  trepalium  ubi  ret  torquentur, 
stare."     See  Hefele  III.  46. 

2  Epist.  VIII.  30. 

3  Sesponsa  ad  Consulta  Bidcjarorum,  c.  86.     Hefele  IV.  350.     Lea,  p.  305. 

^  In  the  bull  Ad  extirpanda:  " Teneatur  potesias  seu  rector,  omnes  haereticos  .  .  . 
cogere  citra  membri  diminutionem  et  mortis  periculum,  tamquam  vere  latrones  et 
homicidas  animarum  .  .  .  errores  suos  expresse  fateri  et  accusare  alios  haereticos 
qvos  sciunt,  et  bona  eorum."  .  .  .  Innoc.  IV.  Leg.  et  Const,  contra  Haeret.  2  26. 
{Bullar.Magn.  in  Innoc.  IV.  No.  9).     Comp.  Gieseler  II.  564-569. 


352  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

tical  power  by  the  emperor,  the  inquisition  coiikl  not  fully 
display  its  murderous  character.  In  Germany  its  introduction 
was  resisted  by  the  people  and  the  bishops,  and  Conrad  of 
Marburg,  the  appointed  Inquisitor,  was  murdered  (1233).  But 
in  Spain  it  had  every  assistance  from  the  crown  and  the  people, 
which  to  this  day  take  delight  in  the  bloody  spectacles  of  bull- 
fights. The  Spanish  Inquisition  was  established  in  the  reign 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  by  papal  sanction  (1478),  reached  its 
fearful  height  under  the  terrible  General  Inquisitor  Torquemada 
(since  1488),  and  in  its  zeal  to  exterminate  Moors,  Jews,  and  her- 
etics, committed  such  fearful  excesses  that  even  popes  protested 
against  the  abuse  of  power,  although  with  little  effect.  The 
Inquisition  carried  the  system  of  torture  to  its  utmost  limits. 
After  the  Reformation  it  was  still  employed  in  trials  of  sorcery 
and  witchcraft  until  the  revolution  of  opinion  in  the  eighteenth 
century  swept  it  out  of  existence,  together  with  cruel  forms  of 
punishment.  This  victory  is  due  to  the  combined  influence  of 
justice,  humanity,  and  tolerance. 

NOTES. 

I.  "The  whole  system  of  the  Inquisition,"  says  Lea  (p.  331),  "was  such 
as  to  render  the  resort  to  torture  inevitable.  Its  proceedings  were  secret ; 
the  prisoner  was  carefully  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  exact  charges  against 
him,  and  of  the  evidence  upon  which  they  were  based.  He  was  pre- 
sumed to  be  guilty,  and  his  judges  bent  all  their  energies  to  force  him  to 
confess.  To  accomplish  this,  no  means  were  too  base  or  too  cruel.  Pre- 
tended sympathizers  were  to  be  let  into  his  dungeon,  whose  affected 
friendship  might  entrap  him  into  an  unwary  admission  ;  officials  armed 
with  fictitious  evidence  were  directed  to  frighten  him  with  assertions  of 
the  testimony  obtained  against  him  from  supposititious,  witnesses ;  and 
no  resources  of  fraud  or  guile  were  to  be  spared  in  overcoming  the  cau- 
tion and  resolution  of  the  poor  wretch  whose  mind  had  been  carefully 
weakened  by  solitude,  suffering,  hunger,  and  terror.  From  this  to  the 
rack  and  estrapade  the  step  was  easily  taken,  and  was  not  Ion?  delayed." 
For  details  see  the  works  on  the  Inquisition.  Llorente  [Hist.  crit.  de 
r Inquisition  (T Espagne  IV.  252,  quoted  by  Gieseler  III.  409  note  11) 
states  that  from  1478  to  the  end  of  the  administration  of  Torquemada 
in  1498,  when  he  resigned,  "  8800  persons  were  burned  alive,  firiOO  in 
effigy,  and  90,004  punished  with  different  kinds  of  penance.     Under  the 


2  80.  THE  TORTURE.  353 

second  general-inquisitor,  the  Dominican,  Diego  Deza,  from  1499  to  1506, 
1664  persons  were  burned  alive,  832  in  effigy,  32,456  punished.     Under 
the  third  general-inquisitor,  the  Cardinal  and  Archbishop  of  Toledo, 
Francis  Ximenes  de  Cisneros,  from  1507  to  1517,  2536  were  burned  alive, 
1368  in  effigy,  47,263  reconciled."     Llorente  was  a  Spanish  priest  and 
general  secretary  of  the  Inquisition  at  Madrid   (from  1789-1791),  and 
had  access  to  all  the  archives,  but  his  figures,  as  he  himself  admits,  are 
based  upon  probable  calculations,  and  have  in  some  instances  been  dis- 
proved.    He  states,  e.  g.  that  in  the  first  year  of  Torquemada's  adminis- 
tration 2000  persons  were  burned,  and  refers  to  the  Jesuit  Mariana  (His- 
tory of  Spain),  but  Mariana  means  that  during  the  whole  administration 
.  of   Torquemada    "  duo    millia    crematos    igne."      See   Hefele,    Cardinal 
Ximenes,^  p.  346.     The  sum  total  of  persons  condemned  to  death  by  the 
Spanish  Inquisition  during  the  330  years  of  its  existence,  is  Stated  to  be 
80,000.     Hefele  [Kirchenlexikon,  v.  656)   thinks  this  sum  exaggerated, 
yet  not  surprising  when  compared  with  the  number  of  witches  that  were 
burnt  in  Germany  alone.     The  Spanish  Inquisition  pronounced  its  last 
sentence  of  death  in  the  year  1781,  was  abolished  under  the  French  rule 
of  Joseph  Napoleon,  Dec.  4,  1808,  restored   by  Ferdinand  VII.  1814, 
again  abolished  1820,  and  (after  another  attempt  to  restore  it)  in  1834. 
Catholic  writers,   like   Balmez   {I.  c   chs.  xxxvi.  and   xxxvil.)    and 
Hefele    [Cardinal  Ximenes,  p.   257-389,  and    in   Wetzer    and    Welte's 
Kirchen-Lexicon,  vol.  V.  648-659),  charge  Llorente  with  inaccuracy  in 
his  figures,  and  defend  the  Catholic  church  against  the  excesses  of  the 
Spanish  Inquisition,  as  this  was  a  political  rather  than  ecclesiastical 
institution,  and   had   at   least   the  good  effect  of  preventing  religious 
wars.     But  the  Inquisition  was  instituted  with  the  express  sanction  of 
Pope  Sixtus  IV.  (Nov.  1,  1478),  was  controlled  by  the  Dominican  order 
and  by  Cardinals,  and  as  to  the  benefit,  the  peace  of  the  grave-yard  is 
worse   than   war.     Hefele  adds,  however  (V.  657) :    "  Nach  all'  diesen 
Bemerhungen  sind  wir  ilbrigens  iceit  enf/ernt,  der  Spanichen  Inquisition  an 
sich  das  Wort  reden  zu  woUen,  vielmehr  bestreiten  wir  der  icelt lichen  Gewalt 
durchaus  die  Befugniss,  das  Geicissen  zu  knebeln,  und  sind  von  Herzens- 
grund  aus  jedem  staatlichen  Religionszwang  abhold,  mag  er  von  einem 
Torquemada  in  der  Dominikanerkidte,  oder  von  einem  Bureaucrateri  in  der 
Staatsuniform  ansgehen.     Aber  das  wollten  wir  zeigeii,  dass  die  Inquisition 
das  schdndliche  Ungeheuer  nicht  war,  wozu  es  Parteileidenschaft  und  Un- 
wissenheii  hdnjig  stempeln  wollten.''^ 

II.  The  torture  was  abolished  in  England  after  1640,  in  Prussia 
1740,  in  Tuscany  1786,  in  France  1789,  in  Russia  1801,  in  various  Ger- 
man states  partly  earlier,  partly  later  (between  1740  and  1831),  in  Japan 
1873.  Thomasius,  Horamel,  Voltaire,  Howard,  used  their  influence 
against  it.  Exceptional  cases  of  judicial  torture  occurred  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  in  Naples,  Palermo,  Roumania  (1868),  and  Zug  (1869). 
See  Lea,  p.  389  sqq.,  and  the  chapter  on  Witchcraft  in  Lecky's  Ilistorg 
23 


354  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

of  nationalism  (vol.  I.  27-154).  The  extreme  difficulty  of  proof  in  trials 
of  witchcraft  seemed  to  make  a  resort  to  the  torture  inevitable.  English 
witchcraft  reached  its  climax  during  the  seventeenth  century,  and  was 
defended  by  King  James  I.,  and  even  such  wise  men  as  Sir  Matthew 
Hale,  Sir  Thomas  Browne,  and  Richard  Baxter.  When  it  was  on  the 
decline  in  England  it  brol^e  out  afresh  in  Puritan  New  England,  created 
a  perfect  panic,  and  led  to  the  execution  of  twenty -seven  persons.  In 
Scotland  it  lingered  still  longer,  and  as  late  as  1727  a  woman  was  burnt 
there  for  witciicraft.  In  the  Canton  Glarus  a  witch  was  executed  in 
1782,  and  another  near  Danzig  in  Prussia  in  1836.  Lecky  concludes  his 
chapter  with  an  eloquent  tribute  to  those  poor  women,  who  died  alone, 
hated,  and  unpitied,  with  the  prospect  of  exchanging  their  torments  on 
earth  with  eternal  torments  in  hell. 

I  add  a  noble  passage  on  torture  from  Brace's  Gesfa  Christi,  p.  274  sq. 
"  Had  the  '  Son  of  Man '  been  in  body  upon  the  earth  during  the  Middle 
Ages,  hardly  one  wrong  and  injustice  would  have  wounded  his  pure  soul 
like  the  system  of  torture.  To  see  human  beings,  with  the  consciousness^ 
of  innocence,  or  professing  and  believing  the  purest  truths,  condemned 
without  proof  to  the  most  harrowing  agonies,  every  groan  or  admission 
under  pain  used  against  them,  their  confessions  distorted,  their  nerves  so 
racked  that  they  pleaded  their  guilt  in  order  to  end  their  tortures,  their 
last  hours  tormented  by  false  ministers  of  justice  or  religion,  who 
threaten  eternal  as  well  as  temporal  damnation,  and  all  this  going  on 
for  ages,  until  scarce  any  innocent  felt  themselves  safe  under  this  mock- 
ery of  justice  and  religion — all  this  would  have  seemed  to  the  Founder 
of  Christianity  as  the  worst  travesty  of  his  faith  and  the  most  cruel 
wound  to  humanity.  It  need  not  be  repeated  that  his  spirit  in  each 
century  struggled  with  this  tremendous  evil,  and  inspired  the  great 
friends  of  humanity  who  labored  against  it.  The  main  forces  in  medi- 
aeval society,  even  those  which  tended  towards  its  improvement,  did  not 
touch  thi?  abuse.  Roman  law  supported  it.  Stoicism  was  indifferent  to 
it;  Greek  literature  did  not  affect  it;  feudalism  and  arbitrary  power  en- 
couraged a  practice  which  they  could  use  for  their  own  ends ;  and  even 
the  hierarchy  and  a  State  Church  so  far  forgot  the  truths  they  professed 
as  to  employ  torture  to  support  the  '  Religion  of  Love.'  But  against  all 
these  powers  were  the  words  of  Jesus,  bidding  men  '  Love  your  enemies  ! ' 
'Do  good  to  them  that  despitefully  use  you!'  and  the  like  commands, 
working  everywhere  on  individual  souls,  heard  from  pulpits  and  in 
monasteries,  read  over  by  humble  believers,  and  slowly  making  their 
way  against  ])arbaric  passion  and  hierarchic  cruelty.  Gradually,  in  the 
sixteenth  and  soventeentii  centuries,  the  books  containing  the  message 
of  Jesus  circulated  among  all  classes,  and  produced  that  state  of  mind 
and  heart  in  which  torture  could  not  be  used  on  a  fellow-being,  and  in 
which  such  an  abuse  and  enormity  as  the  Inquisition  was  hurled  to  the 
earth." 


2  81.  CHRISTIAN  CHARITY.  355 


§  81.   Christian  Charity. 

Bee  the  Lit.  in  vol.  11.  I  88,  p.  311  sq.  Chastel  :  Etudes  historiques  sur 
Vinfluence  de  la  chariU  (Paris  1853,  English  transl.,  Philad.  1857 — 
for  the  first  three  centuries).  Haser:  Oeschichte  der  christl. 
Kranhenpfiege  wid  Pflegerschaften  (Berlin  1857).  Ratzinger:  Gesch. 
der  christl.  Arvienpflege  (Freib.  1869,  a  new  ed.  announced  1884). 
MoRIN  :  Histoire  critique  de  la  pauvretS  (in  the  "  Memoirs  de  1' 
Academic  des  inscript."  IV).  Lecky;  Hist,  of  Europ.  Morals,  ch. 
4th  (II.  62  sqq.).  UhlHORN  :  Christian  Charity  in  the  Ancient  Church 
(Stuttgart,  1881 ;  Engl,  transl.  Lond.  and  N.  York  1883),  Book  III., 
and  his  Die  Christliche  Liebesthdtigkeit  im  Miftelalter.  -  Stuttgart, 
1884.  (See  also  his  art.  in  Brieger's  "  Zeitschrift  fiir  K.  G."  IV.  1).  B. 
E.IGGEKBACH:  Dos  Armeuwesen  der  Reformation  (Basel  1883).  Also 
the  articles  Armenpjlege  in  Herzog's  "Encycl."*  vol.  I.  648-663; 
in  AVetzer  and  Welte's  "  Kirchenlex."  ^  vol.  1. 1354-1375 ;  Faup^risme 
in  Lichtenberger  X.  305-312 ;  and  Hospitals  in  Smith  and  Cheetham 
I.  785-789. 

From  the  cruelties  of  superstition  and  bigotry  we  gladly 
turn  to  the  queen  of  Christian  graces,  that  "  most  excellent 
gift  of  charity/'  which  never  ceased  to  be  exercised  wherever 
the  story  of  Christ's  love  for  sinners  was  told  and  his  golden 
rule  repeated.  It  is  a  "  bond  of  perfectness "  that  binds 
together  all  ages  and  sections  of  Christendom.  It  comforted 
the  Roman  empire  in  its  hoary  age  and  agonies  of  death  ;  and 
it  tamed  the  ferocity  of  the  barbarian  invaders.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  overestimate  the  moral  effect  of  the  teaching  and 
example  of  Christ,  and  of  St.  Paul's  seraphic  praise  of  charity 
upon  the  development  of  this  cardinal  virtue  in  all  ages  and 
countries.  We  bow  with  reverence  before  the  truly  apostolic 
succession  of  those  missionaries,  bishops,  monks,  nuns,  kings, 
nobles,  and  plain  men  and  women,  rich  or  poor,  known  and 
unknown,  who,  from  gratitude  to  Christ  and  pure  love  to  their 
fellow-men,  sacrificed  home,  health,  wealth,  life  itself,  to 
humanize  and  Christianize  savages,  to  feed  the  hungry,  to  give 
drink  to  the  thirsty,  to  entertain  the  stranger,  to  clothe  the 
naked,  to  visit   the  sick,  to  call  on  the  prisoner,  to   comfort 


356  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

the  dying.  We  admire  and  honor  also  those  exceptional  saints 
who,  in  literal  fulfillment  or  misunderstanding  of  the  Saviour's 
advice  to  the  rich  youth,  and  in  imitation  of  the  first  disciples 
at  Jerusalem,  sold  all  their  possessions  and  gave  them  to  the 
'  poor  that  they  might  become  perfect.  The  admiration  is  indeed 
diminished,  but  not  destroyed,  if  in  many  cases  a  large  measure 
of  refined  selfishness  was  mixed  with  self-denial,  and  when  the 
riches  of  heaven  were  the  sole  or  chief  inducement  for  choosing 
voluntary  poverty  on  earth. 

The  supreme  duty  of  Christian  charity  was  inculcated  by  all 
faithful  pastors  and  teachers  of  the  gospel  from  the  beginning. 
In  the  apostolic  and  ante-Nicene  ages  it  was  exercised  by 
regular  contributions  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  especially  at  the 
communion  and  the  agape  connected  with  it.  Every  congre- 
gation was  a  charitable  society,  and  took  care  of  its  widows  and 
orphans,  of  strangers  and  prisoners,  and  sent  help  to  distant 
congreffatious  in  need.^ 

After  Constantine,  when  the  masses  of  the  people  flocked 
into  the  church,  charity  assumed  an  institutional  form,  and 
built  hospitals  and  houses  of  refuge  for  the  strangers,  the  poor, 
the  sick,  the  aged,  the  orphans.^  They  appear  first  in  the  East, 
but  soon  afterwards  also  in  the  West.  Fabiola  founded  a 
hospital  in  Rome,  Pammachius  one  in  the  Portus  Roman  us, 
Paulinus  one  in  Nola.  At  the  time  of  Gregory  I.  there  were 
several    hospitals   in   Rome;    he   mentions    also    hospitals   in 

»  See  vol.  II.  I  100,  p.  374  sqq. 

*  They  are  called  Xeiiodochium  and  Xenodochia  {^evo^oxeinv)  for  strangers  ; 
ptochium  or  ptocltotrophium  {nruxe'iov,  TZTO)xoTpo(pdov)  for  the  poor;  orphano- 
trophium  {bp(f)avo'&po<pEiov)  for  orphans;  brepholrophium  {lip£(j)OTpoip£h'v)  for 
foundlings;  honses  for  the  sick  {voaoKOfiela,  valet udinaria) ;  for  the  aged 
[yepovTOKoiiela) ;  and  for  widows  {xvp^yrpnrpela) ;  in  Latin  hoxpitium,  hospitale, 
hospilalinm  (corresponding  to  the  Greek  ^svoSoxelov).  See  Du  Cange.  Stich 
institutions  were  unknown  among  the  heathen;  for  the  houses  near  the  temples 
of  Aesculapius  were  only  intended  for  temporary  shelter,  not  for  care  and  at- 
tendance. The  Emperor  Julian's  involuntary  eulogy  of  the  charity  of  the 
"Galilieans,"  as  he  contemptuously  called  the  ("hristians,  and  his  abortive 
attempt  to  force  the  heathen  to  imitate  it,  are  well  kuown.     See  vol.  III.  50. 


g  81.  CHRISTIAN  CHAEITY.  357 

Naples,  Sicily,  and  Sardinia.  These  institutions  were  necessary 
in  the  greatly  enlarged  sphere  of  the  church,  and  the  increase 
of  poverty,  distress,  and  disaster  which  at  last  overwhelmed 
the  Roman  empire.  They  may  in  many  cases  have  served 
purposes  of  ostentation,  superseded  or  excused  private  charity, 
encouraged  idleness,  and  thus  increased  rather  than  diminished 
pauperism.  But  these  were  abuses  to  which  the  best  human 
institutions  are  subject. 

Private  charity  continued  to  be  exercised  in  proportion  to  the 
degree  of  vitality  in  the  church.  The  great  fathers  and  bishops 
of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  set  an  illustrious  example  of 
plain  living  and  high  thinking,  of  self-denial  and  liberality, 
and  were  never  weary  in  their  sermons  and  writings  in  enjoining 
the  duty  of  charity.  St.  Basil  himself  superintended  his  ex- 
tensive hospital  at  Csesarea,  and  did  not  shrink  from  contact 
with  lepers ;  St.  Gregory  Nazianzen  exhorted  the  brethren  to  be 
"a  god  to  the  unfortunate  by  imitating  the  mercy  of  God,"  for 
there  is  "  nothing  so  divine  as  beneficence ;"  St.  Chrysostom 
founded  several  hospitals  in  Constantinople,  incessantly  ap- 
pealed to  the  rich  in  behalf  of  the  poor,  and  directed  the 
boundless  charities  of  the  noble  widow  Olympias.  St.  Am- 
brose, at  once  a  proud  Roman  and  an  humble  Christian,  com- 
forted the  paupers  in  Milan,  while  he  rebuked  an  emperor  for 
his  cruelty ;  Paulinus  of  Nola  lived  in  a  small  house  with  his 
wife,  Theresia,  and  used  his  princely  wealth  for  the  building 
of  a  monastery,  the  relief  of  the  needy,  the  ransoming  of 
prisoners,  and  when  his  means  were  exhausted,  he  exchanged 
himself  with  the  son  of  a  widow  to  be  carried  away  into 
Africa ;  the  great  Augustin  declined  to  accept  as  a  present  a 
better  coat  than  he  might  give  in  turn  to  a  brother  in  need ;  St. 
Jerome  founded  a  hospice  in.  Bethlehem  from  the  proceeds  of 
his  property,  and  induced  Roman  ladies  of  proud  ancestry  to 
sell  their  jewels,  silk  dresses,  and  palaces,  for  the  poor,  and  to 
exchange  a  life  of  luxurious  ease  for  a  life  of  ascetic  self-denial. 
Those  examples  shone  like  brilliant  stars  through  the  darkness 
of  the  middle  ag-es. 


358  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

But  the  same  fathers,  it  must  be  added,  handed  to  the  middle 
ages  also  the  disturbing  doctrine  of  the  meritorious  nature  and 
atoning  efficacy  of  charity,  as  "  covering  a  multitude  of  sins," 
and  its  influence  even  upon  the  dead  in  purgatory.  These 
errors  greatly  stimulated  and  largely  vitiated  that  virtue,  and  do 
it  to  this  day.^ 

The  Latin  word  caritas,  which  originally  denotes  dearness  or 
costliness  (from  carus,  dear),  then  esteem,  affection,  assumed  in 
the  church  the  more  significant  meaning  of  benevolence  and 
beneficence,  or  love  in  active  exercise,  especially  to  the  poor  and 
suffering  among  our  fellow-men.  The  sentiment  and  the  deed 
must  not  be  separated,  and  the  gift  of  the  hand  derives  its  value 
from  the  love  of  the  heart.  Though  the  gifts  are  unequal,  the 
benevolent  love  should  be  the  same,  and  the  widow's  mite  is  as 
much  blessed  by  God  as  the  princely  donation  of  the  rich. 
Ambrose  compares  benevolence  in  the  intercourse  of  men  with 
men  to  the  sun  in  its  relation  to  the  earth.  "  Let  the  gifts  of 
the  wealthy,"  says  another  father,  "  be  more  abundant,  but  let 
not  the  poor  bo  behind  him  in  love."  Very  often,  however, 
charity  was  contracted  into  mere  almsgiving.  Praying,  fasting, 
and  almsgiving  were  regarded  (as  also  among  the  Jews  and 
Mohammedans)  as  the  chief  works  of  piety ;  the  last  was  put 
highest.  For  the  sake  of  charity  it  is  right  to  break  the  fast  or 
to  interrupt  devotion. 

Pope  Gregory  the  Great  best  represents  the  medioeval  charity 

*  See  the  numerous  quotations  from  the  fathers  in  Uhlhorn,  p.  278  sqq. 
"  Countless  times  is  the  tliought  expressed  that  almsgiving  is  a  safe  investment 
of  money  at  good  interest  with  God  in  heaven."  lie  thinks  that  "the  doctrine 
of  purgatory,  and  of  the  influence  which  almsgiving  exercises  even  upon  souls 
in  purgatory,  determined  more  than  anything  else  the  charity  of  the  entire 
mediaeval  period''  (p.  287).  The  notion  that  alms  have  an  atoning  efiicacy  is 
expressed  again  and  again  in  every  variety  of  form  as  the  motive  of  almsgiving 
which  is  predominant  above  all  others.  Even  Augustin,  the  most  evangelical 
among  the  fiithers,  teaches  "  that  alms  have  power  to  extinguish  and  expiate 
.sin,"  although  he  qualifies  the  maxim  and  confines  the  benefit  to  those  who 
amend  their  lives.  No  one  had  greater  influence  upon  the  Latin  church  than 
the  author  of  the  City  of  God,  in  which,  as  Uhlhorn  says,  "  he  unconsciously 
wrote  the  programme  of  the  middle  ages." 


2  81.  CHRISTIAN  CHARITY.  359 

with  its  ascetic  self-denial,  its  pious  superstitions  and  utilitarian 
ingredients.  He  lived  in  that  miserable  transition  period  when 
the  old  Roman  civilization  was  crumbling  to  pieces  and  the 
new  civilization  was  not  yet  built  up  on  its  ruins.  "  We  see 
nothing  but  sorrow,"  he  says,  "  we  hear  nothing  but  complaints. 
Ah,  Rome !  once  the  mistress  of  the  world,  where  is  the  senate? 
where  the  people  ?  The  buildings  are  in  ruins,  the  walls  are 
falling.  Everywhere  the  sword !  Everywhere  death !  I  am 
,  weary  of  life  !  "  But  charity  remained  as  an  angel  of  comfort. 
It  could  not  prevent  the  general  collapse,  but  it  dried  the  tears 
and  soothed  the  sorrows  of  individuals.  Gregory  was  a  father 
to  the  poor.  He  distributed  every  month  cart-loads  of  corn, 
oil,  wine,  and  meat  among  them.  What  the  Roman  emperors 
did  from  policy  to  keep  down  insurrection,  this  pope  did  from 
love  to  Christ  and  the  poor.  He  felt  personally  guilty  when  a 
man  died  of  starvation  in  Rome.  He  set  careful  and  con- 
scientious men  over  the  Roman  hospitals,  and  required  them  to 
submit  regular  accounts  of  the  management  of  funds.  He 
furnished  the  means  for  the  founding  of  a  Xenodochium  in 
Jerusalem.  He  was  the  chief  promoter  of  the  custom  of  dividing 
the  income  of  the  church  into  four  equal  parts,  one  for  the 
bishop,  one  for  the  rest  of  the  clergy,  one  for  the  church  build- 
ings, one  for  the  poor.  At  the  same  time  he  was  a  strong  be- 
liever in  the  meritorious  efficacy  of  almsgiving  for  the  living 
and  the  dead.  He  popularized  Augustin's  notion  of  purgatory, 
supported  ifc  by  monkish  fables,  and  introduced  masses  for  the 
departed  (without  the  so-called  thirties,  i.  e.  thirty  days  after 
death).  He  held  that  God  remits  the  guilt  and  eternal  punish- 
ment, but  not  the  temporal  punishment  of  sin,  which  must  be 
atoned  for  in  this  life,  or  in  purgatory.  Thus  he  explained  the 
passage  about  the  fire  (1  Cor.  3  :  11)  which  consumes  wood, 
hay,  and  stubble,  i.  e.  light  and  trifling  sins  such  as  useless  talk, 
immoderate  laughter,  mismanagement  of  property.  Hence,  the 
more  alms  the  better,  both  for  our  own  salvation  and  for  the 
relief  of  our  departed  relatives  and  friends.     Almsgiving  is  the 


360  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

wing  of  repentance,  and  paves  the  way  to  heaven.     This  idea 
ruled  supreme  during  the  middle  ages. 

Among  the  barbarians  in  the  AVest  charitable  institutions 
were  introduced  by  missionaries  in  connection  with  convents, 
which  were  expected  to  exercise  hospitality  to  strangers  and 
give  help  to  the  poor.  The  Irish  missionaries  cared  for  the 
bodies  as  well  as  for  the  souls  of  the  heathen  to  whom  they 
preached  the  gospel,  and  founded  ^'  Mosjntalia  Scotorum.''  The 
Council  of  Orleans,  549,  shows  acquaintance  with  Xeuodochia 
in  the  towns.  There  was  a  large  one  at  Lyons.  Chrodegang 
of  Metz  and  Alcuin  exhort  the  bishops  to  found  institutions  of 
charity,  or  at  least  to  keep  a  guest-room  for  the  care  of  the  sick 
and  the  stranger.  A  Synod  at  Aix  in  815  ordered  that  an 
infirmary  should  be  built  near  the  church  and  in  every  convent. 
The  Capitularies  of  Charlemagne  extend  to  charitable  institu- 
tions the  same  privileges  as  to  churches  and  monasteries,  and 
order  that  "  strangers,  pilgrims,  and  paupers  "  be  duly  enter- 
tained according  to  the  canons. 

The  hospitals  were  under  the  immediate  supervision  of  the 
bishop  or  a  superintendent  appointed  by  him.  They  were 
usually  dedicated  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  was  represented  in 
the  form  of  a  dove  in  some  conspicuous  place  of  the  building. 
They  received  donations  and  legacies,  and  were  made  the  trus- 
tees of  landed  estates.  The  church  of  the  middle  ages  was  the 
largest  property- holder,  but  her  very  wealth  and  prosperity 
became  a  source  of  temptation  and  corruption,  which  in  the 
course  of  time  loudly  called  for  a  reformation. 

After  we  have  made  all  reasonable  deduction  for  a  larsre 
amount  of  selfish  cliarity  which  looked  to  the  donor  rather  than 
the  recipient,  and  for  an  injudicious  profusion  of  alms  which 
encouraged  ])auperism  instead  of  enabling  the  poor  to  help 
themselves  by  honest  work,  we  still  have  left  one  of  the  noblest 
chapters  in  the  history  of  morals  to  which  no  other  religion  can 
furnish  a  parallel.  For  the  regular  gratuitous  distribution  of 
grain  to  tlie  poor  heathen  of  Rome,  who  under  Augustus  rose 


5  81.  CHRISTIAN  CHARITY.  361 

to  200,000,  and  under  the  Antonines  to  500,000,  was  made 
from  the  public  treasury  and  dictated  by  selfish  motives  of 
state  policy ;  it  called  forth  no  gratitude ;  it  failed  of  its  object, 
and  proved,  together  with  slavery  and  the  gladiatorial  shows 
for  the  amusement  of  the  people,  one  of  the  chief  demoralizing 
influences  of  the  empire.^ 

Finally,  we  must  not  forget  that  the  history  of  true  Christian 
charity  remains  to  a  large  part  unwritten.  Its  power  is  indeed 
felt  everywhere  and  every  day ;  but  it  loves  to  do  its  work 
silently  without  a  thought  of  merit  or  reward.  It  follows 
human  misery  into  all  its  lonely  griefs  with  personal  'sympathy 
as  well  as  material  aid,  and  finds  its  own  happiness  in  promoting 
the  happiness  of  others.  There  is  luxury  in  doing  good  for  its 
own  sake.  "  Wlien  thou  doest  alms,"  says  the  Lord,  "  let  not 
thy  left  hand  know  what  thy  right  hand  doeth,  that  thine  alms 
may  be  in  secret:  and  thy  Father  who  seeth  in  secret  shall 
reward  thee."  ^ 

NOTES. 

Uhlhorn  closes  his  first  work  with  this  judgment  of  mediaeval  charity 
(p.  396  sq.  of  the  English  translation):  "No  period  has  done  so  much 
for  the  poor  as  the  middle  ages.  What  wholesale  distribution  of  alms, 
what  an  abundance  of  institutions  of  the  most  various  kinds,  what  num- 
bers of  hospitals  for  all  manner  of  sufferers,  what  a  series  of  ministrant 
orders,  male  and  female,  knightly  and  civil,  what  self-sacrifice  and  de- 
votedness !  In  the  mediaeval  period  all  that  we  have  observed  germi- 
nating in  the  ancient  Church,  first  attains  its  maturity.  The  middle 
ages,  however,  also  appropriated  whatever  tendencies  existed  towards  a 
one-sided  and  unsound  development.     Church  care  of  the  poor  entirely 


1  '" 


"There  can  be,"  says  Lecky  (II.  78),  "no  question  that  neither  in  practice 
nor  in  theory,  neither  in  the  institutions  that  were  founded  nor  in  the  place 
that  was  assigned  to  it  in  the  scale  of  duties,  did  charity  in  antiquity  occupy 
a  position  at  all  comparable  to  that  which  it  has  obtained  by  Christianity. 
Nearly  all  the  relief  was  a  State  measure,  dictated  much  more  by  policy 
than  by  benevolence ;  and  the  habit  of  selling  young  children,  the  innumera- 
ble expositions,  the  readiness  of  the  poor  to  enroll  themselves  as  gladiators, 
and  the  frequent  famines,  show  how  large  was  the  measure  of  unrelieved  dis- 
tress. A  very  few  Pagan  examples  of  charity  have,  indeed,  descended  to  us." 
2  Matt.  6:  3,  4.  The  word  "openly"  (h  tgj  <^avepCi)  is  omitted  in  the  best 
MSS.  and  critical  editions,  and  in  the  E.  Revision. 


362  FOURTH  PEEIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

perished,  and  all  charity  became  institutional ;  monks  and  nuns,  or 
members  of  the  ministrant  orders,  took  the  place  of  the  deacons — the 
diaconate  died  out.  Charity  became  one-sidedly  institutional  and  one- 
sidedly  ecclesiastical.  The  church  was  the  mediatrix  of  every  exercise 
of  charity,  she  became  in  fact  the  sole  recipient,  the  sole  bestower ;  for 
the  main  object  of  every  work  of  mercy,  of  every  distribution  of  alms, 
of  every  endowment,  of  all  self-sacrifice  in  the  service  of  the  needy,  was 
the  giver's  own  salvation.  The  transformation  was  complete.  Men 
gave  and  ministered  no  longer  for  the  sake  of  helping  and  serving  the 
poor  in  Christ,  but  to  obtain  for  themselves  and  theirs  merit,  release 
from  purgatory,  a  high  degree  of  eternal  happiness.  The  consequence 
was,  that  poverty  was  not  contended  with,  but  fostered,  and  beggary 
brought  to  maturity ;  so  that  notwithstanding  the  abundant  donations, 
the  various  foundations,  the  well-endowed  institutions,  distress  was  after 
all  not  mastered."'  Nor  is  it  mastered  yet.  "The  poor  ye  have  always 
with  you  "  (John  12  :  8).  Riggenbach  [l.  c.)  maintains  that  in  the  mid- 
dle ages  hospitals  were  mere  provision-houses  (  Versorgungshdiiser),  and 
that  the  Reformation  first  asserted  the  principle  that  they  should  be  also 
houses  of  moral  reform  {Rettungshduser  and  Heilanstalten). 

Lecky,  who  devotes  a  part  of  the  fourth  chapter  of  his  impartial  hu- 
manitarian History  of  European  Morals  to  this  subject,  comes  to  the  fol- 
lowing conclusion  (11.79,85):  "Christianity  for  the  first  time  made 
charity  a  rudimentary  virtue,  giving  it  a  leading  place  in  the  moral  type, 
and  in  the  exhortations  of  its  teachers.  Besides  its  general  influence  in 
stimulating  the  affections,  it  effected  a  complete  revolution  in  this 
sphere,  by  regarding  the  poor  as  the  special  representatives  of  the  Chris- 
tian Founder,  and  thus  making  the  love  of  Christ,  rather  than  the  love 
of  man,  the  principle  of  charity.  .  .  .  The  greatest  things  are  often 
those  which  are  most  imperfectly  realized ;  and  surely  no  achievements 
of  the  Christian  Church  are  more  truly  great  than  those  which  it  has 
effected  in  the  sphere  of  charity.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
mankind,  it  has  inspired  many  thousands  of  men  and  women,  at  the 
sacrifice  of  all  worldly  interests,  and  often  under  circumstances  of  ex- 
treme discomfort  or  danger,  to  devote  their  entire  lives  to  the  single 
object  of  assuaging  the  sufferings  of  humanity.  It  has  covered  the  globe 
with  countless  institutions  of  mercy,  absolutely  unknown  to  the  whole 
Pagan  world.  It  has  indissolubly  united,  in  the  minds  of  men,  the  idea 
of  supreme  goodness  with  that  of  active  and  constant  benevolence.  It 
has  placed  in  every  parish  a  religious  minister  who,  whatever  may  be 
his  other  functions,  has  at  least  been  officially  charged  with  the  superin- 
tendence of  an  organization  of  charity,  and  who  finds  in  this  oflSce  one 
of  the  most  important  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  legitimate  sources  of 
his  power." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MONASTICISM. 
See  the  Lit.  on  Monasticism  in  vol.  II.  387,  and  III.  147  sq. 
§  82.    Use  of  Convents  in  the, Middle  Ages.     . 

The  monks  were  the  spiritual  nobility  of  the  church,  and 
represented  a  higher  type  of  virtue  in  entire  separation  from 
the  world  and  consecration  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
patristic  ideal  of  piety  passed  over  into  the  middle  ages :  it  is 
not  the  scriptural  nor  the  modern  ideal,  but  one  formed  in 
striking  contrast  with  preceding  and  surrounding  heathen  cor- 
ruption. The  monkish  sanctity  is  a  flight  from  the  world 
rather  than  a  victory  over  the  world,  an  abstinence  from  mar- 
riage instead  of  a  sanctification  of  marriage,  chastity  outside 
rather  than  inside  the  order  of  nature,  a  complete  suppression 
of  the  sensual  passion  in  the  place  of  its  purification  and  con- 
trol. But  it  had  a  powerful  influence  over  the  barbaric  races, 
and  was  one  of  the  chief  converting  and  civilizing  agencies. 
The  Eastern  monks  lost  themselves  in  idle  contemplation  and 
ascetic  extravagances,  which  the  Western  climate  made  impos- 
sible; the  Western  monks  were,  upon  the  whole,  more  sober, 
practical,  and  useful.  The  Irish  and  Scotch  convents  became 
famous  for  their  missionary  zeal,  and  furnished  founders  of 
churches  and  patron  saints  of  the  people. 

Convents  were  planted  by  the  missionaries  among  all  the 
barbarous  nations  of  Europe,  as  fast  as  Christianity  progressed. 
They  received  special  privileges  and  endowments  from  princes, 
nobles,  popes,  and  bishops.  They  oflered  a  quiet  retreat  to  men 
and  women  who  were  weary  of  the  turmoil  of  life,  or  had  suf- 

363 


364  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

fered  shipwreck  of  fortune  or  character,  aud  cared  for  nothing 
but  to  save  their  souls.  They  exercised  hospitality  to  strangers 
and  travelers,  and  were  a  great  blessing  in  times  when  traveling 
was  difficult  and  dangerous,^  They  were  training  schools  of 
ascetic  virtue,  and  the  nurseries  of  saints.  They  saved  the 
remnants  of  ancient  civilization  for  future  use.  Every  large 
convent  had  a  library  and  a  school.  Scribes  were  employed  in 
copying  manuscripts  of  the  ancient  classics,  of  the  Bible,  and 
the  writings  of  the  fathers.  To  these  quiet  literary  monks  we 
are  indebted  for  the  preservation  and  transmission  of  nearly  all 
the  learning,  sacred  and  secular,  of  ancient  times.  If  they  had 
done  nothing  else,  they  would  be  entitled  to  the  lasting  gratitude 
of  tlie  church  and  the  world. 

During  the  wild  commotion  and  confusion  of  the  ninth  and 
tenth  centuries,  monastic  discipline  went  into  decay.  Often  the 
very  riches  of  convents,  which  were  the  reward  of  industry  and 
virtue,  became  a  snare  and  a  root  of  evil.  Avaricious  laymen 
(Abba-comites)  seized  the  control  and  perpetuated  it  in  their 
families.  Even  princesses  received  the  titles  and  emoluments 
of  abbesses. 

§  83.  St.  Benedict.     St.  Nilus.     St.  Romuald. 

Yet  even  in  this  dark  period  there  were  a  few  shining  lights. 

St.  Benedict  of  Aniane  (750-821),  of  a  distinguished 
family  in  the  south  of  France,  after  serving  at  the  court  of 
Charlemagne,  became  disgusted  with  the  world,  entered  a  con- 
vent, founded  a  new  one  at  Aniane  after  the  strict  rule  of  St. 

'  As  they  are  still  in  the  East  and  on  the  Alps.  Travelers  will  not  easily 
forget  the  convents  of  Mt.  Sinai  in  the  Desert,  Mar  Saba  near  the  Dead 
Sea,  and  the  hospices  on  the  Alpine  passes  of  St.  Bernard,  St.  Gotthard, 
and  the  Sirnplon.  Lecky  (II.  84)  says:  "  By  the  monks  the  nobles  were 
overawed,  the  poor  protected,  the  sick  tended,  travelers  sheltered,  prisoners 
ransomed,  the  remotest  spheres  of  suffering  explored.  During  tlie  darkest 
period  of  the  middle  ages,  monks  founded  a  refuge  for  pilgrims  amid  the 
horrors  of  tlie  Alpine  snows.  A  solitary  hermit  often  planted  himself,  with 
his  little  boat,  by  a  bridgeless  stream,  and  the  charity  of  his  life  was  to  ferry 
over  the  traveler." 


2  83.  ST.  BENEDICT.    ST.  NILUS.    ST.  EOMUALD.        365 

Benedict  of  Nursia,  collected  a  library,  exercised  charity,  espe- 
cially during  a  famine,  labored  for  the  reform  of  monasticism, 
was  entrusted  by  Louis  the  Pious  with  the  superintendence  of 
all  the  convents  in  Western  France,  and  formed  them  into  a 
"  congregation,"  by  bringing  them  under  one  rule.  He  attended 
the  Synod  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  817.  Soon  after  his  death 
(Feb.  12,  821)  the  fruits  of  his  labors  were  destroyed,  and  the 
disorder  became  worse  than  before.^ 

St,  Nilus  the  younger,^  of  Greek  descent,  born  at  Rossano 
in  Calabria  ^  (hence  Nilus  Mossanensis),  enlightened  the  darkness 
of  the  tenth  century.  He  devoted  himself,  after  the  death  of 
his  wife,  about  940,  to  a  solitary  life,  following  the  model  of  St. 
Anthony  and  St.  Hilarion,  and  founded  several  convents  in 
Southern  Italy.  He  was  often  consulted  by  dignitaries,  and 
answered,  like  St.  Anthony,  without  respect  of  person.  He 
boldly  rebuked  Pope  Gregory  V.  and  Emperor  Otho  III.  for 
bad  treatment  of  an  archbishop.  When  the  emperor  after- 
wards offered  him  any  favor  he  might  ask,  Nilus  replied  :  "  I 
ask  nothing  from  you  but  that  you  would  save  your  soul ;  for 
you  must  die  like  every  other  man,  and  render  an  account  to 
God  for  all  your  good  and  evil  deeds."  The  emperor  took  the 
crown  from  his  head,  and  begged  the  blessing  of  the  aged 
monk.     When  a  dissolute  nobleman,  who  comforted  himself 

^  The  life  of  B.  was  written  by  Ardo.  See  the  Acta  Sand-  mens.  Februar. 
-sub  Feb.  12;  Mabillon,  Acta  Sand.  ord.  S.  Bened. ;  Nicolai,  Der  heil.  Benedict, 
Griinder  von  Aniane  und  Cornelimiinster  (Koln,  1865) ;  Gfrorer,  Kirchengesch. 
III.  704  sqq. 

■■'  To  distinguish  him  from  the  older  Nilu?,  who  was  a  pupil  and  friend  of 
Chrysostom,  a  fertile  ascetic  writer  and  monk  on  Mt.  Sinai  (d.  about  440). 
There  were  more  than  twenty  distinguished  persons  of  that  name  in  the  Greek 
church.     See  AUatius,  Dialriha  de  Nilis  et  Psellis;  Fabricius,  Bibl.  Or.  X.  3. 

3  The  plnce  where  two  German  scholars,  O.  von  Gebhardt  and  Hamack,  dis- 
covered the  Codex  Kossanensis  of  the  Greek  Matthew  and  Mark  in  the  library 
of  the  archbishop  (March,  1879).  It  dates  from  the  sixth  or  seventh  century, 
is  beautifully  written  in  silver  letters  on  very  fine  purple-colored  vellum,  and 
was  published  by  O.  von  Gebhardt  in  1883.  See  Schaff's  Companion  to  the  Gr. 
T.,  p.  131,  and  Gregory's  Prolegomena,  I.  408. 


366  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

with  the  example  of  Solomon,  asked  Nilus,  whether  that  wise 
king  was  not  saved,  the  monk  replied :  "  We  have  nothing  to 
do  with  Solomon's  fate ;  but  to  us  it  is  said,  '  Every  one  that 
looketh  on  a  -svoman  to  lust  after  her  hath  committed  adultery 
with  her  already  in  his  heart.'  We  do  not  read  of  Solomon 
that  he  ever  repented  like  Manasseh."  To  questions  of  idle 
curiosity  he  returned  no  answer,  or  he  answered  the  fool  accord- 
ing to  his  folly.  So  when  one  wished  to  know  what  kind  of  an 
apple  Adam  and  Eve  ate,  to  their  ruin,  he  said  that  it  was  a 
crab-apple.  In  his  old  age  ho  was  driven  from  Calabria  by 
invaders,  and  founded  a  little  convent,  Crypta  Ferrata,  near  the 
famous  Tusculum  of  Cicero.  There  he  died  peacefully  Avhen 
about  ninety-six  years  old,  in  1005.* 

St.  Romuald,  the  founder  of  the  order  of  Camaldoli,  was 
born  early  in  the  tenth  century  at  Ravenna,  of  a  rich  and  noble 
family,  and  entered  the  neighboring  Benedictine  convent  of 
Classis,  in  his  twentieth  year,  in  order  to  atone,  by  a  severe 
penance  of  forty  days,  for  a  murder  which  his  father  had  com- 
mitted against  a  relative  in  a  dispute  about  property.  He 
prayed  and  wept  almost  without  ceasing.  He  spent  three  year^ 
in  this  convent,  and  afterwards  led  the  life  of  a  roaming  hermit. 
He  imposed  upon  himself  all  manner  of  self-mortification,  to 
defeat  the  temptations  of  the  devil.  Among  his  devotions  was 
the  daily  repetition  of  the  Psalter  from  memory ;  a  plain  her- 
mit, Marinus,  near  Venice,  had  taught  him  this  mechanical 
performance  and  other  ascetic  exercises  with  the  aid  of  blows. 
Wherever  he  went,  he  was  followed  by  admiring  disciples.  He 
was  believed  to  be  endowed  with  the  gift  of  prophecy  and 
miracles,  yet  did  not  escape  calumny.     Emperor  OthoIII.  paid 

1  Acta  Sanctorum,  vol.  XXVL  Sept  26  (with  the  Greek  text  of  a  biography 
of  the  saint  by  a  disciple).  Alban  Butler,  I/ives  of  the  Saints,  Sept.  26.  Nean- 
der,  III.  420  sqq.  (Germ.  ed.  IV.  307-315).  The  convent  of  Crypta  Ferrata 
possesses  a  valuable  library,  which  was  used  by  distinguished  antiquarians  as 
Mabillon,  Montfaucon,  Angelo  Mai,  and  Dom  Pitra.  Among  its  treasures  are 
several  MSS.  of  parts  of  the  Greek  Testament,  to  which  Dean  Burgon  calls 
attention  in  The  Revision  Revised  (Lond.  1883),  p.  447. 


2  84.  THE  CONVENT  OF  CLUNY.  367 

him  a  visit  in  the  year  1000  on  an  island  near  Ravenna. 
Romuald  sent  missionaries  to  heathen  hinds,  and  went  liimself 
to  the  border  of  Hungary  with  a  number  of  pupils,  but  re- 
turned when  he  was  admonished  by  a  severe  sickness  that  he 
was  not  destined  for  missionary  life.  He  died  in  the  convent 
Valle  de  Castro  in  1027.^ 

According  to  Damiani,  who  wrote  his  life  fifteen  years 
after  his  death,  Romuald  lived  one  hundred  and  twenty 
years,  twenty  in  the  world,  three  in  a  convent,  ninety-seven  as  a 
hermit.^ 

The  most  famous  of  Romuald's  monastic  retreats  is  Campo 
Maldoli,  or  Camaldoli  in  the  Appennines,  near  Arezzo  in  Tus- 
cany, which  he  founded  about  1009.  It  became,  through  the 
influence  of  Damiani,  his  eulogist  and  Hildebrand's  friend,  "the 
nucleus  of  a  monastic  order,  which  combined  the  cenobitic  and 
eremitic  life,  and  was  distinguished  by  great  severity.  Pope 
Gregory  XVI.  belonged  to  this  order. 

§  84.   The  Convent  of  Cluny. 

Marrier  and  DucHESiSrE:  Bibliotheca  Cluniacensis.  Paris  1614  fol. 
HOLSTEN. :  Cod.  Regul.  Mon.  II.  176.  Lorain  :  Essay  historique 
sur  I'  abbaye  de  Cluny.  Dijon  1839.  Neander  III.  417  sqq.  444  sq. 
Friedr.  Hurter  (Prot.  minister  in  ScliafFhausen,  afterwards  R. 
Cath.) :  Gesch.  Papst  Innocenz  des  Dritten  (second  ed.  Hamb.  1844), 
vol.  IV.  pp.  22-55. 

After  the  decay  of  monastic  discipline  during  the  ninth  and 

^  His  death  occurred  June  19,  but  his  principal  feast  was  appointed  by 
Clement  VIII.  on  the  seventh  of  February.  "His  body/'  says  Alban  Butler, 
"  was  found  entire  and  uncorrupt  five  years  after  his  death,  and  again  in  1466. 
But  his  tomb  being  sacrilegiously  opened  and  his  body  stolen  in  1480,  it  fell 
to  dust,  in  which  state  it  was  translated  to  Fabriano,  and  there  deposited  in  the 
great  church,  all  but  the  remains  of  one  arm,  sent  to  Camaldoli.  God  has 
honored  his  relics  with  many  miracles.'' 

2  Vita  S.  Romualdi,  c.  69,  in  Damiani's  Opera  II.  f.  1006,  in  Migne's  edition 
{Patrol.  Tom.  145,  f  953-1008).  He  adds;  "Nunc  inter  vivos  coelestis  Hierusa- 
lem  lapides  ineffabiliter  rutilat,  cum  ignitis  beatorum  spirituum  twmis  exultat,  candi- 
dissiini  stola  immortalilatis  induitur,  et  ah  ipso  rege  regum  vibrante  in  perpetuum 
diademate  coronatur." 


368  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

tenth  centuries,  a  reformation  proceeded  from  the  convent  of 
Cluny  in  Burgundy,  and  affected  the  whole  church.' 

It  was  founded  by  the  pious  Duke  William  of  Aquitania  in 
910,  to  the  lionor  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  on  the  basis  of  the 
rule  of  St.  Benedict. 

Count  Bruno  (d.  927)  was  the  first  abbot,  and  introduced 
severe  discipline.  His  successor  Odo  (927-941),  first  a  soldier, 
then  a  clergyman  of  learning,  wisdom,  and  saintly  character, 
became  a  reformer  of  several  Benedictine  convents.  Neauder 
praises  his  enlightened  views  on  Christian  life,  and  his  superior 
estimate  of  the  moral,  as  compared  with  the  miraculous,  power 
of  Christianity.  Aymardus  (Aymard,  941-948),  who  resigned 
when  he  became  blind,  Majolus  (Maieul  to  994),  who  declined 
the  papal  crowm,  Odilo,  surnamed  "  the  Good  "  (to  1048),  and 
Hugo  (to  1109),  continued  in  the  same  spirit.  The  last  two 
exerted  great  influence  upon  emperors  and  popes,  and  inspired 
the  reformation  of  the  papacy  and  the  church.  It  was  at 
iJ  Cluny  that  Hildebraud  advised  Bishop  Bruno  of  Toul  (Leo 
IX.),  who  had  been  elected  pope  by  Henry  III.,  to  seek  first  a 
regular  election  by  the  clergy  in  Rome ;  and  thus  foreshadowed 
his  own  future  conflict  with  the  imperial  power.  Odilo  intro- 
duced the  Treuga  Del  and  the  festival  of  All  Souls.  Hugo, 
Hildebrand's  friend,  ruled  sixty  years,  and  raised  the  convent 
to  the  summit  of  its  fame. 

Cluny  was  the  centre  (archimonasterium)  of  the  reformed  Bene- 
dictine convents,  and  its  head  was  the  chief  abbot  {archiabbas). 
It  gave  to  the  church  many  eminent  bishops  and  three  popes 
(Gregory  VII.,  Urban  II.,  and  Pascal  II.).  In  the  time  of 
its  highest  prosperity  it  ruled  over  two  thousand  monastic 
establishments.  The  daily  life  was  regulated  in  all  its  details; 
silence  was  imposed  for  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  during 
which  the  monks  communicated  only  by  signs ;  strict  obedience 

^  Cluny  or  Clugny  {Cluniacum)  is  twelve  miles  northwest  of  Macon.  The 
present  town  has  about  four  thousand  inhabitants.  Its  chief  interest  consists 
in  the  remains  of  mediaeval  architecture. 


2  84.  THE  CONVENT  OF  CLUNY.  369 

ruled  within  ;  hospitality  and  benevolence  were  freely  exercised 
to  the  poor  and  to  strangers,  who  usually  exceeded  the  number 
of  the  monks.  During  a  severe  famine  Odilo  exhausted  the 
magazines  of  the  convent,  and  even  melted  the  sacred  vessels, 
and  sold  the  ornaments  of  the  church  and  a  crown  which  Henry 
II.  had  sent  him  from  Germany.  The  convent  stood  directly 
under  the  pope's  jurisdiction,  and  was  highly  favored  with 
donations  and  privileges.^  The  church  connected  with  it  was 
the  largest  and  richest  in  France  (perhaps  in  all  Europe),  and 
admired  for  its  twenty-five  altars,  its  bells,  and  its  costly  works 
of  art.  It  was  founded  by  Hugo,  and  consecrated  seventy 
years  afterwards  by  Pope  Innocent  II.  under  the  administration 
of  Peter  the  Venerable  (1131). 

The  example  of  Cluny  gave  rise  to  other  monastic  orders, 
as  the  Congregation  of  the  Vallombrosa  {Vallis  umbrosa), 
eighteen  miles  from  Florence,  founded  by  St.  John  Gualbert 
in  1038,  and  the  Congregation  of  Hirsau  in  Wiirttemberg,  in 
1069. 

But  the  very  fame  and  prosperity  of  Cluny  proved  a  tempta- 
tion and  cause  of  decline.  An  unworthy  abbot,  Pontius,  wasted 
the  funds,  and  was  at  last  deposed  and  excommunicated  by  the 
pope  as  a  robber  of  the  church.  Peter  the  Venerable,  the 
friend  of  St.  Bernard  and  kind  patron  of  the  unfortunate 
Abelard,  raised  Cluny  by  his  wise  and  long  administration 
(1122-1156)  to  new  life  and  the  height  of  prosperity.  He 
increased  the  number  of  monks  from  200  to  460,  and  connected 
314  convents  with  the  parent  institution.  In  1245  Pope  Inno- 
cent IV.,  with  twelve  cardinals  and  all  their  clergy,  two 
patriarchs,  three  archbishops,  eleven  bishops,  the  king  of 
France,  the  emperor  of  Constantinople,  and  many  dukes,  counts 
and   knights   with   their   dependents  were   entertained   in   the 

»  The  wealth  of  the  abbey  was  proverbial.  Hurter  quotes  from  Loram  the 
eaying  in  Burgundy : 

''  En  tout  pays  ou  le  vent  rente, 
U  Abbaye  de  Cluny  a  rente.'' 
24 


370  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

buildings  of  Cluny.'  This  was  the  end  of  its  prosperity. 
Another  decline  followed,  from  which  Cluuy  never  entirely 
recovered.  The  last  abbots  were  merely  ornamental,  and  wasted 
two-thirds  of  the  income  at  the  court  of  France.  The  French 
Revolution  of  1789  swept  the  institution  out  of  existence,  and 
reduced  the  once  famous  buildings  to  ruins;  but  restorations 
have  since  been  made.^ 

A  similar  reformation  of  monasticism  and  of  the  clergy  was 
attempted  and  partially  carried  out  in  England  by  St.  Dunstan 
(925-May  19,  988),  first  as  abbot  of  Glastonbury,  then  as 
bishop  of  Winchester  and  London,  and  last  as  archbishop  of 
Canterbury  (961)  and  virtual  ruler  of  the  kingdom.  A  monk 
of  the  severest  type  and  a  churchman  of  iron  will,  he  enforced 
the  Benedictine  rule,  filled  the  leading  sees  and  richer  livings 
with  Benedictines,  made  a  crusade  against  clerical  marriage 
(then  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception),  hoping  to  correct  the 
immorality  of  the  priests  by  abstracting  them  from  the  world, 
and  asserted  the  theocratic  rule  of  the  church  over  the  civil 
power  under  Kings  Edwy  and  Edgar;  but  his  excesses  called 
forth  violent  contentions  between  the  monks  and  the  seculars  in 
England.  He  was  a  forerunner  of  Hildebrand  and  Thomas  a 
Becket.3 

^  Hurter,  I.  c.  p.  45. 

2  The  material  of  the  church  was  sold  during  the  Revolution  for  not  much 
more  than  100,000  francs.  When  Napoleon  Bonaparte  passed  through  Macon, 
he  was  invited  to  visit  Cluny,  but  declined  with  the  answer:  "You  have  al- 
lowed your  great  and  beautiful  church  to  be  sold  and  ruined,  you  are  a  set  of 
Vandals;  I  shall  not  visit  Cluny."  Lorain,  as  quoted  by  Hurter,  p.  47.  The 
last  abbot  of  Cluny  was  Cardinal  Dominicus  de  la  Rochefaucauld,  who  died  in 
exile  A.  D.  1800. 

'  See  Dunsian's  life  in  the  Acta  Sanet.  for  May  19;  and  in  Butler's  Lives  of 
the  Saint%  under  the  same  date.  Comp.  Wharton,  ylnglia  Sacra,  II. ;  Lingard 
Hist,  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church;  Soames,  Anglo-Saxon  Church;  Lappenberg, 
Gesch.-von  England;  Hook,  Archbishops  of  Canterbury;  Milman,  Latin  0iris- 
tianity,  Bk.  VII.,  ch.  1 ;  Hardwick ;  Robertson  ;  also  Lea,  History  of  Sacerdotal 
Celibacy. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CHURCH    DISCIPLINE. 

Comp.  vol.  II.  g  57  (p.  187  sqq.),  and  vol.  III.  |  68  (p.  356  sqq.) 

§  85.    The  Penitential  Books. 

I.  The  Acts  of  Councils,  the  Capitularies  of  Charlemagne  and  his  suc- 

cessors, and  the  Penitential  Books,  especially  that  of  Theodore  of 
Canterbury,  and  that  of  Eome.  See  Migne's  Patrol.  Tom.  99,  fol. 
901-983. 

II.  Feiedr.  Ktjnstmank  (R.  C.)  :  Die  latein.  Pdnitentialbucher  der  Angel- 

sachsen.  Mainz  1844.  F.  W.  H.  Wasserschleben  :  Bussordnungen 
der  abendldnd.  Kirche.  Halle  1851.  Steitz:  Das  rom.  Buss-Sacra- 
ment. Frankf.  1854.  Frank  (R.  C.)  :  Die  Bussdiseiplin  der  Kirche. 
.  Mainz  1867.  Probst  (R.  C.)  :  Sacramente  und  Sacramentalieti. 
Tubingen  1872.  Haddan  and  Stubbs  :  Councils  and  Ecclesiastical 
Documents  relating  to  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  vol.  III.  Oxf  1871. 
H.  Jos.  SCHMITZ  (R.  C.) :  Die  Bussbiicher  und  die  Bussdiseiplin 
der  Kirche.  Nach  handschriftl.  Quellen.  Mainz  1883  (XVT.  and 
864  p.).  Comp.  the  review  of  this  book  by  Wasserschleben  in  the 
"Theol.  Literaturzeitung,"  1883,  fol.  614  sqq. 

Bingham,  Bk  XIV.  Smith  and  Cheetham,  II.  608  sqq.  (Penitential 
Books).  Herzog,'*  III.  20  sqq.  {Bussbiicher).  Wetzer  and  Welte'* 
II.  209-222  [Beichthiicher) ;  II.  1561-1590  [Bussdiseiplin). 

Comp.  lit.  in  §  87. 

The  discipline  of  the  Catholic  church  is  based  on  the  power 
of  the  keys  intrusted  to  the  apostles  and  their  successors,  and 
includes  the  excommunication  and  restoration  of  delinquent 
members.  It  was  originally  a  purely  spiritual  jurisdiction,  but 
after  the  establishment  of  Christianity  as  the  national  religion, 
it  began  to  aifect  also  the  civil  and  temporal  condition  of  the 
subjects  of  punishment.  It  obtained  a  powerful  hold  upon  the 
public  mind  from  the  universal  belief  of  the  middle  ages  that 
the  visible  church,  centering  in  the  Roman   papacy,  was  by 

371 


372  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

divine  appointment  the  dispenser  of  eternal  salvation,  and  that 
expulsion  from  her  communion,  unless  followed  by  repentance 
and  restoration,  meant  eternal  damnation.  No  heresy  or  sect 
ever  claimed  this  power. 

Discipline  was  very  obnoxious  to  the  wild  and  independent 
spirit  of  the  barbaric  races.     It  was  exercised  by  the  bishop 
through    synodical   courts,  which    were    held    annually  in    the 
dominions  of  Charlemagne  for  the  promotion  of  good  morals. 
Charlemagne  ordered  the  bishops  to  visit  their  parishes  once  a 
year,  and  to  inquire  into  cases  of  incest,  patricide,  fratricide, 
adultery,  and  other  vices  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God.'     Similar 
directions  were  given  by  Synods  in  Spain  and  England.     The 
more  extensive  dioceses  were  divided  into  several  archdeaconries. 
The  archdeacons  represented   the  bishops,  and,  owing  to  this 
close  connection,  they  possessed  a  power  and  jurisdiction  superior 
to  that  of  the  priests.     Seven  members  of  the  congregation 
were  entrusted  with  a  supervision,  and  had  to  report  to  the 
inquisitorial  court  on  the  state  of  religion  and  morals.     Offences 
both  ecclesiastical  and  civil  were  punished  at  once  with  fines, 
fasting,  pilgrimages,  scourging,  imprisonment.     The  civil  au- 
thorities aided  the  bishops  in  the  exercise  of  discipline.     Public 
offences   were   visited   with    public    penance;    private   offences 
were  confessed  to  the  priest,  who  immediately  granted  absolu-  i 
tion  on  certain  conditions. 

The  discipline  of  the  Latin  church  in  the  middle  ages  is  laid 
down  in  the  so-called  "  Penitential  Books."  ^  They  regulate  the 
order  of  penitence,  and  prescribe  specific  punishments  for  certain 
sins,  as  drunkenness,  fornication,  avarice,  perjury,  homicide, 
heresy,  idolatry.  The  material  is  mostly  derived  from  the  writ- 
ings of  the  fathers,  and  from  the  synodical  canons  of  Ancyra 
(314),  Neocaesarea  (314),  Nicjea  (325),  Gangra  (362),  and  of  the 

'  See  the  passages  in  Gieseler  II.  55  (Harpers'  ed.)     The  Synodical  courts 
were  called  Send(/cnchte  (a  corruption  frotri  Synod). 

^  Liber  Poenitentialis,  Poenitentiale,  Confessionale,  Leges  Pcenitentium,  Jadicia 
Peccantium. 


I  85.   THE  PENITENTIAL  BOOKS.  373 

North  African,  Frankish,  and  Spanish  councils  down  to  the 
seventh  century.  The  common  object  of  these  Penitentials  is 
to  enforce  practical  duties  and  to  extirpate  the  ferocious  and 
licentious  passions  of  heathenism.  They  present  a  very  dark 
picture  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh.  They  kept  alive  the  sense  of 
a  moral  government  of  God,  who  punishes  every  violation  of 
his  law,  but  they  lowered  the  sense  of  guilt  by  fostering  the 
pernicious  notion  that  sin  may  be  expiated  by  mechanical  exer- 
cises and  by  the  payment  of  a  sura  of  money. 

There  were  many  such  books,  British,  Irish,  Frankish, 
Spanish,  and  Roman.  The  best  known  are  the  Anglo-Saxon 
penitentials  of  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  especially  that 
of  Theodore,  archbishop  of  Canterbury  (669-690).  He  was  a 
Greek  by  birth,  of  Tarsus  in  Cilicia,  and  reduced  the  dis- 
ciplinary rules  of  the  East  and  West  to  a  system.  He  was  not 
the  direct  author  of  the  book  which  bears  his  name,  but  it  was 
drawn  up  under  his  direction,  published  during  his  life-time 
and  by  his  authority,  and  contains  his  decisions  in  answer  to 
various  questions  of  a  priest  named  Eoda  and  other  persons  on 
the  subject  of  penance  and  the  whole  range  of  ecclesiastical  dis- 
cipline. The  genuine  text  has  recently  been  brought  to  light 
from  early  MSS.  by  the  combined  labors  of  German  and 
English  scholarship.'  The  introduction  and  the  book  itself  are 
written  in  barbarous  Latin.  Traces  of  the  Greek  training  of 
Theodore  may  be  seen  in  the  references  to  St.  Basil  and  to 
Greek  practices.  Next  to  Theodore's  collection  there  are  Peni- 
tentials under  the  name  of  the  venerable  Bede  (d.  735),  and  of 
Egbert,  archbishop  of  York  (d.  76 7) .^ 

^  By  Prof.  Wasserschleben  of  Halle,  1851  (from  several  Continental  MSS.), 
and  Canon  Haddan  and  Prof.  Stubbs,  Oxford,  1871,  (III.  173-203)  from  a  Cam- 
bridge MS.  of  the  8th  century.  The  texts  of  the  earlier  editions  of  Theodori 
Poenitentiale  hy  Spelman  (1639),  D'Achery  (16fi9),  Jaques  Petit  (1677,  reprinted 
in  Migne's  Patrol.  1851,  Tom.  99),  Thorpe  (1840),  and  Kunstmann  (1844)  are 
imperfect  or  spurious.  The  question  of  authorship  and  of  tlie  MS.  sources  is 
learnedly  discu?sed  in  a  note  by  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  III.  173  sq.  See  ex- 
tracts in  the  Notes. 

'  Both  are  given  in  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  Councils,  etc.  III.  326  sqq.  and  413  sqq. 


374  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  earliest  Frankish  penitential  is  the  work  of  Coluraban, 
the  Irish  missionary  (d.  615).  He  was  a  severe  monastic  dis- 
ciplinarian and  gave  prominence  to  corporal  punishment  among 
the  penalties  for  offences.  The  Cummean  Penitential  [Pcenit. 
Cummeani)  is  of  Scotch-Irish  origin,  and  variously  assigned  to 
Coluraba  of  lona  (about  597),  to  Cumin,  one  of  his  disciples,  or 
to  Cummean,  who  died  in  Columban's  monastery  at  Bobbio 
(after  711).  Haltigar,  bishop  of  Cambray,  in  the  ninth  century 
(about  829)  published  a  "Roman  Penitential,"  professedly 
derived  from  Roman  archives,  but  in  great  part  from  Columban, 
and  Frankish  sources.  An  earlier  work  which  bears  the  name 
"  Poenitentiale  Romanum,"  from  the  first  part  of  the  eighth 
century,  has  a  more  general  character,  but  its  precise  origin  is 
uncertain.  The  term  "  Roman "  was  used  to  designate  the 
quality  of  a  class  of  Penitentials  wliich  enjoyed  a  more  than  local 
authority.^  Rabanus  Maurus  (d.  855)  prepared  a  ''Liber 
Fcenitentice"  at  the  request  of  the  archbishop  Otgar  of  Mayence 
(841).  Almost  every  diocese  had  its  own  book  of  the  kind,  but 
the  spirit  and  the  material  were  substantially  the  same. 

NOTES. 

As  specimens  of  these  Penitential  Books,  we  give  the  first  two  chapters 
from  the  first  book  of  the  Poenitentiale  Theodori  (Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury), as  printed  in  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  Councils  and  Eccles.  Doc.  rela- 
ting to  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  vol.  Illrd.  p.  177  sqq.  We  insert  a 
few  better  readings  from  other  MSS.  used  by  Wasserschleben. 

/.  De  Crapula  et  Ehrietate. 

1.  Si  quis  Episcopiis  aid  aliquis  ordinatus  in  consuetudine  vitium  hahuerit 
ebrietaiis,  aut  desinat  aut  deponatur. 

2.  &i  monachus  pro  ebrietaie  vomitumfacit,  XXX.  dies  peniteat. 

3.  Si  presbiter  aut  diaconus  pro  ebrietate,  XL.  dies  peniteat. 

4.  Si  vero  pro  infirmitate  aut  quia  longo  tempore  se  abstinuerit,  et  iv, 
consuetudine  nan  erit  ci  tnultum  bibere  vel  manducare,  aut  pro  g audio  in 
Natale  Domini  aut  in  Pascha  aut  pro  alicujus  Sanctorum  commemoratione 

'  This  is  the  view  of  Wasserschleben,  while  Schmitz  thinks  that  the  Pomi- 
tenliale  Romanum  was  originally  intended  for  the  Roman  church,  and  that  the 
Western  Penitentials  are  derived  from  it. 


§  85.   THE  PENITENTIAL  BOOKS.  375 

faciebat,  et  tunc  plus  non  accipit  quam  decretum  est  a  senioribus,  nihil  nocet. 
Si  Episcopus  juberit,  non  nocet  illi,  nisi  ipse  similiter  facial. 

5.  Si  laicus  fidelis  pro  ebrietate  vomitum  facit,  XV.  dies  peniteat. 

6.  Qui  vera  inebriatur  contra  Domini  interdictum,  si  votum  sanctitatis 
hahuerit  VII.  dies  in  pane  et  aqua,  LXX.  sine  pinguedine  peniteat ;  laid 
sine  cervisa  [cervisia]. 

1.   Qui  per  nequitiam  inebriat  alium,  XL.  dies  peniteat. 

8.  Qui  pro  satietate  vomitum  facit,  III.  diebus  [dies]  peniteat. 

9.  Si  cum  sacrifido  communlonis,  VII.  dies  peniteat ;  si  infirmitatis 
causa,  sine  culpa. 

II.  De  Fornicatione. 

1.  Si  quis  fornicaverit  cum  virgine,  I.  anno  peniteat.  Si  cum  marita, 
nil.  annos,  II.  integros,  II.  alios  in  XL.  mis.  III.  bus.,  et  III.  dies  in 
ebdomada  peniteat. 

2.  Qui  sepe  cum  masculo  aut  cum  p)ec.ude  fornicat,  X.  annos  ut  peniteret 
judicavit. 

3.  Item  aliud.     Qui  cum  pecoribus  coierit,  XV.  annos  peniteat. 

4.  Qui  coierit  cum  masculo  post  XX.  annum,  XV  annos  peniteat. 

5.  Si  masculus  cum  masculo  fornicaverit,  X.  annos  peniteat. 

6.  Sodomitce  VII.  annos  peniteat  [peniteant] ;  molles  \et  mollis]  sicut 
adultera. 

7.  Item  hoc;  virile  seel  us  semel  faciens  IIII.  annos  peniteat ;  si  in  con- 
suetudine  fuerit,  tit  Basilius  dicit,  XV.  Si  sine,  sustinens  unum  annum  ut 
mulier.     Si  puer  sit,  primo  II.  bus  annis ;  si  iterat  IIII. 

8.  Si  infemoribus,  annum  I.  vel.  III.  XL. mas. 

9.  Si  se  ipsum  coinguinat,  XL.  dies  [peniteat.] 

10.  Qui  concupiscit  fornicari  [fornicare]  sed  non  potest,  XL.  dies  vel 
XX.  peniteat.     Si  frequentaverit,  si  puer  sit,  XX.  dies,  vel  vapuletur. 

11.  Pueri  qui  fornicantur  inter  se  ipsos  judicavit  ut  vapulentur. 

12.  3Iulier  cum  mulier  e  for  nicando  [si... fornicaverit].  III.  annos  peniteat. 

13.  Si  sola  cum  se  ipsa  coitum  habet,  sic  peniteat. 

14.  Una  penitentia  est  viduae  et  puellce.  Majorcm  meruit  quae  virum 
habet,  si  fornicaverit. 

15.  Qui  semen  in  as  miserit,  VII.  annos  peniteat :  hoc  pessimum  malum. 
Alias  ab  eo  judicatum  est  ut  ambo  usque  in  jinem  vitce  peniteant ;  vel  XXII. 
annos,  vel  ut  superius  VII. 

16.  Si  cum  matre  quis  fornicaverit,  XV.  annos  peniteat,  et  nunquam, 
mutat  [mutet]  nisi  Dominicis  diebus:  et  hoc  tam  profanum  incertum 
[incestum]  ab  eo  similiter  alio  modo  dicitur  ut  cum  peregrinatione  perenni 
VII.  annos  peniteat. 

17.  Qui  cum  sorore  fornicatur,  XV.  annos  peniteat,  eo  modo  quo  superius 
de  matre  dicitur,  sed  et  istud  XV.  alias  in  canone  confirmavit ;  unde  non 
absorde  XV.  anni  ad  matrem  transeunt  qui  scribuntur. 

18.  Qui  sepe  fornicaverit,  primus   canon  Judicavit  X.  annos  penitere ; 


376  FOURTH  PEKIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

secundus  canon  VII.;  sed  pro  infirinitate  hominis,  per  consilium  dixerunt 
III.  annos  penitere. 

19.  Si  frater  cum  fratre  naturali  Jbrnicaverii  per  cominixtioaem  carnin, 
XV.  annos  ab  omni  came  abstincat. 

20.  SI  mater  cum  Jilio  sua  parvulo  fornicationem  imitatur,  III.  annos  se 
abstincat  a  came,  et  diem  unum  Jejunet  in  ebdomada,  id  est,  usque  ad 
vesperum- 

21.  Qui  inludetur  fornicaria  cogitatione,  peniteat  usque  dum  cogitatio 
superetur. 

22.  Qui  diligit  feminam  mente,  veniam  pefat  ah  eo  [a  Deo]  id  est.  de 
amore  et  amicitia  si  dixerit  si  non  est  susceptus  ab  ea,  VII.  dies  peniteat.'^ 

The  remaining  chapters  of  the  first  book  treat  De  Avaritia  Furtiva  ; 
De  Occisione  Hominum  [De  Homicidlo]  ;  De  his  qui  per  Heresim  decipiun- 
tur ;  De  Perjurio  ;  De  multis  et  diversis  Malis  ;  De  diverso  Lapso  servorum 
Dei ;  De  Ids  qui  degraduntur  vel  ordinari  non  possunt ;  De  Baptizatis  bis, 
qualiter  peniteant ;  De  his  qui  damnant  Dominicam  et  indicta  jejunia 
ecclesicB  Dei;  De  communione  Eucharistice  vel  Sacrificio ;  De  Reconcilia- 
tione ;  De  Penitentia  Nubentium  specialiter  ;  De  Cultura  Idolorum.  The 
last  chapter  shows  how  many  heathen  superstitions  prevailed  in  con- 
nection with  gross  immorality,  which  the  church  endeavored  to  counteract 
by  a  mechanical  legalism-  The  second  book  treats  De  Ecclesice  Ministerio  ; 
De  tribus  gradibus ;  De  Ordinatione ;  De  Baptismo  et  Confirmatione ;  De 
Missa  Defnnctorum,  etc. 

§  86.  Ecclesiastical  Punishments.    Excommunication,  Anathema, 

Interdict. 

Friedrich  Kober  (R.  C-) :  Der  Kircheribann  nach  den  Grundsdtzen  des 
canonischen  Rechts  dargestellt.  Tubingen  1857  (560  pages).  By  the 
same  author  :  Die  Suspension  der  Kirchendiener.     Tiib.  1862. 

Henry  C.  Lea  :  Excommunication,  in  his  Studies  in  Church  History 
(Philadelphia  1869),  p.  223-475. 

The  severest  peinilties  of  the  church  were  excommunication, 
anathema,  and  interdict.  They  were  fearful  weapons  in  the 
hands  of  the  hierarchy  during  the  middle  ages,  when  the 
church  was  believed  to  control  salvation,  and  when  the  civil 
power  enforced  her  decrees  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  law.  The 
punishment  ceases  with  repentance,  which  is  followed  by  abso- 
lution. The  sentence  of  absolution  must  proceed  from  the 
bishop  who  pronounced  the  sentence  of  excommunication  ;  but 
in  articulo  mortis  every  priest  can  absolve  on  condition  of 
obedience  in  case  of  recovery. 


§  86.  ECCLESIASTICAL  PUNISHMENTS.  377 

1.  Excommunication  was  the  exclusion  from  the  sacra- 
ments, especially  the  communion.  In  the  dominions  of  Charle- 
magne it  was  accompanied  with  civil  disabilities,  as  exclusion 
from  secular  tribunals,  and  even  with  imprisonment  and  seizure 
of  property.  A  bishop  could  excommunicate  any  one  who 
refused  canonical  obedience.  But  a  bishop  could  only  be 
excommunicated  by  the  pope,  and  the  pope  by  no  power  on 
earth. ^  The  sentence  was  often  accompanied  with  awful  curses 
upon  the  bodies  and  souls  of  the  oiFender.  The  popes,  as  they 
towered  above  ordinary  bishops,  surpassed  them  also  in  the  art 
of  cursing,  and  exercised  it  with  shocking  profanity.  Thus 
Benedict  VIII.,  who  crowned  Emperor  Henry  II.  (a.  d.  1014), 
excommunicated  some  reckless  vassals  of  William  II.,  Count 
of  Provence,  who  sought  to  lay  unhallowed  hands  upon  the 
property  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Giles,"  and  consigned  them  to 
Satan  with  terrible  imprecations,  although  he  probably  thought 
he  was  only  following  St.  Peter's  example  in  condemning 
Ananias  and  Sapphira,  and  Simon  Magus.^ 

1  But  during  the  papal  schism,  the  rival  popes  excommunicated  each  other, 
and  the  Council  of  Constance  deposed  them. 

*  Aegidius  {Alyi(hoc)  ;  Italian  :  Sant  Egidio ;  French  :  S.  Gilles.  He  was  an 
abbot  and  confessor  in  France  during  the  reign  of  Charles  Martel  or  earlier, 
and  much  more  celebrated  than  reliably  known.  He  is  the  special  patron  of 
cripples,  and  his  tomb  was  much  visited  by  pilgrims  from  all  parts  of  France, 
England  and  Scotland.  Almost  every  county  in  England  has  churches  named 
in  his  honor,  amounting  in  all  to  14G.     See  Smith  and  Wace  I.  47  sqq. 

*  Bened.  Papfe  VIII.  Epist.  32  {ad  Guillehmim  Comitem).  In  Migne's  Patrol. 
T.  139,  fol.  1630-32.  Lea  translates  it  in  part,  /.  c.  p.  337.  "  Benedict  Bishop, 
Servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  Count  William  and  his  mother,  the  Countess 
Adelaide,  perpetual  grace  and  apostolic  benediction  ....  Let  them  [who  a.- 
tempted  to  rob  the  monastery]  be  accursed  in  their  bodies,  and  let  their  souls 
be  delivered  to  destruction  and  perdition  and  torture.  Let  them  be  damned 
with  the  damned  :  let  them  be  scourged  with  the  ungrateful ;  let  them  perish 
with  the  proud.  Let  them  be  accursed  with  the  Jews  who,  seeing  the 
incarnate  Christ,  did  not  believe  but  sought  to  crucify  Him.  Let  them  be 
accursed  with  the  heretics  who  labored  to  destroy  the  church.  Let  them  be 
accursed  with  those  who  blaspheme  the  name  of  God.  Let  them  be  accursed 
with  those  who  despair  of  the  mercy  of  God.  Let  them  be  accursed  with 
those  who  lie  damned  in  Hell.  Let  them  be  accursed  with  the  impious  and 
sinners  unless  they  amend  their  ways,  and  confess  themselves  in  fault  towards 


378  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

"  Hardened  sinners  "  (says  Lea)  "  might  despise  such  impre- 
cations, but  their  eifect  on  believers  was  necessarily  unutterable, 
when,  amid  the  gorgeous  and  impressive  ceremonial  of  worship, 
the  bishop,  surrounded  by  twelve  priests  bearing  flaming 
candles,  solemnly  recited  the  awful  words  which  consigned  the 
evil-doer  and  all  his  generation  to  eternal  torment  with  such 
fearful  amplitude  and  reduplication  of  malediction,  and  as  the 
sentence  of  perdition  came  to  its  climax,  the  attending  priests 
simultaneously  cast  their  candles  to  the  ground  and  trod  them 
out,  as  a  symbol  of  the  quenching  of  a  human  soul  in  the 
eternal  night  of  hell.  To  this  was  added  the  expectation, 
amounting  almost  to  a  certainty,  that  Heaven  would  not  wait 
for  the  natural  course  of  events  to  confirm  the  judgment  thus 
pronounced,  but  that  the  maledictions  would  be  as  effective  in 
this  world  as  in  the  next.  Those  whom  spiritual  terrors  could 
not  subdue  thus  were  daunted  by  the  fearful  stories  of  the 
judgment  overtaking  the  hardened  sinner  who  dared  to  despise 
the  dread  anathema." 

St.  Giles.  Let  lliem  be  accursed  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth.  In  the 
East  be  they  accursed,  and  in  the  West  disinherited  ;  in  the  North  interdicted, 
and  in  the  South  excommunicate.  Be  they  accursed  in  the  day-time  and 
excommunicate  in  the  night-time.  Accursed  be  they  at  home  and  ex- 
communicate abroad;  accursed  in  standing  and  excommunicate  in  sitting; 
accursed  in  eating,  accursed  in  drinking,  accursed  in  sleeping,  and  excom- 
municate in  waking ;  accursed  when  tliey  work  and  excommunicate  when 
they  rest.  Let  them  be  accursed  in  the  spring  time  and  excommunicate  in 
the  summer;  accursed  in  tlie  autumn  and  excommunicate  in  the  winter.  Let 
them  be  accursed  in  tiiis  world  and  excommunicate  in  the  next.  Let  their 
lands  pa.ss  into  the  hands  of  the  stranger,  their  wives  be  given  over  to  perdi- 
tion, and  their  children  fall  before  the  edge  of  the  sword.  Let  what  they  eat 
be  accursed,  and  accursed  be  what  they  leave,  so  that  he  who  eats  it  shall  be 
accursed.  Accursed  and  excommunicate  be  tlie  priest  who  shall  give  them 
the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord,  or  who  shall  visit  them  in  sickness.  Accursed 
and  excommunicate  be  he  who  shall  carry  them  to  the  grave  and  shall  dare 
to  bury  them.  Let  them  be  excommunicato.^  and  accursed  with  all  curses  if 
they  do  not  make  amends  and  render  due  satisfaction.  And  know  this  for 
truth,  that  after  our  death  no  bishop  nor  count,  nor  any  secular  power  shall 
usurp  the  seigniory  of  the  blessed  St.  Giles.  And  if  any  presume  to  attempt 
it,  borne  down  by  all  the  foregoing  curses,  they  never  shall  enter  the  kingdom 
of  Heaven,  for  the  blessed  St.  Giles  committed  his  monastery  to  the  lordship 
of  the  blessed  Peter." 


§86.  ECCLESIASTICAL  PUNISHMENTS.  379 

2.  The  Anathema  is  generally  used  in  the  same  sense  as 
excommunication  or  separation  from  church  communion  and 
church  privileges.  But  in  a  narrower  sense,  it  means  the 
"greater"  excommunication/  which  excludes  from  all  Christian 
intercourse  and  makes  the  offender  an  outlaw;  while  the  "minor" 
excommunication  excludes  only  from  the  sacrament.  Such  a 
distinction  was  made  by  Gratian  and  Innocent  III.  The 
anathema  was  pronounced  with  more  solemn  ceremonies.  The 
Council  of  Nicsea,  335,  anathematized  the  Arians,  and  the 
Council  of  Trent,  1563,  closed  with  three  anathemas  on  all 
heretics. 

3.  The  Interdict  2  extended  over  a  whole  town  or  diocese  or 
district  or  country,  and  involved  the  innocent  with  the  guilty. 
It  was  a  suspension  of  religion  in  public  exercise,  including  even 
the  rites  of  marriage  and  burial ;  only  baptism  and  extreme 
unction  could  be  performed,  and  they  only  with  closed  doors. 
It  cast  the  gloom  of  a  funeral  over  a  country,  and  made  people 
tremble  in  expectation  of  the  last  judgment.  This  exceptional 
punishment  began  in  a  small  way  in  the  fifth  century.  St. 
Augustin  justly  reproved  Auxilius,  a  brother  bishop,  who  abused 
his  power  by  excommunicating  a  whole  family  for  the  offence  of 
the  head,  and  Pope  Leo  the  Great  forbade  to  enforce  the  penalty 
on  any  who  was  not  a  partner  in  the  crime.^  But  the  bishops 
and  popes  of  the  middle  ages,  from  the  eleventh  to  the  thirteenth 
century,  thought  otherwise,  and  resorted  repeatedly  to  this 
extreme  remedy  of  enforcing  obedience.  They  had  some  basis 
for  it  in  the  custom  of  the  barbarians  to  hold  the  family  or  tribe 
responsible  for  crimes  committed  by  individual  members. 

1  Corresponding  to  the  Cherem,  as  distinct  from  Niddui  (i.  e.  separation),  in 
the  Jewish  Synagogue.  See  J.  Lightfoot,  De  Anathemate  iMaranatha,  and  the 
commentators  on  Gal.  1  :  8,  9  (especially  Wieseler). 

2  Interdidum  or  prokihitio  officiorum  divinorum,  prohibition  of  public  wor.ship. 
A  distinction  is  made  between  interd.  personale  for  particular  persons  ;  locale  for 
a  place  or  district ;  and  generate  for  whole  countries  and  kingdoms. 

3  Aug.  Ep.  250,  §  i  ;  Leo,  Ep.  X.  cap.  8— quoted  by  Gieseler,  and  Lea,  p.  301. 
St.  Basil  of  Csesarea  is  sometimes  quoted  as  the  inventor  of  the  interdict,  but 
not  justly.    See  Lea,  p.  302  note. 


380  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

The    first   conspicuous   examples  of  inflicting    the    Interdict 
occurred  in  France.     Bishop  Leudovald  of  Bayeux,  after  con- 
sulting with  his  brother  bishops,  closed  in  586  all  the  churches 
of  Eouen  and  deprived  the  people  of  the  consolations  of  religion 
until  the  murderer  of  Pretextatus,  Bishop  of  Rouen,  who  was 
slain  at  the  altar  by  a  hireling  of  the  savage  queen  Fredegunda, 
should  be  discovered.^     Hincmar  of  Laon  inflicted  the  interdict 
on  his  diocese  (869),  but  Hincmar  of  Bheims  disapproved  of  it 
and  removed  it.     The  synod  of    Limoges  (Limoisin),  in  1031, 
enforced  the  Peace  of  God  by  the  interdict  in  these  words  which 
were  read  in  the  church :  "  We  excommunicate  all  those  noble-  ' 
men    (milites)    in    the    bishopric  of  Limoges  who   disobey    the 
exhortations  of  their  bishop  to  hold  the  Peace.     Let  them  and 
their  helpers  be  accursed,  and  let  their  weapons  and  horses  be 
accursed !     Let  their  lot  be  with  Cain,  Dathan,  and  Abiram ! 
And  as  now  the    lights  are  extinguished,  so  their  joy  in  the 
presence  of  angels  shall  be  destroyed,  unless  they  repent  and 
make    satisfaction    before   dying."      The    Synod    ordered    that 
public   worship    be    closed,    the    altars    laid    bare,   crosses    and 
ornaments    removed,    marriages    forbidden ;    only    clergymen, 
beggars,  strangers  and  children  under  two  years  could  be  buried, 
and  only  the  dying  receive  the  communion  ;  no  clergyman  or 
layman  should  be  shaved  till  the  nobles  submit.     A  signal  in 
the  church  on  the  third  hour  of  the  day  should  call  all  to  fall 
on  their   knees  to  pray.     All  should  be  dressed  in  mourning. 
The  whole  period  of  the  interdict  should  be  observed  as  a  con- 
tinued fast  and  humiliation.^ 

The  popes  employed  this  fearful  weapon  against  disobedient 
kings,  and  sacrificed  the  spiritual  comforts  of  whole  nations  to 
their  hierarchical  ambition.  Gregory  VII.  laid  the  province  of 
Gnesen  under  the  interdict,  because  King  Bolislaw  II.  had 
murdered    bishop    Stanislaus  of  Cracow  with    his    own    hand. 

1  Gregory  of  Tours,  JTiM.  Franc.  VIII.  31. 

2  Cone.  Lemovicense  II.     See  Mansi  XIX.  541;    Harduin  VI.  p.  1,  885; 
Hefele  IV.  693-695;  Gieseler  II.  199  note  12. 


2  87.  PENANCE  AND  INDULGENCE.        381 

Alexander  II.  applied  it  to  Scotland  (1180),  because  the  king 
refused  a  papal  bishop  and  expelled  him  from  the  country. 
Innocent  III.  suspended  it  over  France  (1200),  because  king 
Philip  Augustus  had  cast  off  his  lawful  wife  and  lived  with  a 
concubine.'  The  same  pope  inflicted  this  punishment  upon 
England  (March  23,  1208),  hoping  to  bring  King  John  (Lack- 
land) to  terms.  The  English  interdict  lasted  over  six  years 
during  which  all  religious  rites  were  forbidden  except  baptism, 
confession,  and  the  viaticum. 

Interdicts  Avere  only  possible  in  the  middle  ages  when  the 
church  had  unlimited  power.  Their  frequency  and  tlie  impos- 
sibility of  full  execution  diminished  their  power  until  they  fell 
into  contempt  and  w^ere  swept  out  of  existence  as  the  nations  of 
Europe  outgrew  the  discipline  of  priestcraft  and  awoke  to  a 
sense  of  manhood. 

§  87.  Penance  and  Indulgence. 

Nath.  Marshall  (Canon  of  Windsor  and  translator  of  Cyprian,  d. 
1729) :  The  Penitential  Discipline  of  the  Primitive  Church  for  the  first 
400  years  after  Christ,  together  with  its  declension  from  the  fifth  century 
doiniward  to  its  present  state.  London  1714.  A  new  ed.  in  the 
"  Lib.  of  Anglo-Cath.  Theol."     Oxford  1844. 

Eus.  Amort  :  De  Origine,  Progressu,  Valore  ac  Fructu  Indulgentiarum. 
Aug.  Vindel.  1735  fol. 

MuRATORl :  De  Redemtione  Peccatorum  et  de  Indulgentiarum  Origine,  in 
Tom.  V.  of  his  Antiquitates  Italicce  Medii  Aevi.  Mediol.  1741.   . 

JOH.  B.  HiRSCHER  (R.  C.)  :  Die  Lehre  vom  Ablass.  Tubingen,  5th  ed. 
1844. 

G.  E.  Steitz  :  Das  romische  Buss- Sacrament,  nach  seinem  bihl.  Grunde 
und  seiner  gesch.  Enticicklung.     Frankf.  a.  M.  1854  (210  pages). 

Val.  Grone  (R.  C.)  :  Der  Ablass,  seine  Geschichte  uiid  Bedeutung  in  der 
Heilsokonomie.     Regensb.  1863. 

DoMlN.  Palmieri  (R.  C.)  :   Tractat.  de  Poenit.     Romoe  1879. 

George  Mead  :  Art.  Penitence,  in  Smith  and  Cheetham  II.  1586-1608. 
Wildt,  (R.  C):  Ablass,  in  Wetzer  and  Welte^  I.  94^111;  Beichte 
and  Beichtsiegel,  II.  221-261.  Mejer  in  Herzog^  I.  90-92.  For  ex- 
tracts from  sources  comp.  Gieseler  II.  105  sqq. ;  193  sqq. ;  515  sqq. 
(Am.  ed.) 

•  See  the  graphic  description  of  the  efieets  of  this  interdict  upon  the  state  of 
Bociety,  in  Hnrter's  Innocens  III.,  vol.  I.  372-386. 


382  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

For  the  authoritative  teaching  of  the  Roman  church  on  the  Sacramentum 
Pceniteniice  see  Cone.  Trident.  Sess.  XIV.  held  1551. 

The  word  repentance  or  penitence  is  an  insufficient  rendering 
for  the  corresponding  Greek  metunoia,  which  means  a  radical 
change  of  mind  or  conversion  from  a  sinful  to  a  godly  life,  and 
includes,  negatively,  a  turning  away  from  sin  in  godly  sorrow 
(repentance  in  the  narrower  sense)  and,  positively,  a  turning  to 
Christ  by  faith  with  a  determination  to  follow  him.^  The  call 
to  repent  in  this  sense  was  the  beginning  of  the  preacliing  both 
of  John  the  Baptist,  and  of  Jesus  Christ." 

In  the  Latin  church  the  idea  of  repentance  was  externalized 
and  identified  with  certain  outward  acts  of  self-abasement  or  self- 
punishment  for  the  expiation  of  sin.  The  public  penance  before 
the  church  went  out  of  use  during  the  seventh  or  eighth  century, 
except  for  very  gross  offences,  and  was  replaced  by  private 
penance  and  confession.^  The  Lateran  Council  of  1215  under 
Pope  Innocent  III.  made  it  obligatory  upon  every  Catholic 
Christian  to  confess  to  his  parish  priest  at  least  once  a  year.^ 

Penance,  including  auricular  confession  and  priestly  absolu- 
tion, was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  sacrament  for  sins  committed 

1  Penitence  is  from  the  Latin  pcEnitentIa,  and  this  is  derived  from  poena,  -olvtj 
{compensation,  satisfaction,  'punisimient) .  Jerome  introduced  the  word,  or  ralher 
retained  it,  in  tlie  Latin  Bible,  for  /xs-avnia,  and  pcenifentiam  agere  for  //erai^ofZy. 
Hence  tiie  Douay  version  :  to  do  penance.  Augustin,  Isidor,  Rabanus  Maurns, 
Peter  Lombard,  and  the  R.  Catholic  theologians  connect  the  term  with  the 
penal  idea  {poena,  punitio)  and  make  it  cover  the  whole  penitential  discipline. 
The  English  repentance,  to  repent,  and  the  German  Basse,  Busselhun  follow  the 
Vulgate,  bnt  have  changed  the  meaning  in  evangelical  theology  in  conformity 
to  the  Greek  ^e-divia, 

2  Matt.  3 1  2  ;  4 :  17  ;  Mark  1.  15.  Luther  renewed  the  call  in  his  95 
The.'^cs  which  begin  with  the  same  idea,  in  opposition  to  the  traffic  in  in- 
dulgences. 

3  Pope  Leo  the  Great  (440-461)  was  the  first  prelate  in  the  West  who  sanc- 
tioned the  substitution  of  the  system  of  secret  humiliation  by  auricular  con- 
fession for  the  public  exomologesis.     Ep.  136.     Opera  I.  355. 

*  Can.  21  :  "  Omnis  utriusque  sexus  fidclis,  postquam  ad  annos  discrctionis  per- 
venerit,  omnia  sua  solus  peccata  confiteatur  fideliter,  saltern  semel  in  anno,  propria 
sacerdoti.''  Violation  of  this  law  of  auricular  confession  was  threatened  with 
excommunicaticn  and  refusal  of  Christian  burial.     See  Hefele  V.  793. 


5  87.  PENANCE  AND  INDULGENCE.         383 

after  baptisni.  The  theory  on  which  it  rests  was  prepared  by 
the  fathers  (Tertullian  aud  Cyprian),  completed  by  the  schoolmen, 
and  sanctioned  by  the  Roman  church.  It  is  supposed  that  bap- 
tism secures  perfect  remission  of  past  sins,  but  not  of  subsequent 
sins  and  frees  from  eternal  damnation,  but  not  from  temporal 
punishment,  which  culminates  in  death  or  in  purgatory.  Penance 
is  described  as  a  "  laborious  kind  of  baptism,"  and  is  declared 
by  the  Council  of  Trent  to  be  necessary  to  salvation  for  those 
.who  have  fallen  after  baptism,  as  baptism  is  necessary  for  those 
who  have  not  yet  been  regenerated.^ 

The  sacrament  of  penance  and  priestly  absolution  includes 
three  elements  :  contrition  of  the  heart,  confession  by  the  mouth, 
satisfaction  by  good  works.^  On  these  conditions  the  priest 
grants  absolution,  not  simply  by  a  declaratory  but  by  a  judicial 
act.  The  good  works  required  are  especially  fasting  and  alms- 
giving. Pilgrimages  to  Jerusalem,  Rome,  Tours,  Compostella, 
and  other  sacred  places  were  likewise  favorite  satisfactions. 
Peter  Damiani  recommended  voluntary  self-flagellation  as  a 
means  to  propitiate  God.  These  pious  exercises  covered  in  the 
popular  mind  the  whole  idea  of  penance.  Piety  was  measured 
by  the  quantity  of  good  works  rather  than  by  quality  of 
character. 

Another  medieval  institution  must  here  be  mentioned  which 
is  closely  connected  with  penance.     The  church  in  the  West, 

1  Cone.  Trid.  Sess.  XIV.  cap.  2  (Schaff's  Creeds  I.  143).  The  Council  went 
so  far  in  Canon  VI.  (II.  165)  as  to  anathematize  any  one  "who  denies  that 
sacramental  confession  was  instituted  or  is  necessary  to  salvation,  of  divine 
right;  or  who  says  that  the  manner  of  confessing  secretly  to  a  priest  alone, 
which  the  church  has  ever  observed  from  the  beginning  (?),  and  doth  observe, 
is  alien  from  the  institution  and  command  of  Christ,  and  is  a  human  inven- 

*^^°"^*"  a        -VTV 

2  Contritio  cordis,  confessio  oris,  satisfaetio  operis.    See  Cone.  Trid.    Sess.  XiV. 

cap.  3-6  {Creeds,  II.  143-153).  The  usual  Roman  Catholic  definition  of  this 
sacrament  is:  " Sacramentum poenitentice  est  sacramentum  a  Christo  imiiiutain,quo 
hamini  contrito,  confesso  ef  satis/aeturo  {satisfacere  volenti)  per  juridicam  sacerdotis 
absolutionem  peccata  post  baptismum  commissa  remittuntur."  Oswald,  Die  dogm^. 
Lehre  von  den  heil.  Sacramenten  der  katholischen  Kirche,  II.  17  (3rd  ed. 
Miinster  1870). 


384  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

in  her  zeal  to  prevent  violence  and  bloodshed,  rightly  favored 
the  custom  of  the  barbarians  to  substitute  pecuniary  com- 
pensation for  punishment  of  an  offence,  but  wrongly  applied 
this  custom  to  the  sphere  of  religion.  Thus  money  might  be 
substituted  for  fasting  and  other  satisfactions,  and  was  clothed 
with  an  atoning  efficacy.  This  custom  seems  to  have  proceeded 
from  the  church  of  England,  and  soon  spread  over  the  con- 
tinent.^ It  degenerated  into  a  regular  traffic,  and  became  a  rich 
source  for  the  increase  of  ecclesiastical  and  monastic  property. 
/  Here  is  the  origin  of  the  indulgences  so  called,  that  is  the  remis- 
'  sion  of  venial  sins  by  the  payment  of  money  and  on  condition 
of  contrition  and  prayer.  The  practice  was  justified  by  the 
scholastic  theory  that  the  works  of  supererogation  of  the  saints 
constitute  a  treasury  of  extra-merit  and  extra-reward  which 
is  under  the  control  of  the  pope.  Hence  indulgence  assumed 
the  special  meaning  of  papal  dispensation  or  remission  of  sin 
from  the  treasury  of  the  overflowing  merits  of  saints,  and  this 
power  was  extended  even  to  the  benefit  of  the  dead  in  pur- 
gatory.^ 

Indulgences  may  be  granted  by  bishops  and  archbishops  in 
their  dioceses,  and  by  the  pope  to  all  Catholics.  The  former 
dealt  Math  it  in   retail,  the   latter  in  wholesale.     The  first  in- 

1  Archbishop  Theodore  of  Canterbury  is  the  reputed  author  of  this  commu- 
tation of  penance  for  a  money-payment.  See  his  Penitential  I.  3  and  4,  and 
the  seventh  penitential  canon  ascribed  to  him,  in  Haddan  and  Stubbs  III.  179, 
180,211.  ''Siquis"  says  Theodore,  ''pro  ultione  propinqui  hominem  occiderit, 
peniteat  sicut  homicida,  Vlf.  vet  X.  annos.  Si  tamen  reddere  wit  propinquis 
pecuniam  CBsiimationis,  lecior  erit  penitentia,  id  est,  dimidio  spatii.''  The  Synod 
of  Clove^ho  (probably  Abingdon),  held  under  his  successor,  Cuthbert,  for  the 
reformation  of  abuses,  in  September  747,  decreed  in  the  26th  canon  that  alms 
were  no  longer  to  be  given  for  diminishing  or  commuting  the  fastings  and 
other  works  of  satisfaction.     See  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  III.  371  sq. 

■■^  This  theory  was  fully  developed  by  Thomas  Aquinas  and  other  schoolmen 
(see  Gieseler  II.  521  sq.),  and  sanctioned  by  the  Council  of  Trent  in  the  25th 
Session,  held  Dec.  4,  1563  (Creeds  II.  205  sq.),  although  the  Council  forbids 
"all  evil  gains"  and  other  abuses  which  have  caased  "the  honorable  name  of 
indulgences  to  be  blasphemed  by  heretics."  The  popes  still  exercise  from  time 
to  time  the  right  of  granting  plenary  indulgences,  though  with  greater  caution 
than  their  mediaeval  predecessors. 


2  87.  PENANCE  AND  INDULGENCE.        385 

stances  of  papal  indulgence  occur  in  the  ninth  century  under 
Paschalis  I.  and  John  VIII.  who  granted  it  to  those  who  had 
fallen  in  war  for  the  defence  of  the  church.  Gregory  VI. 
in  1046  promised  it  to  all  who  sent  contributions  for  the  repair 
of  the  churches  in  Rome.  Urban  II.,  at  the  council  of  Cler- 
mont (1095),  offered  to  the  crusaders  "  by  the  authority  of  the 
princes  of  the  Apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,"  plenary  indulgence  as 
a  reward  for  a  journey  to  the  Holy  Land.  The  same  offer  was 
repeated  in  every  crusade  against  the  Mohammedans  and  heretics. 
The  popes  found  it  a  convenient  means  for  promoting  their 
power  and  filling  their  treasury.  Thus  the  granting  «f  indul- 
gences became  a  periodical  institution.  Its  abuses  culminated 
in  the  profane  and  shameful  traffic  of  Tetzel  under  Leo  X.  for 
the  benefit  of  St.  Peter's  church,  but  were  overruled  in  the 
Providence  of  God  for  the  Reformation  and  a  return  to  the 
biblical  idea  of  repentance. 

NOTE. 

The  cliarge  is  frequently  made  against  tlie  papal  court  in  tlie  middle 
ages  that  it  had  a  regulated  scale  of  prices  for  indulgences,  and  this  is 
based  on  the  Tax  Tables  of  the  Roman  Chancery  published  from  time  to 
time.  Roman  Catholic  writers  (as  Lingard,  Wiseman)  say  that  the  taxes 
are  merely  fees  for  the  expedition  of  business  and  the  payment  of  offi- 
cials, but  cannot  deny  the  shameful  avarice  of  some  popes.  The  sub- 
ject is  fully  discussed  by  Dr.  T.  L.  Green  (R.  C),  Indulgences,  Sacra- 
mental Absolutions,  and  the  Tax-Tables  of  the  Roman  Chancery  and 
Penitentiary,  considered,  in  reply  to  the  Charge  of  Venality,  London 
(Longmans)  1872,  and,  on  the  Protestant  side,  by  Dr.  Richard  Gibbings 
(Prof,  of  Ch.  Hist,  in  the  University  of  Dublin),  The  Taxes  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Penitentiary ;  or,  the  Prices  of  Sins  in  the  Church  of  Pome,  Dublin 
1872.  Gibbings  reprints  the  Taxce  Sacrce  Poenitentiarice  Romance  from  the 
Roman  ed.  of  1510  and  the  Parisian  ed.  of  1520,  vi^hich  cover  21  pages  in 
Latin,  but  the  greater  part  of  the  book  (164  pages)  is  an  historical  in- 
troduction and  polemical  discussion. 

25 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CHUECH    AND    STATE. 

Comp.  vol.  III.  ch.  III.,  p.  90  sqq.,  and  the  Lit.  there  quoted. 

§  88.  Legislation. 

Medieval  Christianity  is  not  a  direct  continuation  of  the 
ante-Nicene  Christianity  in  hostile  conflict  with  the  heathen 
state,  but  of  the  post-Nicene  Christianity  in  friendly  union  with 
a  nominally  Christian  state.  The  missionaries  aimed  first  at 
the  conversion  of  the  rulers  of  the  barbarian  races  of  Western 
and  Northern  Europe.  Augustin,  with  his  thirty  monks,  was 
provided  by  Pope  Gregory  with  letters  to  princes,  and  ap- 
proached first  King  Ethelbert  and  Queen  Bertha  in  Kent. 
Boniface  leaned  on  the  pope  and  Charles  Martel.  The  con- 
version of  Clovis  decided  the  religion  of  the  Franks.  The 
Christian  rulers  became  at  once  the  patrons  of  the  church 
planted  among  their  subjects,  and  took  Constantine  and  Theo- 
dosius  for  their  models.  They  submitted  to  the  spiritual 
authority  of  the  Catholic  church,  but  aspired  to  its  temporal 
government  by  the  appointment  of  bishops,  abbots,  and  the 
control  over  church-property.  Hence  the  frequent  collisions 
of  the  two  powers,  which  culminated  in  the  long  conflict  be- 
tween the  pope  and  the  emperor. 

The  civil  and  ecclesiastical  relations  of  the  middle  ages  are 
so  closely  intertwined  that  it  is  impossible  to  study  or  under- 
stand the  one  without  the  other.  In  Spain,  for  instance,  the 
synods  of  Toledo  were  both  ecclesiastical  councils  and  royal 
parliaments  ;  after  the  affairs  of  the  church  were  disposed  of, 

the  bishops  and  nobles  met  together  for  the  enactment  of  civil 
386 


2  88.  LEGISLATION.  387 

laws,  which  were  sanctioned  by  the  king.  The  synods  and 
diets  held  under  Cliarlemagne  had  likewise  a  double  character. 
In  England  the  bishops  were,  and  are  still,  members  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  often  occupied  seats  in  the  cabinet  down 
to  the  time  of  Cardinal  Wolsey,  who  was  Archbishop  of  York 
and  Chancellor  of  England.  The  religious  persecutions  of  the 
middle  ages  were  the  joint  work  of  church  and  state. 

This  union  has  a  bright  and  a  dark  side.  It  was  a  whole- 
some training-school  for  barbarous  races,  it  humanized  and 
ennobled  the  state ;  but  it  secularized  the  church  and  the 
clergy,  and  hindered  the  development  of  freedom  by  repressing 
all  efforts  to  emancipate  the  mind  from  the  yoke  of  despotic 
power.  The  church  gained  a  victory  over  the  world,  but  the 
world  gained  also  a  victory  over  the  church.  St.  Jerome,  who 
witnessed  the  first  effects  of  the  marriage  of  the  church  with 
the  Roman  empire,  anticipated  the  experience  of  later  ages, 
when  he  said :  "  The  church  by  its  connection  with  Christian 
princes  gained  in  power  and  riches,  but  lost  in  virtues."  ^ 
Dante,  who  lived  in  the  golden  age  of  the  mediaeval  hierarchy, 
and  believed  the  fable  of  the  donation  of  Constantine  to  Sylves- 
ter, traced  the  ills  of  the  church  to  "that  marriage- dower" 
which  the  first  wealthy  pope  received  from  the  first  Christian 
emperor. 

The  connection  of  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  powers  is  em- 
bodied in  the  legislation  which  regulates  the  conduct  of  man  in 
his  relations  to  his  fellow-men,  and  secures  social  order  and 
national  welfare.  It  is  an  index  of  public  morals  as  far  as  it 
presupposes  and  fixes  existing  customs;  and  where  it  is  in 
advance  of  popular  sentiment,  it  expresses  a  moral  ideal  in  the 
mind  of  the  lawgivers  to  be  realized  by  the  educational  power 
of  legal  enactments. 

During  the  middle  ages  there  were  three  systems  of  juris- 
prudence :  the  Roman  law,  the  Barbaric  law,  and  the  Canon 

1  "  Ecclesia  postquam  ad  Christianos  prineipes  venil,  potentia  quidem  et  divitiis, 
major,  sed  virtutibus  minor  facta." 


388  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

law.  The  first  two  proceeded  from  civil,  the  third  from 
ecclesiastical  authority.  The  civil  law  embodies  the  records 
aud  edicts  of  emperors  aud  kings,  the  enactments  of  diets  and 
parliaments,  the  decisions  of  courts  and  judges.  The  ecclesias- 
tical law  embodies  the  canons  of  councils  and  decretals  of 
popes.  The  former  is  heathen  in  origin,  but  improved  and 
modified  by  Christianity ;  the  latter  is  the  direct  production  of 
the  church,  yet  as  influenced  by  the  state  of  mediaeval  society. 
Both  rest  on  the  union  of  church  and  state,  and  mutually  sup- 
jiort  each  other,  but  it  was  difficult  to  draw  the  precise  line  of 
difference,  and  to  prevent  occasional  collisions  of  jurisdiction. 

§  89.   The  Roman  Lav). 

See  vol.  III.  H  13  and  18,  pp.  90  sqq.  and  107  sqq. 
Fr.  K.  von  Savigny  (Prof,  of  jurisprudence  in  Berlin,  d.  1861) : 
Geschichte  des  romischen  Rechts  im  Mittelalter,  Berlin  1815-31, 
6  vols.  Chapter  44  of  Gibbon  on  Roman  law.  Ozanam  :  Hist,  of 
the  Civilization  in  the  Fifth  Century,  ch.  V.  (vol.  I.  136-158  in  Glyn's 
transl.  Lond.  1868).  Milman:  Lat.  Christ.  Bk  III.  ch.  5  (vol.  I. 
479  sqq.     N.  York  ed.) 

The  Justinian  code  (527-534)  transmitted  to  the  middle  ages 
the  legislative  wisdom  and  experience  of  republican  aud  im- 
perial Rome  with  the  humanizing  improvements  of  Stoic  philos- 
ophy and  the  Christian  religion,  but  at  the  same  time  with 
penal  laws  against  every  departure  from  the  orthodox  Catholic 
creed,  which  was  recognized  and  protected  as  the  only  religion 
of  the  state.  It  maintained  its  authority  in  the  Eastern  empire. 
It  was  partly  preserved,  after  the  destruction  of  the  Western 
empire,  among  the  Latin  inhabitants  of  Italy,  France,  and 
Spain,  in  a  compilation  from  the  older  Theodosian  code  (429- 
438),  which  contained  the  post-Coustantinian  laws,  with  frag- 
ments from  earlier  collections. 

In  the  twelfth  century  the  Roman  law  (after  the  discovery  of 
a  copy  of  the  Pandects  at  Amalfi  in  1135,  which  was  after- 
wards transferred  to  Florence)  began  to  be  studied  again  with 
great  enthusiasm.    A  famous  school  of  civil  law  was  established 


g  89.  THE  ROMAN  LAW.  389 

at  Bologna.  Similar  schools  arose  iii  connection  with  the  Uni- 
versities at  Paris,  Naples,  Padua,  and  other  cities.  The  Roman 
civil  law  [Corpus  juris  oivilis),  in  connection  with  the  ecclesias- 
tical or  canon  law  {Corpus  juris  canonid),  was  gradually  adopted 
all  over  the  Continent  of  Europe,  and  the  Universities  granted 
degrees  in  both  laws  conjointly. 

Thus  Rome,  substituting  the  law  for  the  sword,  ruled  the 
world  once  more  for  centuries,  and  subdued  the  descendants 
of  the  very  barbarians  who  had  destroyed  her  empire.  The 
conquered  gave  laws  to  the  conquerors,  mindful  of  the  prophetic 
line  of  Virgil : 

"  Tu,  regere  imperio  populos,  Eomane,  memento" 

NOTES. 

The  anti-heretical  part  of  the  Koman  law,  on  which  persecution  was 
based,  is  thus  summed  up  by  Dean  Milman  (Bk  III.  ch.  5) :  "A  new 
class  of  crimes,  if  not  introduced  by  Christianity,  became  multiplied, 
rigorously  defined,  mercilessly  condemned.  The  ancient  Roman  theory, 
that  the  religion  of  the  State  must  be  the  religion  of  the  people,  which 
Christianity  had  broken  to  pieces  by  its  inflexible  resistance,  was  restored 
in  more  than  its  former  rigor.  The  code  of  Justinian  confirmed  the  laws 
of  Theodosius  and  his  successors,  which  declared  certain  heresies, 
Manicheism  and  Donatism,  crimes  against  the  State,  as  affecting  the 
common  welfare.  The  crime  was  punishable  by  confiscation  of  all 
property,  and  incompetency  to  inherit  or  to  bequeath.  Death  did  not 
secure  the  hidden  heretic  from  prosecution ;  as  in  high  treason,  he  might 
be  convicted  in  his  grave.  Not  only  was  his  testament  invalid,  but  in- 
heritance could  not  descend  through  him.  All  who  harbored  such 
heretics  were  liable  to  punishment ;  their  slaves  might  desert  them,  and 
transfer  themselves  to  an  orthodox  master.  The  list  of  proscribed  here- 
tics gradually  grew  wider.  The  Manicheans  were  driven  still  farther 
away  from  the  sympathies  of  mankind ;  by  one  Greek  constitution  they 
were  condemned  to  capital  punishment.  Near  thirty  names  of  less  de- 
tested heretics  are  recited  in  a  law  of  Theodosius  the  younger,  to  which 
were  added,  in  the  time  of  Justinian,  Nestorians,  Eutychians,  Apol- 
linarians.  The  books  of  all  these  sects  were  to  be  burned  ;  yet  the  for- 
midable number  of  these  heretics  made  no  doubt  the  general  execution 
of  the  laws  impossible.  But  the  Justinian  code,  having  defined  as 
heretics  all  who  do  not  believe  the  Catholic  faith,  declares  such  heretics, 
as  well  as  Pagans,  Jews,  and  Samaritans,  incapable  of  holding  civil  or 
military  offices,  except  in  the  lowest  ranks  of  the  latter ;   they  could 


390  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

attain  to  no  civic  dignity  which  was  held  in  honor,  as  that  of  the  de- 
fensors, though  such  offices  as  were  burdensome  might  be  imposed  even 
on  Jews.  The  assemblies  of  all  heretics  were  forbidden,  their  books 
were  to  be  collected  and  burned,  their  rites,  baptisms,  and  ordinations 
prohibited.  Children  of  heretical  parents  might  embrace  orthodoxy ; 
the  males  the  parent  could  not  disinherit,  to  the  females  he  was  bound 
to  give  an  adequate  dowry.  The  testimony  of  Manicheans,  of  Samari- 
tans, and  Pagans  could  not  be  received ;  apostates  to  any  of  these  sects 
and  religions  lost  all  their  former  privileges,  and  were  liable  to  all 
penalties." 

§  90.   The  Capitularies  of  Charlemagne. 

Steph.  Baluzius  (Baluze,  Prof,  of  Canon  law  in  Paris,  d.  1718) : 
Begum  Francorum  Capitularia,  1677 ;  new  ed.  Paris,  1780,  2  vols. 
Pertz:  Monumenta  Germanioe  historica,  Tom.  Ill  (improved  ed.  of 
the  Capitularia).  K.  Fr.  Eichhorjt:  Deutsche  Staats-und  Rechtsge- 
schichfe,  Gottingeu,  1808,  4  Parts  5  5th  ed.  1844.  J.  Grimm  :  Deutsche 
Rechtsalterthilmer,  Gottinger.  1828.  Giesebrecht  (I.  800)  calls  this 
an  "  unusually  rich  collection  with  profound  glances  into  the  legal 
life  of  the  German  people."  W.  Donniges  :  Das  deutsche  iStaats- 
recht  und  die  deutsche  Beichsverfassung,  Berlin  1842.  F.  Walther: 
Deutsche  Rechtsgesc.hichte,  second  ed.  Bonn  1857.  J.  Hillebrand  : 
Lehrbuch  der  deutschen  Staats-und  Rechtsgeschichte,  Leipzig  1856. 
0.  Stobbe:  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Rechtsquellen,  Braunschweig, 
1860  (first  Part).  W.  Giesebrecht  :  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Kais- 
erzeit,  third  ed.  Braunschweig  1863  sqq.  Bd  I.  106-144. 

The  first  and  greatest  legislator  of  the  Germanic  nations  is 
Charlemagne,  the  founder  of  the  Holy  Roman  Em})ire  (800- 
814).  What  Constantine  the  Great,  Theodosius  the  Great,  and 
Justinian  did  for  the  old  Roman  empire  on  the  basis  of  heathen 
Rome  and  the  ancient  Graeco-Latin  church,  Charlemagne  did  for 
the  new  Roman  Empire  in  the  West  on  the  basis  of  Germanic 
customs  and  the  Latin  church  centred  in  the  Roman  papacy. 
He  was  greater,  more  beneficial  and  enduring  in  his  influence  as 
a  legislator  than  as  a  soldier  and  conqueror.^  He  proposed  to 
himself  the  herculean  task  to  organize,  civilize  and  Christianize 
the  crude  barbarian  customs  of  his  vast  empire,  and  he  carried 
it  out  with  astonishing  wisdom.     His  laws  are  embodied  in  the 

*  The  same  may  be  said  of  Napoleon  I.,  whose  code  has  outlived  his  mili- 
tary conquests. 


§90.  THE  CAPITULAKIES  OF  CHARLEMAGNE.         391 

Capitularia,  i.  e.  laws  divided  into  chapters.  They  are  the  first 
i  great  law-book  of  the  French  and  Germans'.  They  contain  his 
edicts  and  ordinances  relating  to  ecclesiastioiil,  political,  and  civil 
legislation,  judicial  decisions  and  moral  precepts.  The  influence 
of  the  church  and  the  Christian  religion  is  here  more  direct  and 
extensive  than  in  the  Roman  Code,  and  imparts  to  it  a  theocratic 
element  which  ajiproaches  to  the  Mosaic  legislation.  The 
Roman  Catholic  church  with  her  creed,  her  moral  laws,  her 
polity,  was  the  strongest  bond  of  union  which  held  the  AVestern 
barbarians  together  and  controlled  the  views  and  aims  of  the 
emperor.  He  appears,  indeed,  as  the  supreme  ruler  clothed 
with  sovereign  authority.  But  he  was  surrounded  by  the  clergy 
which  was  the  most  intelligent  and  influential  factor  in  legis- 
lation both  in  the  synod  and  in  the  imperial  diet.  The  emperor 
and  his  nobles  were  under  the  power  of  the  bishops,  and  the 
bishops  were  secular  lords  and  politicians  as  well  as  ecclesiastics. 
The  ecclesiastical  affairs  were  controlled  by  the  Apocrisiarius^  (a 
sort  of  minister  of  worship) ;  the  secular  affairs,  by  the  Comes 
Palatii;'^  both  were  aided  in  each  province  by  a  delegated  bishop 
and  count  who  were  to  work  in  harmony.  On  important 
questions  the  pope  was  consulted.''  The  legislation  proceeded 
from  the  imperial  will,  from  ecclesiastical  councils,  and  from  the 
diet  or  imperial  assembly.  The  last  consisted  of  the  dignitaries 
of  church  and  state,  the  court  officials,  bishops,  abbots,  dukes, 
counts,  etc.,  and  convened  every  spring.  The  emperor  was 
surrounded  at  his  court  by  the  most  eminent  statesmen,  clergy- 

1  Giesebrecht  (I.  128):  "  Ein  Biesenschritt  in  der  EntwicMung  des  deutschen 
Geistes  geschah  durch  Karls  Oesetzgebung.  .  .  Mit  EhrfurcJd  und  heiUger  Scheu 
schliigt  man  die  Capitalarien  des  grossen  Kaisers  auf,  das  erste  grosse  Gesetzbuch 
der  Germanen,  ein  Werk,  dem  mehrere  Jahrhunderte  vorher  und  nachher  kein  Volk 
ein  gleiches  an  die  Seile  gesetzt  hat.  Das  Bild  des  Karolingischen  Staates  tritt  uns 
in  roller  Gegenwiirtigkeit  hier  vor  die  Seek  ;  wir  sehen,  wie  Grosses  erreicht,  wie  das 
Sochste  erstrebt  wurde." 

2  Also  called  ArchicapeUanus,  Archicancellarius.  ^  Pfalzgraf. 

*  Hence  manv  Capitularies  are  issued  "  aposloliae  sedis  hortatu,  monente  Pon- 
tiflce,  ex  prcBcepto  Pontificis."  At  the  Synod  of  Francfort  in  794  two  delegates 
of  Pope  Hadrian  were  present,  but  Charlemagne  presided.  See  Mansi  XVIII. 
884;  Pertz,  Monum.  I.  181. 


392  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

men  and  scholars,  from  whom  he  was  anxious  to  learn  without 
sacrificing  his  right  to  rule.  His  court  was  a  school  of  discipline 
and  of  that  gentlemanly  courtesy  and  refinement  which  became  a 
distinguishing  feature  of  chivalry,  and  Charlemagne  shone  in 
poetry  as  the  first  model  cavalier. 

The  legislation  of  the  Carolingian  Capitularies  is  favorable  to 
the  clergy,  to  monasteries,  to  the  cause  of  good  morals  and 
religion.  The  marriage  tie  is  protected,  even  among  slaves ;  the 
license  of  divorce  restrained ;  divorced  persons  are  forbidden  to 
marry  again  during  the  life-time  of  the  other  party.  The 
observance  of  Sunday  is  enjoined  for  the  special  benefit  of  the 
laboring  classes.  Ecclesiastical  discipline  is  enforced  by  penal 
laws  in  cases  of  gross  sins  such  as  incest.  Superstitious  customs, 
as  consulting  soothsayers  and  the  Scriptures  for  oracles,  are  dis- 
couraged, but  the  ordeal  is  enjoined.  Wholesome  moral  lessons 
are  introduced,  sometimes  in  the  language  of  tlie  Scriptures :  the 
people  are  warned  against  perjury,  against  feud,  against  shedding 
Christian  blood,  against  the  oppression  of  the  poor  (whose  cause 
should  be  heard  by  the  judges  before  the  cause  of  the  rich). 
They  are  exhorted  to  learn  the  Apostles'  Creed  and  to  pray,  to 
love  one  another  and  to  live  in  peace,  "because  they  have  one 
Father  in  heaven."  Cupidity  is  called  "a  root  of  all  evil." 
Respect  for  the  dead  is  encouraged.  Hospitality  is  recommended 
for  the  reason  that  he  who  receives  a  little  child  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  receives  him. 

This  legislation  was  much  neglected  under  the  weak  successors 
of  Charlemagne,  but  remains  a  noble  monument  of  his  intentions. 

§  91.  English  Legislation. 

Wilkin:  Leges  AngloSaxonlcce  (1721).  Thorpe:  Ancient  Laws  and 
Institutes  of  England  (London  1840).  Matthew  Hale:  History  of 
the  Common  Law  (6th  ed.  by  Runnington,  1820).  Reeve:  History 
of  the  English  Law  (new  ed.  by  Finalson  1869,  3  vols.).  Blackstone: 
Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England  (London  1765,  many  ed.  Engl, 
and  Amer.).  Burn:  Ecclesiastical  Laiv  (9th  ed.  by  Phillimore,  1842, 
4  vols.).   Phillimore:  Ecclesiastical  Law  of  the  Church  of  England 


§  91.   ENGLISH  LEGISLATION.  393 

(Lond.  1873,  2  vols,).  Wm.  Strong  (Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  U.  S.) :  Two  Lectures  upon  the  Relations  of  Civil  Law  to  Church 
Property  (N.  York  1875). 

England  never  accepted  the  Roman  civil  law,  and  the  canon 
law  only  in  part.  The  island  in  its  isolation  was  protected  by 
the  sea  against  foreign  influence,  and  jealous  of  it.  It  built  up  its 
own  system  of  jurisprudence  on  the  basis  of  Anglo-Saxon  habits 
and  customs.  The  English  civil  law  is  divided  into  Common 
Law  or  lex  non  scrlpta  (i.  e.  not  written  at  Jirsf),  and  Statute 
Law  or  lex  scripta.  They  are  related  to  each  other  as  oral 
tradition  and  the  Bible  are  in  theology.  The  Common  Law 
embodies  the  ancient  general  and  local  customs  of  the  English 
peoj)le,  handed  down  by  word  of  mouth  from  time  immemorial, 
and  afterwards  recorded  in  the  decisions  of  judges  who  are 
regarded  as  the  living  oracles  of  interpretation  and  application, 
and  whose  decisions  must  be  adhered  to  in  similar  cases  of  litiga- 
tion. It  is  Anglo-Saxon  in  its  roots,  and  moulded  by  Norman 
lawyers,  under  the  influence  of  Christian  principles  of  justice 
and  equity.  Blackstone,  the  standard  expounder  of  English 
law,  says,  "  Christianity  is  a  part  of  the  Common  Law  of  Eng- 
land." ^  Hence  the  laws  against  religious  offences,  as  blasphemy, 
profane  swearing,  desecration  of  the  Lord's  Day,  apostasy  from 
Christianity,  and  heresy.^ 

1  Comment.  Bk  IV.  ch.  4.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  United  States  as  far 
as  they  have  adopted  the  Common  Law  of  tlie  mother  country.  It  is  so 
declared  by  the  highest  courts  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Massachusetts, 
and  by  many  eminent  judges,  but  with  this  essential  modification  that  those 
parts  of  the  Common  Law  of  England  which  imply  the  union  of  church  and 
state  are  inapplicable  to  the  United  States  where  they  are  separated.  Justice 
Strong  (1.  c.  p.  32)  says  :  ''  The  laws  and  institutions  of  all  the  States  are  built 
on  the  foundation  of  reverence  for  Christianity."  The  court  of  Pennsylvania 
states  the  law  in  this  manner  :  "  Christianity  is  and  always  has  been  a  part  of 
the  Common  Law  of  this  State.  Christianity  without  the  spiritual  artillery  of 
European  countries — not  Christianity  founded  on  any  particular  religious 
tenets — not  Christianity  with  an  established  church  and  titles  and  spiritual 
courts,  but  Christianity  with  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  men." 

^  The  statute  de  hoeretico  comburendo,  passed  in  1401  (Henry  IV.  c.  15),  was 
etill  in  force  under  Elizabeth  when  two  Anabaptists  were  burned  alive,  and 
under  James  I.  when  two  Arians  were  burned. 


394  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  Christian  character  of  English  legislation  is  clue  in  large 
measure  to  the  piety  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings,  especially  Alfred 
the  Great  (849-901),  and  Edward  III.,  the  Confessor  (1004- 
1066,  canonized  by  Alexander  III.,  1166),  who  prepared  digests 
of  the  laws  of  the  realm.  Their  piety  was,  of  course,  ascetic 
and  monastic,  but  enlightened  for  their  age  and  animated  by  the 
spirit  of  justice  and  charity.  The  former  is  styled  Legum  Angli- 
canarum  Conditor,  the  latter  Legum  Anglicanarum  Restitutor. 

Alfred's  Dome-Book  or  Liber  justiclalis  was  lost  during  the 
irruption  of  the  Danes,  but  survived  in  the  improved  code  of 
Edward  the  Confessor.  Alfred  was  for  England  what  Charle- 
magne was  for  France  and  Germany,  a  Christian  ruler,  legislator, 
and  educator  of  his  people.  He  is  esteemed  "  the  wisest,  best, 
and  greatest  king  that  ever  reigned  in  England."  Although  he 
was  a  great  sufferer  from  epilepsy  or  some  similar  bodily  in- 
firmity which  seized  him  suddenly  from  time  to  time  and  made 
him  despair  of  life,  he  performed,  like  St.  Paul  in  spite  of  his 
thorn  in  the  flesh,  an  incredible  amount  of  work.  The  grateful 
memory  of  his  people  ascribed  to  him  institutions  and  laws, 
rights  and  privileges  which  existed  before  his  time,  but  in  many 
respects  he  was  far  abend  of  his  age.  When  he  ascended  the 
throne,  "  hardly  any  one  south  of  the  Thames  could  understand 
the  ritual  of  the  church  or  translate  a  Latin  letter."  He  con- 
ceived the  grand  scheme  of  popular  national  education.  For 
this  end  he  rebuilt  the  churches  and  monasteries  which  had  been 
ruined  by  the  Danes,  built  new  ones,  imported  books  from  Rome, 
invited  scholars  from  the  Continent  to  his  court,  translated  with 
their  aid  Latin  works  (as  Gregory's  Fastoral  Care,  Bede's 
Eeclesiastical  Llistory,  and  Bcethius's  Consolations  of  Philosophy) 
into  the  Anglo-Saxon,  collected  the  laws  of  the  country,  and 
remodelled  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  organization  of  his 
kingdom. 

His  code  is  introduced  with  the  Ten  Commandments  and 
other  laws  taken  from  the  Bible.  It  protects  the  stranger  in 
memory  of  Israel's  sojourn   in   Egyi)t ;  it  gives  the  Christian 


2  91.   ENGLISH  LEGISLATION.  395 

slave  freedom  in  the  seventh  year,  as  the  Mosaic  law  gave  to  the 
Jewish  bondman ;  it  protects  the  laboring  man  in  his  Sunday 
rest ;  it  restrains  bloodthirsty  passions  of  revenge  by  establishing 
bets  or  fines  for  offences ;  it  enjoins  the  golden  rule  (in  the  nega- 
tive form),  not  to  do  to  any  man  what  we  would  not  have  done 
to  us.^ 

"  In  all  these  words  of  human  brotherhood,  of  piety,  and  the 
spirit  of  justice,  of  pity  and  humanity,  uttered  by  the  barbaric 
lawgivers  of  a  wild  race,  there  speaks  a  great  Personality — the 
embodiment  of  the  highest  sympathy  and  most  disinterested 
virtue  of  mankind.  It  cannot  be  said  indeed  that  these  religious 
influences,  so  apparently  genuine,  produced  any  powerful  effect 
on  society  in  Anglo-Saxon  England,  though  they  modified  the 
laws.  Still  they  began  the  history  of  the  religious  forces  in 
England  which,  though  obscured  by  much  formalism  and 
hypocrisy  and  weakened  by  selfishness,  have  yet  Avorked  out 
slowly  the  great  moral  and  humane  refoj-ms  in  the  history  of 
that  country,  and  have  tended  with  other  influences  to  make  it 
one  of  the  great  leaders  of  modern  progress."^ 

NOTES. 

John  Richard  Green,  in  his  posthumous  work,  The  Conquest  of  England 
(N.  York  ed.  1884,  p.  179  sq.),  pays  the  following  eloquent  and  just 
tribute  to  the  character  of  King  Aelfred  (as  he  spells  the  name) :  "Aelfred 
stands  in  the  forefront  of  his  race,  for  he  is  the  noblest  as  he  is  the  most 
complete  embodiment  of  all  that  is  great,  all  that  is  lovable  in  the 
English  temper,  of  its  practical  energy,  its  patient  and  enduring  force, 
of  the  reserve  and  self-control  that  give  steadiness  and  sobriety  to  a  wide 
outlook  and  a  restless  daring,  of  its  temperance  and  fairness,  its  frank- 
ness and  openness,  its  sensitiveness  to  affection,  its  poetic  tenderness,  its 
deep  and  reverent  religion.  Eeligion,  indeed,  was  the  groundwork  of 
Aelfred's  character.  His  temper  was  instinct  with  piety.  Everywhere, 
throughout  his  writings  that  remain  to  us,  the  name  of  God,  the  thought 

*  For  further  information  on  Alfred  see  the  biographies  of  Pauli  (1851, 
Engl,  transl.  by  Thorpe,  1853),  Weiss  (1852),  Hughes  (Lond.  and  Best.  1869), 
Freeman's  Old  English  History,  and  Green's  Conquest  of  England  (U 
ch.  IV.  124-180. 

*  Brace,  Gesta  Christi,  p.  216. 


396  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

of  God,  stir  him  to  outbursts  of  ecstatic  adoration.  But  of  the  narrow- 
ness, the  want  of  proportion,  the  predominance  of  one  quality  over 
another,  which  commonly  goes  with  an  intensity  of  religious  feeling  or 
of  moral  purpose,  he  showed  no  trace.  He  felt  none  of  that  scorn  of  the 
world  about  him  which  drove  the  nobler  souls  of  his  day  to  monastery 
or  hermitage.  Vexed  as  he  was  by  sickness  and  constant  pain,  not  only 
did  his  temper  take  no  touch  of  asceticism,  but  a  rare  geniality,  a  pe- 
culiar elasticity  and  mobility  of  nature,  gave  color  and  charm  to  his 

life Little  by  little  men  came  to  recognize  in  Aelfred  a  ruler  of 

higher  and  nobler  stamp  than  the  world  had  seen.  Never  had  it  seen  a 
king  who  lived  only  for  the  good  of  his  people  ....  *  I  desire,'  said  the 
king,  '  to  leave  to  the  men  that  come  after  me  a  remembrance  of  me  in 
good  works.'  His  aim  has  been  more  than  fulfilled  ....  While  every 
other  name  of  those  earlier  times  has  all  but  faded  from  the  recollection 
of  Englishmen,  that  of  Aelfred  remains  familiar  to  every  English  child." 


CHAPTER   X. 

WORSHIP    AND    CEREMONIES. 

Comp.  vol.  III.  ch.  VII.  (374  sqq.),  and  Neander  III.  123-140 ;  425- 
455  (Boston  ed.). 

§  92.    The  Mass. 

Comp.  vol.  III.  I  96-101  (p.  502  sqq.)  and  the  liturgical  Lit.  there  quoted  ; 
also  the  works  on  Christian  and  Ecclesiastical  Antiquities,  e.g. 
SlEGEL  III.  361-411. 

The  public  worship  centered  in  the  celebration  of  the  mass, 
as  an  actual,  though  unbloody,  repetition  of  the  sacrifice  of 
Christ  for  the  sins  of  the  world.  In  this  respect  the  Eastern 
and  Western  churches  are  fully  agreed  to  this  day.  They  sur- 
round this  ordinance  with  all  the  solemnity  of  a  mysterious 
symbolism.     They  differ  only  in  minor  details. 

Pope  Gregory  I.  improved  the  Latin  liturgy,  and  gave  it 
that  shape  which  it  substantially  retains  in  the  Roman  church.^ 
He  was  filled  with  the  idea  that  the  eucharist  embodies  the 
reconciliation  of  heaven  and  earth,  of  eternity  and  time,  and 
is  fraught  with  spiritual  benefit  for  the  living  and  the  pious 
dead  in  one  unbroken  communion.  When  the  priest  offers  the 
unbloody  sacrifice  to  God,  the  heavens  are  opened,  the  angels 
are  present,  and  the  visible  and  invisible  worlds  united.' 

»  See  the  Ordo  Misses  Romance  Gregorianus,  compared  with  the  Ordo  Gelasi- 
anus,  Ambrosianus,  GaUicanns ,  Mozarabicus,  etc,  in  Daniel's  Codex  Liturg.  vol. 
I.  3-168. 

2  Dialog.  1.  IV.  c.  58  (in  Migne's  ed.  III.  425  sq.) :  "  Qnis  Jidelium  habere 
dubium  possit,  in  ipsa  immolationis  hora  ad  sacerdotis  vocem  ccelos  aperiri,  in  illo 
Jesu  Christi  mysterio  angelornm  choros  adesse,  summit  ima  sociari,  terrena  coelesti- 
busjungi,  unumque  ex  visibilibus  atque  invisibilibus  fieri  f" 


398  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

Gregory  introduced  masses  for  the  dead/  in  connection  with 
the  doctrine  of  purgatory  which  he  developed  and  popularized. 
They  were  based  upon  the  older  custom  of  praying  for  the  de- 
parted, and  were  intended  to  alleviate  and  abridge  the  penal 
sufferings  of  those  who  died  in  the  Catholic  faith,  but  in  need 
of  purification  from  remaining  infirmities.  Very  few  Catholics 
are  supposed  to  be  prepared  for  heaven  ;  and  hence  such  masses 
were  often  ordered  beforehand  by  the  dying,  or  j)rovided  by 
friends.^  They  furnished  a  large  income  to  priests.  The 
Oriental  church  has  no  clearly  defined  doctrine  of  purgatory, 
but  likewise  holds  that  the  departed  are  benefited  by  prayers 
of  the  living,  "especially  such  as  are  offered  in  union  with  the 
oblation  of  the  bloodless  sacrifice  of  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ,  and  by  works  of  mercy  done  in  faith  for  their 
memory."  ^ 

The  high  estimate  of  the  efficacy  of  the  sacrament  led  also  to 
the  abuse  of  solitary  masses,  where  the  priest  celebrates  without 
attendants.*  This  destroys  the  original  character  of  the  insti- 
tution as  a  feast  of  communion  with  the  Redeemer  and  the 
redeemed.  Several  synods  in  the  age  of  Charlemagne  protested 
against  the  practice.  The  Synod  of  Mainz  in  813  decreed: 
"  No  presbyter,  as  it  seems  to  us,  can  sing  masses  alone  rightly, 

1  MisscB  pro  Defimctis,  Todtenmessen,  Seelenmessen.  Different  from  them  are 
the  ikfisscE  de  Sanctis,  celebrated  on  the  anniversaries  of  the  saints,  and  to  their 
honor,  tliough  the  sacrifice  is  always  offered  to  God. 

^  Even  popes,  though  addressed  by  the  title  ''  Holiness,"  while  living,  have 
to  pass  through  purgatory,  and  need  the  prayers  of  the  faithful.  On  the 
marble  sarcophagus  of  Pius  IX.,  who  reigned  longer  than  any  of  his  prede- 
cessors, and  proclaimed  his  own  infallibility  in  the  Vatican  Council  (1870), 
are  the  words  :  "  Orate  pro  eo."  Prayers  and  masses  are  said  only  for  the  dead 
in  purgatory,  not  for  tlie  saints  in  heaven  who  do  not  need  them,  nor  for  the 
damned  in  hell  who  would  not  profit  by  them. 

3  Quoted  from  the  Longer  Catechism  of  the  Eastern  Church  (Schaff,  Creeds 
II.  504).  The  Greeks  have  in  their  ritual  special  strophes  or  antiphones  for 
the  departed,  called  veKpuaijia.  Mone,  Lat.  Hymnen  des  Mittelalters,  II.  400, 
gives  some  specimens  from  John  of  Damascus  and  others.  He  says,  that  the 
Greeks  have  more  hymns  for  the  departed  than  the  Latins,  but  that  the  Latins 
have  older  hymni  pro  defunctin,  beginning  with  Prudentius. 

*  Missas  solitaricE  or  privatce. 


2  93.  THE  SERMON.  399 

for  how  will  he  say  sursum  corda !  or  Dominus  vobiscum ! 
when  there  is  no  one  with  him  ? "  A  reformatory  Synod  of 
Paris,  829,  prohibits  these  masses,  and  calls  them  a  "  reprehen- 
sible practice,"  which  has  crept  in  "  partly  through  neglect, 
partly  through  avarice."  ^ 

The  mysterious  character  of  the  eucharist  was  changed  into 
the  miraculous  and  even  the  magical  with  the  spread  of  the 
belief  in  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  But  the  doctrine 
was  contested  in  two  controversies  before  it  triumphed  in  the 
eleventh  century.^ 

The  language  of  the  mass  was  Greek  in  the  Eastern,  Latin 
in  the  Western  church.  The  Latin  was  an  unknown  tongue  to 
the  barbarian  races  of  Europe.  It  gradually  went  out  of  use 
among  the  descendants  of  the  Romans,  and  gave  place  to  the 
Romanic  languages.  But  the  papal  church,  sacrificing  the 
interests  of  the  people  to  the  priesthood,  and  rational  or  spiritual 
worship  ^  to  external  unity,  retained  the  Latin  language  in  the 
celebration  of  the  mass  to  this  day,  as  the  sacred  language  of 
the  church.  The  Council  of  Trent  went  so  far  as  to  put  even 
the  uninspired  Latin  Vulgate  practically  on  an  equality  with 
the  inspired  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures.* 

§  93.   The  Sermon. 

As  the  chief  part  of  divine  service  was  unintelligible  to  the 
people,  it   was  all  the  more   important  to  supplement   it   by 

»  Can.  48.     Mansi  XIV.  529  sqq.     Hefele  IV.  64. 

^  See  the  next  chapter,  on  Theological  Controversies. 

'  Comp.  loyiKfj  larpeia,  Kom.  12 :   1. 

*  Sess.  IV.   (April   8,  1546):    " Saerosanda  Synodus statuit  et  de- 

clarat,  ut  hcec  ipsa  veins  et  vulgata  editio,  quoe.  longo  tot  saeculorum  usu  in  ipsa 
ecclesia  probata  est,  in  pxMieis  lectionibus,  disputationibus,  prcBdicationibus  et  ex- 
positionibus  pro  authenlica  habeatur ;  et  ut  nemo  illam  rejicere  quovis  prmtexlu 
audeat  vel  pra;sumat."  The  Council  made  provision  for  an  authoritative  re- 
vision of  the  Vulgate  (April  8,  1546)  ;  but  when  the  edition  of  Pope  Sixtus 
V.  appeared  in  1589  and  was  enjoined  upon  the  church  ''  by  the  fullness  of 
apostolic  power,"  it  was  found  to  be  so  full  of  errors  and  blunders  that  it  had 
to  be  cancelled,  and  a  new  edition  prepared  under  Clement  VIII.  in  1592, 
which  remains  the  Boman  standard  edition  to  this  day. 


400  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

preaching  and  catechetical  instruction  in  the  vernacular  tongues. 
But  this  is  the  weak  spot  in  the  church  of  the  middle  ages.^ 

Pope  Gregory  I.  preached  occasionally  with  great  earnestness, 
but  few  popes  followed  his  example.  It  was  the  duty  of 
bishops  to  preach,  but  they  often  neglected  it.  The  Council 
of  Clovesho,  near  London,  which  met  in  747  under  Cuthbert, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  for  the  reformation  of  abuses,  de- 
creed that  the  bishops  should  annually  visit  their  parishes, 
instruct  and  exhort  the  abbots  and  monks,  and  that  all  pres- 
byters should  be  able  to  explain  the  Apostles'  Creed,  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  the  mass,  and  the  office  of  baptism  to  the  people  in  the 
vernacular.^  A  Synod  of  Tours,  held  in  the  year  813,  and  a  Sy- 
nod of  Mainz,  held  under  Rabanus  Maurus  in  847,  decreed  that 
every  bishop  should  have  a  collection  of  homilies  and  translate 
them  clearly  "  in  rusticam  Romanam  linguam  aid  Theotiscam, 
i.  e.  into  French  (Romance)  or  German,"  "  in  order  that  all  may 
understand  thera."^ 

/     The  great  majority  of  priests  were  too  ignorant  to  prepare  a 
sermon,  and   barely  understood  the   Latin  liturgical  forms.     A 
Synod   of  Aix,    802,   prescribed   that   they   should   learn   the 
Athanasiau   and  Apostles'  Creed,  tlie   Lord's   Prayer  with  ex- 
position, the  Sacramentarium  or  canon  of  the  mass,  the  formula 
of  exorcism,  the  commendatio  animce,  the  Penitential,  the  Calen- 
/dar  and  the   Roman   cantus;  they  should  learn  to  understand 
/  the  homilies  for  Sundays  and  holy  days  as  models  of  preaching, 
■  and  read  the  pastoral  theology  of  Pope  Gregory,     This  was  the 
sum  and   substance  of   clerical  learning.*     The  study  of   the 

1  As  it  is  to-day  in  strictly  Roman  Catholic  countries ;  with  this  difference, 
that  what  was  excusable  in  a  period  of  heathen  and  semi-heathen  ignorance 
and  superstition,  is  inexcusable  in  an  age  of  advanced  civilization  furnished 
with  all  kinds  of  educational  institutions  and  facilities. 

*  See  the  acts  of  this  council  in  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  Councils  and  Ecdes.  Doc. 
III.  360-376,  and  the  letter  of  Boniface  to  Cuthbert,  giving  an  account  of  a 
similar  council  in  Germany,  and  recommending  measures  of  reform  in  the 
English  church,  p.  376-382. 

3  A  similar  canon  was  passed  by  other  councils.  See  Hefele  III.  758,  764, 
and  IV.  89,  111,  126,  197,  513,  582;  Mansi  XIV.  82  sqq. 

4  Hefele,  III.  745. 


g  93.  thp:  sekmon.  401 

Greek  Testament  and  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  was  out  of  the 
question,  and  there  was  hardly  a  Western  bishop  or  pope  in 
the  middle  ages  who  was  able  to  study  the  divine  oracles  in  the 
original. 

The  best,  therefore,  that  the  priests  and  deacons,  and  even 
most  of  the  bishops  could  do  was  to  read  the  sermons  of  the 
fathers.  Augustin  had  given  this  advice  to  those  who  were  not 
skilled  in  composition.  It  became  a  recognized  practice  in 
France  and  England.  Hence  the  collection  of  homilies,  called 
■  Homiliarla,  for  the  Gospels  and  Epistles  of  Sundays  and  holy 
days.  They  are  mostly  patristic  compilations.  Bede's  collec- 
tion, called  HomiUce  de  Tempore,  contains  thirty-three  homilies 
for  the  summer,  fifteen  for  the  winter,  twenty-two  for  Lent, 
besides  sermons  on  saints'  days.  Charlemagne  commissioned 
Paulus  Diaconus  or  Paul  Warnefrid  (a  monk  of  Monte  Cassino 
and  one  of  his  chaplains,  the  historian  of  the  Lombards,  and 
writer  of  poems  on  saints)  to  prepare  a  Homiliarium  (or  Omilia- 
rius)  about  A.  D.  780,  and  recommended  it  for  adoption  in  the 
churches  of  France.  It  follows  the  order  of  Sundays  and  fes- 
tivals, is  based  on  the  text  of  the  Vulgate,  and  continued  in  use 
more  or  less  for  several  centuries.^  Other  collections  were 
made  in  later  times,  and  even  the  Reformed  church  of  England 
under  Edward  VI.  and  Queen  Elizabeth  found  it  necessary  to 
provide  ignorant  clergymen  with  two  Books  of  Homilies  adapted 
to  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation. 

In  this  connection  we  must  allude  again  to  the  poetic  repro- 
ductions of  the  Bible  history,  namely,  the  divine  epos  of 
Cffidmon,  the  Northumbrian  monk  (680),  the  Saxon  "  Heliand  " 
{Heiland,  i.  e.  Saviour,  about  880),  and  the  "Christ"  or  Gospel 
Harmony  of  Otfrid  (a  pupil  of  Rabanus  Maurus,  about  870). 
These  works  were  effective  popular  sermons  on  the  history  of 

1  F.  Dahn,  Des  Paulus  Dvaconus  Leben  und  Schriften,  1876 ;  and  ^fon.  Germ. 
Scripfores  rerum  Langobardiaarum  et  Italicarum  scec    VI.-IX.  1878,  p.  45-187, 
ed.  by  L.  Bethmann  and  G.  Waitz;  Wattenbacli,  Deutsehlands  GeschichtsquelUn, 
4th  ed.  1877,  I.  134-140. 
26 


402  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

redemption,  and  are  at  the  same  time  the  most  valuable  remains 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  old  high  German  dialects  of  the  Teu- 
tonic language.^ 

It  was,  however,  not  till  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century  that  the  sermon  and  the  didactic  element  were  restored 
and  fully  recognized  in  their  dignity  and  importance  as  regular 
and  essential  parts  of  public  worship.  I  say,  worship,  for  to  ex- 
pound the  oracles  of  God,  and  devoutly  to  listen  to  such  expo- 
sition is  or  ought  to  be  worship  both  on  the  part  of  the  preacher 
and  on  the  part  of  the  hearer,  as  well  as  praying  and  singing. 

§  94.   Church  Poetry.     Greek  Hymns  and  Hymnists. 

See  the  Lit.  in  vol.  III.  ?  113  (p.  575  sq.)  and  ^  114  (p.  578),  and  add  the 
following : 

Cardinal  Pitra  :  Hymnographie  de  I'^glise  grecque.  Rome  1867.  By  the 
same:  Analeda  Sacra  Spicilegio  Solesmensiparata,T.  I.  Par.  1876. 

WiLHELM  Christ  et  M.  Paranikas  :  Anthologia  Grceca  carmi/ium 
Christ ianorurn.  Lips.  1871.  CXLIV  and  268  pages.  The  Greek 
text  with  learned  Prolegomena  in  Latin.  Christ  was  aided  by 
Paranikas,  a  member  of  the  Greek  church.  Comp.  Christ:  Beitrdge 
zur  kirchlichen  LiteraUir  der  Byzantiner.     Miinchen  1870. 

J.  L.  Jacobi  (Prof,  of  Church  Hist,  in  Halle) :  Zur  Geschichte  des 
griechischen  Kirchenliedes  (a  review  of  Pitra's  Analeda),  in  Brieger's 
"  Zeitschrift  fiir  Kirchengesch. ,"  vol.  V.  Heft  2,  p.  177-250  (Gotha 
1881). 

For  a  small  selection  of  Greek  hymns  in  the  original  see  the  third 
volume  of  Daniel's  Thesaurus  Hymnologicus  (1855),  and  Bassler's 
Auswahl  altchristlicher  Lieder  (1858),  p.  153-166. 

For  English  versions  see  especially  J.  M.  Neale  :  Hymns  of  the  Eastern 
Church  (Lond.  1862,  third  ed.  1866, 159  pages;  new  ed.  1876,  in  larger 
print,  250  pages) ;  also  Schaff  :  Christ  in  Song  (1869),  which  gives 
versions  of  14  Greek  (and  73  Latin)  hymns.  German  translations  in 
Bassler,  I.  c.  p.  3-25. 

[Syrian  Hymnology.  To  the  lit.  mentioned  vol.  III.  580  add :  Gust. 
BlCKELL  :  S.  Ephrfpmi  Syri  Carmina  Nisibena,  additis  prolegomenis 
et  supplemento  lexicorum  syriacorum  edidit,  vertit,  explicavit.     Lips.] 

1  See  above,  p.  41,  105,  106.  The  paraphrase  of  Cffidmon,  the  first  Christian 
poet  of  England,  is  edited  or  discussed  by  Thorpe,  Bouterweck,  Grein,  Wiiglit, 
Ettmiiller,  Sandrar,  Morlcy,  Ten  Brink,  etc.  (see  lit.  in  Schaff-Herzog  siib 
Csedmon) ;  the  Saxon  Helland  and  Otfrid'.s  Krist  by  Sievers,  Rettberg,  Vilmar, 
Lechler,  Graff,  Kelle,  Michelsen,  etc.  (see  Herzog'*  IV.  428-435). 


2  94.  CHURCH  POETRY.    GREEK  HYMNS.  403 

1866.  Carl  Macke  :  Hymnen  aus  dem  Zweistromeland.  Dichiun- 
gen  des  heil.  Ephrem  des  Syrers  aus  dem  syr.  Urtext  in^s  Deutsche 
iibertragen,  etc.  Mainz  1882.  270  pages.  Macke  is  a  pupil  of 
Bickell  and  a  successor  of  Zingerle  as  translator  of  Syrian  church 
poetry.] 
The  general  church  histories  mostly  neglect  or  ignore  hymnology, 
which  is  the  best  reflection  of  Christian  life  and  worship. 

The  classical  period  of  Greek  church  poetry  extends  from 
about  650  to  820,  aud  nearly  coincides  with  the  iconoclastic  con- 
troversy. The  enthusiasm  for  the  worship  of  saints  and  images 
kindled  a  poetic  inspiration,  and  the  chief  advocates  of  that 
worship)  were  also  the  chief  hymnists.^  Their  memory  is  kept 
sacred  in  the  Eastern  church.  Their  works  are  incorporated  in 
the  ritual  books,  especially  the  Mencea,  Avhich  contain  in  twelve 
volumes  (one  for  each  month)  the  daily  devotions  and  correspond 
to  the  Latin  Breviary.^  Many  are  still  unpublished  and  pre- 
served in  convent  libraries.  They  celebrate  the  holy  Trinity 
and  the  Incarnation,  the  great  festivals,  and  especially  also  the 
Virgin  Mary,  the  saints  and  martyrs,  and  sacred  icons. 

*  Neale  and  Pitra  point  out  this  connection,  and  Jacobi  (/.  c.  p.  210  sq.) 
remarks :  "  Im  Kampfe  fiir  die  Bilder  steigerte  sich  die  Olut  der  sinnliehen  From- 
migkeit,  und  mit  dem  Siege  der  Bilderverehrung  im  neunten  Jahrhundert  ist  eine 
innerliche  und  dusserliche  Zunahme  des  Seiligenkultus  und  namentlich  ein  Wachs- 
thum  der  Marienverehrung  unverkennbar." 

2  The  MTfuala  {se.  /3//3^(a,  MonatsbUcher)  are  published  at  Venice  in  the 
Tipografia  Greca  {■^  'EXT^tivk?/  rvwoypacpia  tov  (poivimt;).  Each  month  has  its 
separate  title:  Mrivaiov  tov  'lavovapioVj  or  Mf/v  'lavovdptog,  etc.  January  be- 
gins with  the  commemoration  of  the  circumcision  of  our  Lord  and  the  com- 
memoration of  St.  Basil  the  Great,  and  December  ends  with  the  fiV!//u7/  tt}^  oalag 
M^rpof  ■^/uG)v  MeTidvTjq  t^q  'VufiainQ.  The  copy  before  me  (from  the  Harvard 
University  Library)  is  dated  1852,  and  printed  in  beautiful  Greek  type,  with 
the  directions  in  red  ink.  On  older  editions  see  Mone,  Lat.  Hymnen,  II.  p.x. 
sqq.  The  other  books  of  the  Greek  Ritual  are  the  Paracletice  [HapaKlTiTLKJi^ 
sc.  /?//??LOf)  or  great  Octcechus  {'OiiTurjxog,  sc.  ^ifi^og),  which  contains  the  Sunday 
services,  the  Triodion  [Tpiu'diov,  the  Lent-volume),  and  the  Pentecostarion 
(UevTTjKoardptov,  the  oflBce  for  Easter-tide).  "On  a  moderate  computation," 
says  Neale,  "these  volumes  comprise  5,000  closely  printed  quarto  pages,  in 
double  columns,  of  which  at  least  4,000  are  poetry."  See  the  large  works  of  Leo 
Allatius,  De  libris  eccles.  Graecorum  ;  Goar,  Euchologion  sive  Rituale  Graecorum, 
and  especially  the  second  volume  of  Neale's  History  of  the  Holy  Eastern  Church 
(1850),  p.  819  sqq. 


404  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  Greek  church  poetry  is  not  metrical  and  rhymed,  but 
written  in  rhythmical  prose  for  chanting,  like  the  Psalms,  the 
hymns  of  the  New  Testament,  the  Gloria  in  Exoelsis  and  the 
Te  Deum.  The  older  hymnists  were  also  melodists  and  com- 
posed the  music.^  The  stanzas  are  called  troparia;^  the  first 
troparion  is  named  hirmos,  because  it  strikes  the  tune  and  draws 
the  others  after  it.^  Three  or  more  stanzas  form  an  ode ;  three 
little  odes  are  a  trioclion;  nine  odes  or  three  triodia  form  a 
canon.  The  odes  usually  end  Avith  a  doxology  (doxa)  and  a 
stanza  in  praise  of  Mary  the  Mother  of  God  [theotohion).*  A 
hymn  with  a  tune  of  its  own  is  called  an  kUomelon.^ 

This  poetry  fills,  according  to  Neale,  more  than  nine  tenths  or 
four  fifths  of  the  Greek  service  books.  It  has  been  heretofore 
very  little  known  and  appreciated  in  the  West,  but  is  now  made 
accessible.^    It  contains  some  precious  gems  of  genuine  Christian 

'  Hence  they  were  called  /lez-wSoi  as  well  as  irotriTai,  in  distinction  from  the 
mere  vfiv6yi)a<poi.  The  Greek  service  books  are  also  music  books.  Christ  dis- 
cusses Byzantine  music,  and  gives  some  specimens  in  Prol.  p.  CXI-CXLII. 

*  Tpo-dpiov,  the  diminutive  of  rponog,  as  modulus  is  of  modus,  was  originally  a 
musical  term. 

3  Elpfioc,  traetus,  a  train,  series,  was  likewise  originally  a  musical  term  like 
oKoTiovdia  and  the  hat'in  jubilatio,  sequentia.     See  ^  96. 

*  QeoroKiov,  sc.  Tporrdptov  (more  rarely,  but  more  correctly,  with  the  accent  on 
the  ante-penultiraa,  ■&i;ot6kiov),  from  ■deoroKo^,  Deipara.  The  slauro-lhcotokion 
celebrates  Mary  at  the  cross,  and  corresponds  to  the  Stabat  Mater  dolorosa  of  the 
Latins. 

6  'hhdjUF^ov.  There  are  several  other  designations  of  various  kinds  of  poems, 
as  aKO?.ovdia  (the  Latin  sequentia),  dvajia-diioi  (tria  antiphona),  avr'Kpuvov^ 
ano'XvTiKlov  {breve  troparium  sub  finem  officii  vespertini),  (nroaTixa,  avrofieXov, 
k^arroareMpiov,  iudivd,  Ka-diafia,  Karaliaaia,  Kovrapia,  fioKapta/ioi,  /xeya^vvapca, 
oiKoi,  npoaonoia,  arcxvp^,  rpioidia,  TETpau'dia,  dit^Sia,  ipaTirr/piov,  Tpo7ro?L6yiov. 
These  terms  and  technical  forms  are  fully  discussed  by  Christ  in  the  Prolegc 
mena.     Comp.  also  the  Introduction  of  Neale. 

®  By  Vormbanm  (in  the  third  volume  of  Daniel's  Thesaurus  which  needs  re- 
construction), Pitra,  and  Christ.  The  Continental  writers  seem  to  be  ignorant 
of  Dr.  Neale,  the  best  English  connoisseur  of  the  liturgical  and  poetic  litera- 
ture of  the  Greek  church.  His  translations  are,  indeed,  very  free  reproductions 
and  transfusions,  but  for  this  very  reason  better  adapted  to  Western  taste  than 
the  originals.  The  hymn  of  Clement  of  Alexandria  in  praise  of  the  Logos  has 
undergone  a  simil^ir  transformation  by  Dr.  Henry  M.  Dexter,  and  has  been 
made  useful  for  public  worship.     See  vol.  II.  231. 


2  94.  CHURCH  POETRY.  40j 

hymns,  buried  in  a  vast  mass  of  monotonous,  bombastic  and 
tasteless  laudations  of  unknown  confessors  and  martyrs,  and 
wonder-working  images.  ^ 

The  Greek  church  poetry  begins  properly  with  the  anonymous 
but  universally  accepted  and  truly  immortal  Gloria  in  Excelsis 
of  the  third  century.^  The  poems  of  Gregory  of  Nazianzus  (d. 
390),  and  Synesius  of  Gyrene  (d.  about  414),  who  used  the 
ordinary  classical  measures,  are  not  adapted  and  were  not  in- 
,  tended  for  public  worship.  ^ 

The  first  hymnist  of  the  Byzantine  period,  is  Anatolius, 
patriarch  of  Constantinople  (d.  about  458).  He  struck  out  the 
new  path  of  harmonious  prose,  and  may  be  compared  to  Venan- 
tius  Fortunatus  in  the  West.  * 

We  now  proceed  to  the  classical  period  of  Greek  church 
poetry. 

In  the  front  rank  of  Greek  hymnists  stands  St.  John  of 
Damascus,  surnamed  Mansur  (d.  in  extreme  old  age  about  780). 
He  is  the  greatest  systematic  theologian  of  the  Eastern  church 
and  chief  champion  of  image-worship  against  iconoclasm  under 
the  reigns  of  Leo  the  Isaurian  (717-741),  and  Coustantinus 

1  Even  Neale,  with  all  his  admiration  for  the  Greek  Church,  admits  that 
the  Mencea  contain  a  *'  deluge  of  worthless  compositions :  tautology  repeated 
till  it  becomes  almost  sickening;  the  merest  commonplace,  again  and  again 
decked  in  the  tawdry  shreds  of  tragic  language,  and  twenty  or  tliirty  times 
presenting  the  same  thought  in  slightly  varying  terms."  (Hymns  E.  Ch.  p.  88 
sq.,  3d  ed.) 

2  See  vol.  II.  227,  and  add  to  the  lit.  there  quoted :  Christ,  p.  38-40,  who 
gives  from  the  Codex  Alexandrinus  and  other  MSS.  the  Greek  text  of  the 
morning  hymn  (the  expanded  Angelic  anthem  Aofa  tv  vipia-oiQ  -deC))  and  two 
evening  hymns  [Alvelre,  ■Kauhq,  KvpLov,  and  ^uq  llapov  dyiag  66^ni)  of  the  Greek 
church. 

3  See  vol.  III.  581  and  921.  Christ  begins  his  collection  with  the  hymns  of 
Synesiu.s,  p.  3-23,  and  of  Gregory  Nazianzen,  23-32. 

*  See  the  specimens  in  vol.  III.  583-585.  Neale  begins  his  translations  with 
Anatolius.  Christ  treats  of  him  p.  XLI,  and  gives  his  anxnpa  avacrraai/ia  and 
three  l6i6^E?ia  (hymns  with  their  own  melody),  113-117.  More  than  a  hundred 
poems  in  the  3l€ncea  and  the  Oclcechus.  bear  the  name  of  Anatolius,  but  Christ 
conjectures  that  cnxvpa  avaroXcKo.  is  a  generic  name,  like  narawKTiKa  and 
veKpuaLua, 


406  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

Copronymus  (741-775).  He  spent  a  part  of"  his  life  in  the  con- 
vent of  Mar  Saba  (or  St.  Sabas)  in  the  desolate  valley  of  the 
Kedron,  between  Jerusalem  and  the  Dead  Sea.^  He  was 
thought  to  have  been  especially  inspired  by  the  Virgin  Mary, 
the  patron  of  that  Convent,  to  consecrate  his  muse  to  the  praise 
of  Christ.  He  wrote  a  great  part  of  the  Octoechus,  which  con- 
tains the  Sunday  services  of  the  Eastern  church.  His  canon  for 
Easter  Day  is  called  "  the  golden  Canon  "  or  "  the  queen  of 
Canons,"  and  is  sung  at  midnight  before  Easter,  beginning 
with  -the  shout  of  joy,  "  Christ  is  risen,"  and  the  response, 
"  Christ  is  risen  indeed."  His  memory  is  celebrated  Decem- 
ber 4.^ 

Next  to  him,  and  as  melodist  even  above  him  in  the  estimation 
of  the  Byzantine  writers,  is  St.  Cosmas  of  Jerusalem,  called 
the  Melodist.  He  is,  as  Neale  says,  "  the  most  learned  of  the 
Greek  poets,  and  the  Oriental  Adam  of  St.  Victor."  Cosmas 
and  John  of  Damascus  were  foster-brothers,  friends  and  fellow- 
monks  at  Mar  Saba,  and  corrected  each  other's  compositions. 
Cosmas  was  against  his  will  consecrated  bishop  of  Maiuma  near 
Gaza  in  Southern  Palestine,  by  John,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem. 


^  See  a  description  of  this  most  curious  structure  in  all  Palestine,  in  my  book 
Through  Bible  Lands  (N.  Y.  1879),  p.  278  sqq. 

*  The  poetry  of  John  of  D.  in  his  Opera  ed.  Le  Quien  (Par.  1712),  Tom. 
I.  673-693;  Poetce  Graeci  veteres  (Colon.  1614),  Tom.  II.  737  sqq.;  Christ, 
Anthol.  gr.  Prol.  XLIV.  sqq.,  p.  117-121,  and  p.  205-236.  Vormbaum,  in 
Daniel,  III.  80-97,  gives  six  of  his  odes  in  Greek;  Bassler,  162-164,  two  (and 
two  in  German,  21,  22)  ;  Neale  nine  English  versions.  The  best  of  his  hymns 
and  canons  are  Eif  -fjv  ;^ptGrov  •yl:vv7]aiv  (or  elg  ryv  dEoyoviav)^  EJf  to.  ■duooavtia^ 
E(f  T7/V  tivpiaK7jV  rov  Yidcxci,  Elf  tt/v  nevTEKoarrjV,  EJc  r?/!'  (ivd}j]ilnv  tov  Xpiarov, 
^i'X^,  ^^i^idfiela  h>  aKnXovSia  tov  i^ndincTiKov,  EJf  ry/v  ko'^itjolv  ttj^  ■deordKOv.  The 
last  begins  with  this  stanza  (Christ,  p.  229) : 

'Avni^u  70  GTOfia  finv, 

Kol  ■n-'X.Tjpi^-dfiasTai  TTvehfiaTor' 

KoX  Tioyov  kpEv^o/iai  ttj  ^aa  1X161.  firjrpi' 

Knl  hip&ijanimi  ^ai^pu^  ■KavrjyvpL^uv 

Kul  ^Gu  yr/dofjevog  TaiiTt/g  to,  ^avuara. 


2  94.  CHURCH  POETRY.  407 

He  died  about  760  and  is  commemorated  ou  the  14th  of  October. 
The  stichos  prefixed  to  his  life  says  : 

"  Where  perfect  sweetness  dwells,  is  Cosmas  gone ; 
But  his  sweet  lays  to  cheer  the  church  live  on.'"' 

The  third  rank  is  occupied  by  St.  Theophanes,  surnamed  the 
Branded,^  one  of  the  most  fruitful  poets.  He  attended  the 
second  Council  of  Nicaea  (787).  During  the  reign  of  Leo  the 
Arminian  (813)  he  suffered  imprisonment,  banishment  and  mu- 
•  tilation  for  his  devotion  to  the  Icons,  and  died  about  820.  His 
"  Chronography "  is  one  of  the  chief  sources  for  the  history  of 
the  image-controversy.^ 

1  Gallandi,  Bibl.  Patrum,  XHI.  234  sqq. ;  Christ,  XLIX  sq.,  161-1 G4.  Christ 
calls  him  "  princeps  melodorum  gnecorum,"  and  gives  ten  of  his  canons  and 
several  triodia ;  Daniel  (III.  55-79)  twelve  odes.  Among  the  best  are  Eif  r^i; 
Toi)  XpcaToi)  yh'vrjaiv,  Elf  to.  d-EO(pdveta,  Eif  t^v  irevTTjK.oaTrjv^  Il/iof  XpiaTov,  Elf  rfjv 
i-tpuaiv  Toil  aravpov,  Elc  to  jie^a  aaP(3aTov.  Neale  has  reproduced  eiglit  odes  of 
Cosmas  and  a  cento  on  the  Transfiguration.  The  Nativity  hymn  begins  (Christ, 
p.  165) : 

XptaTOQ  yevvarac  Sd^aaare- 
X-piarbg  e^  ovpavuv  aTravrijcaTt 
XpiGToq  knc  yf/g-  vTpGifSr/re- 
daare  T(J  Kvp'uf)  naaa  rj  •jfj, 
KoX  kv  ev(j)po(jvvy 
avv/ivr/auTE,  ?.aoi^ 
oTi  dedo^aaTai. 

2  6  TpaiTTdg,  with  reference  to  his  sufferings. 

3  According  to  Christ  [Prol.  XLIV),  he  was  after  the  restoration  of  the 
images  in  the  churches  of  Constantinople,  842,  elected  metropolitan  of  Nicaea 
and  died  in  peace.  But  according  to  the  Bollandists  and  other  authorities,  he 
died  much  earlier  in  exile  at  Samothrace  about  818  or  820,  in  consequence 
of  his  sufferings  for  the  Icons.  Neale  reports  that  Theophanes  was  betrothed  in 
childhood  to  a  lady  named  Megalis,  but  persuaded  her,  on  their  wedding  day, 
to  retire  to  a  convent.  Christ  gives  several  of  his  idiomela  and  stichera  necro- 
sima,  p.  121-130.  See  also  Daniel,  III.  110-112,  and  Neale's  translations  of 
the  idiomela  on  Friday  of  Cheese-Sunday  {i.  e.  Quinquagcsima),  and  the 
stichera  at  the  first  vespers  of  Cheese-Sunday  (90-95).  The  last  is  entitled  by 
Neale :  "Adam's  Complaint,"  and  he  thinks  that  Milton,  "  as  an  universal 
scholar,"  mast,  in  Eve's  lamentation,  have  had  in  his  eye  the  last  stanza 
which  we  give  in  the  text.  But  this  is  very  doubtful.  The  Chronographia 
of  Theophanes  is  published  in  the  Bonn.  ed.  of  the  Byzantine  historians, 
1839,  and  in  Migne's  "Patrol.  Grfeca,"  Tom.  108  (1861).  His  biography  see 
in  the  Acta  Sand.  ed.  BoUand.  in  XII.  Martii. 


408  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  following  specimen  from  Adam's  lament  of  his  fall  is 

interesting : 

"Adam  sat  right  against  the  Eastern  gate, 
By  many  a  storm  of  sad  remembrance  tost : 
O  me !  so  ruined  by  the  serpent's  hate  ! 
O  me !  so  glorious  once,  and  now  so  lost  I 
So  mad  that  bitter  lot  to  choose  ! 
Beguil'd  of  all  I  had  to  lose  ! 
Must  I  then,  gladness  of  my  eyes, — 
Must  I  then  leave  thee.  Paradise, 
And  as  an  exile  go  ? 
And  must  I  never  cease  to  grieve 
How  once  my  God,  at  cool  of  eve, 
Came  down  to  walk  below  ? 
O  Merciful !  on  Thee  I  call : 
O  Pitiful !  forgive  my  fall !" 

The  other  Byzantine  hymnists  who  preceded  or  succeeded  those 
three  masters,  are  the  following.  Their  chronology  is  mostly 
uncertain  or  disputed. 

Seegius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople  in  the  reign  of  Heracleus 
(610-641),  figures  in  the  beginning  of  the  Monotheletic  con- 
troversy, and  probably  suggested  the  union  formula  to  that 
emperor.  He  is  supposed  by  Christ  to  be  the  author  of  a  famous 
and  favorite  hymn  Akathistos,  in  praise  of  Mary  as  the  deliverer 
of  Constantinople  from  the  siege  of  the  Persians  (630),  but  it  is 
usually  ascribed  to  Georgius  Pisida.' 

SoPHEONius,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem  (629),  celebrated  in 
Anacreontic  metres  the  praises  of  Christ,  the  apostles,  and 
martyrs,  and  wrote  idiomela  with  music  for  the  church  service.^ 
^  Christ  (p.  LII  sq.,  p.  140-147)  reasons  chiefly  from  chronological  consider- 
ations. The  poem  is  called  oKd^iorog  (sc.  v/uvug)  t^c,  ■deordKov,  because  it  was 
chanted  while  priest  and  people  were  standing.  During  the  singing  of  other 
hymns  they  were  seated;  hence  the  latter  are  called  Ka-dicfiara,  (from  Ka^i^ea&ac). 
See  Christ,  Prol.  p.  LXII  and  p.  54  sqq.  Jacobi  says  of  the  Akathistos  {I.e.  p. 
230) :  "  Was  Enthxisiaamus  fur  die  heilige  Jungfrau,  was  Kenntniss  biblischerTypen, 
uberhaupt  religioser  Gegenstdnde  und  Gedanken  zu  leisten  vermochten,  was  Schmuck 
der  Sprache,  Gewandtheit  des  Aiisdrucks,  Kunst  der  Rhythmen  und  der  Rcime 
hinzufiigen  knnnten,  das  ist  hier  in  uniibertroffenem  il/a.s.sc  bewirkt." 

="  Christ,  XXVII,  XXXV,  LIII,  43-47  {afaiipi-dvTiKa),  and  96  {iSiSiieTia  tuv 
Oeo(pavEiwv).  Daniel,  III.  20-46,  gives  thirteen  pieces  of  Sophronius  from  Pet. 
Metranga,  Spicilegiwn  Eomanurn,  1840,  Tom.  IV. 


§  94.  CHURCH  POETRY.  409 

Maximus  the  Confessor  (580-662),  the  leader  and  martyr 
of  the  orthodox  dyotheletie  doctrine  in  the  Monotheletic  contro- 
versy, one  of  the  profoundest  divines  and  mystics  of  the  Eastern 
Church,  wrote  a  few  hymns.' 

Germanus  (634-734),  bishop  of  Cyzicus,  then  patriarch  of 
Constantinople  (715),  Avas  deposed,  730,  for  refusing  to  comply 
with  the  iconoclastic  edicts  of  the  Emperor  Leo  the  Isaurian 
(717-741),  and  died  in  private  life,  aged  about  one  hundred 
years.  He  is  "regarded  by  the  Greeks  as  one  of  their  most 
glorious  Confessors  "  (Neale).  Among  his  few  poetical  compo- 
sitions are  stanzas  on  Symeon  the  Sty  lite,  on  the  propliet  Elijah, 
on  the  Decollation  of  John  the  Baptist,  and  a  canon  on  the 
wonder-working  Image  in  Edessa.^ 

Andrew  of  Crete  (660-732)  was  born  at  Damascus,  be- 
came monk  at  Jerusalem,  deacon  at  Constantinople,  archbishop 
of  Crete,  took  part  in  the  Monotheletic  Synod  of  712,  but  after- 
wards returned  to  orthodoxy.  In  view  of  this  change  and  his 
advocacy  of  the  images,  he  was  numbered  among  the  saints. 
He  is  regarded  as  the  inventor  of  the  Canons.  His  "  Great 
Canon"  is  sung  right  through  on  the  Thursday  of  Mid-Leut 
week,  which  is  called  from  that  hymn.  It  is  a  confession  of 
sin  and  an  invocation  of  divine  mercy.  It  contains  no  less  than 
two  hundred  and  fifty  (Neale  says,  three  hundred)  stanzas.^ 

John  of  Damascus  reduced  the  unreasonable  length  of  the 
canons. 

^  PoetcE  Gr.  vet.  Tom.  II.  192  sqq.  Daniel,  III.  97-103,  gives  three  hymns, 
among  them  a  beautiful  v/xvog  Ikett'/pioq  fJf  Xpiarov.     Christ  omits  Maximus. 

^  See  his  Opera  in  Migne's  ''Patrol.  Grseca,"  Tom.  98  (1865) ;  and  his  poems 
in  Christ,  XLIII.  98  {Idio/^eTiov  on  the  Nativity);  Daniel,  III.  79,  a  hymn  iu 
praise  of  Mary,  beginning  ZaTiTriauuev  kv  cakniyyi  aauaTDV,  and  ending  with 
ascribing  to  her  almighty  power  of  intercession  : 

OvSev  yap  advvarov  rri  fiEaireia  aov. 

'  Fr,  Combefisius  first  edited  the  works  of  Andreas  Cretensis,  Par.  1644. 
Christ,  147-161,  gives  the  first  part  of  "the  great  canon"  (about  one-fourth), 
and  a  new  canon  in  praise  of  Peter.  The  last  is  not  in  the  Menrta,  but  has 
been  brought  to  light  from  Paris  and  Vatican  MSS.  by  Card.  Pitra.     Daniel, 


410  FOUETH  PERIOD,    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Another  Andrew,  called  'Ai^dpia^  IJupo^  or  IJuppoi:,  is  cre- 
dited with  eight  idiomela  in  the  Menoea,  from  which  Christ  has 
selected  the  praise  of  Peter  and  Paul  as  the  best.^ 

Stephen  the  Sabaite  (725-794)  was  a  nephew  of  John  of 
Damascus,  and  spent  fifty-nine  years  in  the  convent  of  Mar 
Saba,  which  is  pitched,  like  an  eagle's  nest,  on  the  wild  rocks 
of  the  Kedron  valley.  He  is  commemorated  on  the  13th  of 
July.  He  struck  the  key-note  of  Neale's  exquisite  hymn  of 
comfort,  "Art  thou  weary,"  which  is  found  in  some  editions 
of  the  Octoechus.  He  is  the  inspirer  rather  than  the  author  of 
that  hymn,  which  is  worthy  of  a  place  in  every  book  of  devo- 
tional poetry.^ 

RoMANUS,  deacon  in  Berytus,  afterwards  priest  in  Constanti- 
nople, is  one  of  the  most  original  and  fruitful  among  the  older 
poets.  Petra  ascribes  to  him  twenty- five  hymns.  He  assigns 
him  to  the  reign  of  Anastasius  I.  (491-518),  but  Christ  to  the 
reign  of  Anastasius  II.  (713-719),  and  Jacobi  with  greater  pro- 
bability to  the  time  of  Constantinus  Pogonatus  (681-685).^ 

III.  47-54,  has  seven  hymns  of  Andreas,  of  which  the  first  is  on  the  nativity, 
beginning : 

'EvcppaivEG^e  diKaior 
Ovpavoi  aya?i?iia(y&E' 
'ZKip-Tjaare  ra  bpj]^ 
Toil  'Kpcarov  yewTjOevTo^, 

Neale  translated  four :  Stichera  for  Great  Thursday ;  Troparia  for  Palm 
Sunday ;  a  portion  of  the  Great  Canon  ;  Stichera  for  the  Second  Week  of  the 
Great  Fast.     His  Opera  in  Migne's  "Patrol.  Gr."  T.  97  (1860),  p.  1306  sqq. 

*  Clirist,  p.  XLII.  sq.  and  83,  avrdfxeTiov  eJf  tovc  anoor.  Jltrpov  Kal  UavXov. 
See  Men.,  June  29. 

*  Christ  and  Daniel  ignore  Stephen.  Neale  calls  the  one  and  only  hymn 
which  he  translated,  "Idiomela  in  the  Week  of  the  First  Oblique  Tone,"  and 
adds:  "These  stanzas,  which  strike  me  as  very  sweet,  are  not  in  all  the  edi- 
tions of  the  Octoechus."  He  ascribes  to  him  also  a  poetical  composition  on 
the  Martyrs  of  the  monastery  of  Mar  Saba  (March  20),  and  one  on  the  Circum- 
cision. ''His  style,"  he  says,  "seems  formed  on  that  of  S.  Cosmas,  rather 
than  on  that  of  his  own  uncle.  He  is  not  deficient  in  elegance  and  richness  of 
typology,  but  exhibits!  something  of  sameness,  and  is  occasionally  guilty  of 
very  hard  metaphors." 

^  Christ,  131-140,  gives  his  "Psalm  of  the  Holy  Apostles,"  and  a  Nativity 
hymn.    Comp.  p.  li.  sq.     Jacobi  (p.  203  sq.)  discusses  the  data  and  traces  in 


§  94.   CHURCH  POETRY.  411 

Theodore  of  the  Studium  (a  celebrated  convent  near 
Constantinople)  is  distinguished  for  his  sufferings  in  the  icono- 
clastic controversy,  and  died  in  exile,  826,  on  the  eleventh  of 
November.  He  wrote  canons  for  Lent  and  odes  for  the  festivals 
of  saints.  The  spirited  canon  on  Sunday  of  Orthodoxy  in  cele- 
bration of  the  final  triumjih  of  image- worship  in  842,  is  ascribed 
to  him,  but  must  be  of  later  date  as  he  died  before  that  victory.^ 

Joseph  op  the  Studium,  a  brother  of  Theodore,  and  monk 
of  that  convent,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Thessalonica  (hence 
also  called  Thessalonicensis),  died  in  prison  in  consequence  of 
tortures  inflicted  on  him  by  order  of  the  Emperor  "Theophilus 
(829-842).  He  is  sometimes  confounded  (even  by  Neale)  with 
Joseph  Hynmographus ;  but  they  are  distinguished  by  Niceph- 
orus  and  commemorated  on  diiferent  days.^ 

Theoctistus  of  the  Studium  (about  890)  is  the  author  of 
a  "Suppliant  Canon  to  Jesus,"  the  only  thing  known  of  him, 
but  the  sweetest  Jesus-hymn  of  the  Greek  Church.^ 

Joseph,  called  Hymnographus  (880),  is  the  most  prolific, 
most  bombastic,  and  most  tedious  of  Greek  hymn-writers.  He 
was  a  Sicilian  by  birth,  at  last  superintendent  of  sacred  vessels 

Romanns  allusions  to  the  Monotheletic  controversy,  which  began  about  A,  D. 
630.  He  gives  a  German  version  in  part  of  the  beautiful  description  of  the 
benefits  of  redemption,  p.  221  sq. 

'  Christ,  p.  101  sq.;  Daniel,  III.  101-109.  Neale  has  translated  four  odes 
of  Theodorus  Studita,  one  on  the  judgment-day  (6  Kvpiog  ipx^'O-'')-  Pitra  has 
brought  to  light  from  MSS.  eighteen  of  his  poems  on  saints.  See  his  Opera  in 
Migne  "  Patr.  Gr."  99. 

2  Christ,  p.  XLVii. :  "  Nicephorus  duos  losephos  hymnorum  scriptores  recenset, 
quorum  alterum  Studiorum,  monasterii  socium,  alterum  percgrinum  dicit.  Priorem 
inteUigo  losephum  fratrem  minorem  Theodori,  Studiorum  antistitis,  cuius  memori<B 
dies  XIV-  mensis  lulii  consecralv^  est.  Is  oh  morum  irdegritatem  et  doctrinte  lau- 
dem  Thessalonicensis  ecclesicB  archiepiscopus  electus  a  Theophilo  rege  (829-842), 
qui  in  cullores  imaginum  soeviehat,  in  vincula  cnniectus  et  omni  tormentorum  genere 
adeo  vexatus  est,  ut  in  carcere  mortem  occumberet.  Alterius  losephi,  qui  propria 
vfiv6ypa<po^  audit,  memoriam  die  III.  mensis  Aprilis  ecclesia  grceca  concelebrat.  Is 
peregrinus  {Hi'og)  ab  Nicephoro  dictus  esse  dicitur,  quod  ex  Sicilia  insula  oriundus 
erat  et  patria  ab  Arabibus  capta  et  vastata  cum  matre  et  fratribus  primum  in  Pelo- 
ponnesum,  deinde  Thessalonicem  confugit,  qua  in  urbe  monachorum  disciplincB  seve- 
rissimoe  sese  addixU.'^ 

^  English  translation  by  Neale.    See  below,  p.  473. 


412  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1041. 

in  a  church  at  Constantinople.  He  was  a  friend  of  Photius, 
and  followed  him  into  exile.  He  is  credited  with  a  very  large 
number  of  canons  in  the  3Iencea  and  the  Octoechus} 

Tarasius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople  (784),  was  the  chief 
mover  in  the  restoration  of  Icons  and  the  second  Council  of  Nicsea 
(787).     He  died  Feb.  25,  806.     His  hymns  are  unimjjortant.^ 

EuTHYMius,  usually  known  as  Syngelus  or  Syncellus  (died 
about  910),  is  the  author  of  a  penitential  canon  to  the  Virgin 
Mary,  which  is  much  esteemed  in  the  East.^ 

Elias,  bishop  of  Jerusalem  about  761,  and  Orestes,  bishop 
of  the  same  city,  996-1012,  have  been  brought  to  light  as  poets 
by  the  researches  of  Pitra  from  the  libraries  of  Grotta  Ferrata, 
and  other  convents. 

In  addition  to  these  may  be  mentioned  Methodius  (846),* 
Photius,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  (d.  891),  Metrophanes 
of  Smyrna  (900),  Leo  VI.,  or  the  Philosopher,  who  troubled 
the  Eastern  Church  by  a  fourth  marriage  (886-917),  Symeon 
Metaphrastes  (Secretary  and  Chancellor  of  the  Imperial 
Court  at  Constantinople,  about  900),  Kasias,  Nilus  Xantho- 
PULUS,  Joannes  Geometra,  and  Mauropus  (1060).  With 
the  last  the  Greek  hymuody  well  nigh  ceased.  A  considerable 
number  of  hynms  cannot  be  traced  to  a  known  author.^ 

We  give  in  conclusion  the  best  specimens  of  Greek  hymnody 
as  reproduced  and  adapted  to  modern  use  by  Dr.  Neale. 

1  Christ,  242-253;  Daniel,  III.  112-114;  Neale,  p.  120-151;  Biissler,  p.  23, 
165;  SchafF,  p.  240  sq.  Joseph  is  also  the  author  of  hymns  formerly  ascribed 
to  Sophronins,  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  during  the  Monotheletic  controversy, 
as  Paranikas  has  shown  (Christ,  Prol.,  p.  liii.). 

2  Neale  notices  him,  but  thinks  it  not  worth  while  to  translate  his  poetry. 

3  Kavuv  af  r^v  hnepayiav  Qm-6Knv.     See  Daniel,  Til.  17-20. 

*  Not  to  be  confounded  with  Methodius  Eubulim,  of  Patara,  the  martyr  (d. 
oil),  who  is  also  counted  amona:  the  poets  for  his  psalm  of  the  Virgins  in 
praise  of  chastity  (irany'^hiop);  see  vol.  II.  811,  and  Christ,  p.  33-37.  Bassler 
(p.  4  sq.)  gives  a  German  version  of  it  by  Fortlage. 

*  Pitra  concludes  his  collection  with  eighty-three  anonymous  hymns,  fhirtv- 
two  of  which  he  assigns  to  the  poets  of  the  Stndium.  See  also  Daniel,  III. 
110-138,  and  the  last  hvinns  in  Neale's  translations. 


§  94.  CHUECH  POETKY.  413 

^Tis  the  Bay  of  Resurrection. 
('Ai-'acrrdCTfwf  yjiepa.) 

By  St.  John  of  Damascus. 

'Tis  the  Day  of  Resurrection, 

Earth,  tell  it  out  abroad  I 
The  Passover  of  gladness. 

The  Passover  of  God  ! 
From  death  to  life  eternal. 

From  earth  unto  the  sky, 
Our  Christ  hath  brought  us  over, 

With  hymns  of  victory. 

Our  hearts  be  pure  from  evil, 

That  we  may  see  aright 
The  Lord  in  rays  eternal 

Of  resurrection  light : 
And,  listening  to  His  accents, 

May  hear,  so  calm  and  plain, 
His  own  "All  hail !" — and  hearing, 

May  raise  the  victor  strain. 

Now  let  the  heavens  be  joyful  I 

Let  earth  her  song  begin  ! 
Let  the  round  world  keep  triumph, 

And  all  that  is  therein : 
In  grateful  exultation 

Their  notes  let  all  things  blend, 
For  Christ  the  Lord  hath  risen. 

Our  joy  that  hath  no  end. 


Jesu,  name  all  names  above. 
(JItjgov  }'2.VKVTaTt.) 

By  St.  Theoctistus  of  the  Studium. 

Jesu,  name  all  names  above, 

Jesu,  best  and  dearest, 
Jesu.  Fount  of  perfect  love, 

Holiest,  tenderest,  nearest! 
Jesu,  source  of  grace  completest, 
Jesu  truest,  Jesu  sweetest, 

Jesu,  Well  of  power  divine. 

Make  me,  keep  me,  seal  me  Thine! 


414  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Jesu,  open  me  the  gate 

Which  the  sinner  entered, 
Who  in  his  last  dying  state 

Wholly  on  Thee  ventured. 
Thou  whose  wounds  are  ever  pleading, 
And  Thy  passion  interceding, 
From  my  misery  let  me  rise 
To  a  home  in  Paradise ! 

Thou  didst  call  the  prodigal ; 

Thou  didst  pardon  Mary : 
Thou  whose  words  can  never  fall 

Love  can  never  vary, 
Lord,  amidst  my  lost  condition 
Give — for  Thou  canst  give — contrition  I 

Thou  canst  pardon  all  mine  ill 

If  Thou  wilt:  O  say,  "  I  will !" 

Woe,  that  I  have  turned  aside 

After  fleshly  pleasure ! 
Woe,  that  I  have  never  tried 

For  the  heavenly  treasure ! 
Treasure,  safe  in  homes  supernal ; 
Incorruptible,  eternal ! 

Treasure  no  less  price  hath  won 

Than  the  Passion  of  the  Son ! 

Jesu,  crowned  with  thorns  for  me. 
Scourged  for  my  transgression  I 

Witnessing,  through  agony, 
That  Thy  good  confession  ; 

Jesu,  clad  in  purple  raiment, 

For  my  evils  making  payment; 
Let  not  all  thy  woe  and  pain, 
Let  not  Calvary  be  in  vain  I 

When  I  reach  Death's  bitter  sea , 

And  its  waves  roll  higher. 
Help  the  more  forsaking  me, 
As  the  storm  draws  nigher: 
Jesu,  leave  me  not  to  languish. 
Helpless,  hopeless,  full  of  anguish  I 
V  Tell  me,—"  Verily,  I  say, 
\  Thou  shalt  be  with  me  to-day  I" 


\ 


i  94.   CHURCH  POETRY.  415 

Art  thou  weary  ? 
(KdTTOf  re  koX  KCfxaTov.) 

By  St.  Stephen  the  Sabaite. 

Art  thou  weary,  art  thou  languid, 
Art  thou  sore  distrest  ? 
"  Come  to  me '' — saith  One — "  and  coming, 
Be  at  rest !" 

Hath  He  marks  to  lead  me  to  Him, 
If  He  be  my  Guide  ? 
"  In  His  feet  and  hands  are  wound-printa, 
And  His  side." 

Is  there  diadem,  as  Monarch, 
That  His  brow  adorns  ? 
*'Yea,  a  crown  in  very  surety, 
But  of  thorns!'' 

Ifl  find  Him,  if  I  follow, 
What  His  guerdon  here  ? 
"  Many  a  sorrow,  many  a  labor, 
Many  a  tear." 

If  I  still  hold  closely  to  Him, 
What  hath  He  at  last? 
"  Sorrow  vanquished,  labor  ended, 
Jordan  past !" 

If  I  ask  Him  to  receive  me, 
Will  He  say  me  nay  ? 
"  Not  till  earth,  and  not  till  heaven 
Pass  away!" 

Finding,  following,  keeping,  struggling, 
Is  He  sure  to  bless  ? 
"  Angels,  martyrs,  prophets,  virgins, 
Answer,  Yes  I" 


416  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.D.  590-1049. 

§  95.  Latin  Hymnody.     Literature. 

See  vol.  III.  585  sqq.     The  following  list  covers  the  whole  mediaeval 
period  of  Latin  hymnody. 
I.  Latin  Collections. 

The  Breviaries  and  Missals.  The  hymnological  collections  of  Clich- 
Tov^us  (Paris  1515,  Bas.  1517  and  1519),  Cassander  (Col.  1556), 
Ellinger  (Frankf.  a.  M.  1578),  Georg  Fabricius  [Poetarum 
Veterum  eccksiasticoi-um  Opera,  Bas.  1564).  See  the  full  titles  of 
Breviaries  and  these  older  collections  in  Daniel,  vol.  I.  XIII-XXIl. 
and  vol.  II.  VIII-XIV. 

Cardinal  Jos.  Maria  Thomasius  (Tomasi,  1649-1713,  one  of  the  chief 
expounders  of  the  liturgy  and  ceremonies  of  the  Roman  church) : 
Opera  Omnia.  Rom.  1741  sqq.,  7  vols.  The  second  volume,  p. 
351-403,  contains  the  Hymnarium  de  anni  circulo,  etc.,  for  which  he 
compared  the  oldest  Vatican  and  other  Italian  MSS.  of  hymns  down 
to  the  eighth  century.  The  same  vol.  includes  the  Breviarium 
Psalterii.  The  fourth  (1749)  contains  the  Responsorialia  et  antipho- 
naria  Romance,  ecclesice,  and  the  sixth  vol.  (1751)  a  collection  of 
Missals.  Thomasius  is  still  very  valuable.  Daniel  calls  his  book 
"'fons  primarius." 

Aug.  Jak.  Rambach  (Luth.  Pastor  in  Hamburg,  b.  1777,  d.  1851): 
Anthologie  christlicher  Oesange  aus  alien  Jahrh.  der  christl.  Kirche. 
Altona  and  Leipzig  1817-1833,  6  vols.  The  first  vol.  contains  Latin 
hymns  with  German  translations  and  notes.  The  other  volumes 
contain  only  German  hymns,  especially  since  the  Reformation. 
Rambach  was  a  pioneer  in  hymnology. 

Jos.  IvEiiREiN  (R.  C.) :  Lat.  Anthologie  aus  den  christl.  Dichtern  des 
Mittelalters.     Frankfurt  a.  m.  1840.     See  his  larger  work  below. 

[John  Henry  Newman,  Anglican,  joined  the  Rom.  Ch.  1845] :  Hymni 
Ecclesice..  Lond.  (Macmillan)  1838;  new  ed.  1865  (401  pages).  Con- 
tains only  hymns  from  the  Paris,  Roman,  and  Anglican  Breviaries. 
The  preface  to  the  first  part  is  signed  "  J.  H.  N."  and  dated  Febr. 
21,  1838,  but  no  name  appears  on  the  title  page.  About  the  same 
time  Card.  N.  made  his  translations  of  Breviary  hymns,  which  are 
noticed  below,  sub.  III. 

H.  A.  Daniel  (Lutheran,  d.  1871) :  Thesaurus  Hymnologicus.  Lips. 
1841-1856,  5  Tomi.  The  first,  second,  fourth  and  fifth  vols,  contain 
Lat.  hymns,  the  fourth  Greek  and  Syrian  h.  A  rich  standard  col- 
lection, but  in  need  of  revision. 

F.  J.  MoNE  (R.  Cath.  d.  1871) :  Lateinische  Hymnen  des  Mittelalters.  Frei- 
burg i. B.  1853-55,  3  vols.  From  MSS.  with  notes.  Contains  in  all  1215 
hymns  divided  into  three  divisions  of  almost  equal  size;  (1)  Hymns 
to  God  and  the  angels  (461  pages) ;  (2)  Hymns  to  the  Virgin  Mary 
(457  pages) ;  (3)  Hymns  to  saints  (579  pages). 


§  95.  LATIN  HYMNODY.  417 

D.  OzANAM  :  Documents  inedits  pour  servir  d,  I'histoire  litteraire  de  V  Italie. 

Paris  1850.  Contains  a  collection  of  old  Latin  hymns,  reprinted  in 
Migne's  "  Patrol.  Lat."  vol.  151, tbl.  813-824. 

Joseph  Stevenson:  Latin  Hymns  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church;  xvith  an 
Interlinear  Anglo-Saxon  Gloss,  from  a  MS.  of  the  eleventh  century  in 
Durham  Library.     1851  (Surtees  Soc). 

J.  M.  Neale  (Warden  of  Sackville  College,  high  Anglican,  d.  1866) : 
SequenticB  ex  Missalibus  Germanicis,  Anglicis,  Gallicis,  aliisque  medii 
xvi  collectoe.     Lond.  1852.     284  pages.     Contains  125  sequences. 

Felix  Clement  :  Carmina  e  Poetis  Christianif  excerpta.  Parisiis  (Gaume 
Fratres)  1854.  564  pages.  The  Latin  texts  of  hymns  from  the  4th 
to  the  14th  century,  with  French  notes. 

E,.  Ch,  Trench  (Archbishop  of  Dublin) :  Sacred  Latin  Poetry,  chiefly 
Lyrical.  Lond.  and  Cambridge,  1849 ;  2d  ed.  1864 ;  3rd  ed.  revised 
and  improved,  1874.  (342  pages).  With  an  instructive  Introduction 
and  notes. 

Ans.  Schubiger  :  Die  Sdngerschule  St.  Gallens  vom  8ten  bis  12ten  Jahrh. 
Einsiedeln  1858.     Gives  sixty  texts  with  the  old  music  and  facsimiles. 

P.  Gall  Morel  (R.  C.)  :  Lat.  Hymnen  des  Mittelalters,  grosstentheils  aus 
Handscliriften  schweizerischer  Kloster.  Einsiedeln  (Benziger)  1868 
(341  pages).  Mostly  Marienlieder  and  Heiligenlieder  (p.  30-325). 
Supplementary  to  Daniel  and  Mone. 

Phil.  Wackernagel  (Luth.,  d.  1877)  :  Das  dmtsche  Kirchenlied  von  der 
dltesten  Zeit  his  zum  Anfang  des  XVIL  Jahrh.  Leipz.  1864-1877,  5 
vols,  (the  last  vol.  ed.  by  his  two  sons).  This  is  the  largest  monumen- 
tal collection  of  older  German  hymns;  but  the  first  vol.  contains 
Latin  hymns  and  sequences  from  the  fourth  to  the  sixteenth  century. 

Karl  Bartsch  (Prof,  of  Germ,  and  Romanic  philology  in  Rostock): 
Die  lateinischen  Sequenzen  des  Mittelalters  in  musikalischer  und  rhyth- 
mischer  Beziehung  dargestellt.     Rostock  1868. 

Chs.  Buchanan  Pierson  :    Sequences  from  the  Sarum  Missal.  London 

1871. 

Joseph  Kehrein  (R.  C.)  :  Lateinische  Sequenzen  des  Mittelalters  aus 
Handschriften  und  Drucken.  Mainz  1873  (620  pages).  The  most 
complete  collection  of  Sequences  (over  800).  He  divides  the  sequen- 
ces, like  Mone  the  hymns,  according  to  the  subject  [Lieder  an  Gott, 
Engellieder,  Marienlieder,  Heiligenlieder).  Comp.  also  his  earlier 
work  noticed  above. 

Francis  A.  March  :  Latin  Hymns,  with  English  Notes.    N.  York,  1874. 

W.  MclLVAlNE  :  Lyra  Sacra  Hibernica.  Beltast,  1879.  (Contains  hymns 
of  St.  Patrick,  Columba,  and  Sedulius). 

E.  DiJMMLER:    Poelce  Latini  Aevi    Carolini.     Berol.    1880-'84,  2  vols. 

Contains  also  hvmns,  II.  p.  244-258. 
Special  editions  of  Adam  of  St.  Yictor :  L.  Gautier  :  Les  a:uvres  poHiques 
d'  Adam  de  S.  Victor.     Par.  1858  and   1859,  2  vols.      Digby   S. 
27 


418  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

Wrangham  (of  St.  John's  College,  Oxford) :  The  Liturgical 
Poetry  of  Adam  of  St.  Victor.  Lond.  1881,  3  vols.  (The  Latin  text  of 
Gautier  with  E.  Version  in  the  original  metres  and  with  short  notes). 
On  the  Dies  Irae  see  the  monograph  of  Lisco  (Berlin  1840).  It  has 
often  been  separately  published,  e.  g.  by  Franklix  Johnson,  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.  1883.  So  also  the  Stabat  Mater,  and  the  hymn  of  Ber- 
nard of  Cluny  De  Contemptu  Mundi  (which  furnished  the  thoughts 
for  Neale's  New  Jerusalem  hymns).  The  hymns  of  St.  Bernard, 
Abelard,  Thomas  Aquinas,  Bonaventura,  are  in  the  complete  editions 
of  their  works.  For  St.  Bernard  see  Migne's  "  Patrol.  Lat."  vol. 
184,fol.  1307-1330;  for  Abelard,  vol.  178,fol.  1759-1824. 

II.  Historical  and  Critical. 

POLYC.  Leyser:  Historia  Po'etarum  et  Poematum  Medii  Aevi.  Halae 
1721. 

Friedr.  Munter  :   Ueber  die  dlteste  christl.  Poesie.     Kopenhagen  1806. 

Edelstand  du  Meril  :  Podsies  populaires  Latines  anterieures  au 
douzilme  silcle.  Paris  1843.  Poesies  populaires  Latines  du  moyen 
dge.     Paris  1847. 

Trench  :  Introd.  to  his  S.  Lat.  Poetry.     See  above. 

Baehr  :  L>ie  christl.  Dichter  und  Geschichtschreiber  Roms.  Karlsruhe 
1836  ;  2nd  ed.,  revised,  1872  (with  bibliography). 

Edward  Emil  Koch  :  Geschichte  des  Kirchenlieds  und  Kirchengesangs  in 
der  christlichen,  insbesondere  der  deutschen  evangel.  Kirche.  Stuttgart, 
third  ed.  rev.  and  enlarged  1866-1876,  7  vols.  This  very  instructive 
and  valuable  work  treats  of  Latin  hymnology,  but  rather  superfi- 
cially, in  vol.  I.  40-153. 

Ad.  Ebert  :  Allgem.  Gesch.  der  Lit.  des  Mitielalters  im  Abendlande,  vol. 
I.  (Leipz.  1874),  the  third  book  (p.  516  sqq.),  and  vol.  II.  (1880)  which 
embraces  the  age  of  Charlemagne  and  his  successors. 

JOH.  Kayser  (R.  C.) :  Beitriige  zur  Geschichte  und  Erkldrimg  der  dltesten 
Kirchenhymnen.  Paderborn,  2d  ed.  1881.  477  pages,  comes  down 
only  to  the  sixth  century  and  closes  with  Fortunatus.  See  also  his 
article  Der  Text  des  Hymnus  Stabat  Mater  dolorosa,  in  the  Tubingen 
"Theol.  Quartalschrift"  for  1884,  No.  I.  p.  85-103. 

III.  English  translations. 

John  Chandler  (Anglican,  d.  July  1,  1876)  :  The  Hymns  of  the  Primi- 
tive Church,  now  first  collected,  translated  and  arranged.  London 
1837.     Contains  108  Latin  hymns  with  Chandler's  translations. 

Richard  Mant  (Lord  Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor,  d.  Nov.  2,  1848) : 
Ancient  Hymns  from  the  Roman  Breviary.  1837.  New  ed.  Lond. 
and  Oxf.  1871.     (272  pages) 

lJohn  Henry  Newman  :]  Verses  on  Various  Occasions.  London 
1868  (reprinted  in  Boston,  by  Patrick  Donahue).  The  Preface 
is  dated  Dec.  21,  1867,  and  signed  J.  H.  N.  The  book  contains  the 
original  poems  of  the  Cardinal,  and  his  translations  of  the  Roman 


2  95.  LATIN  HYMNODY.  419 

Breviary  Hymns  and  two  from  the  Parisian  Breviary,  which,  as  stated 
in  a  note  on  p.  186,  were  all  made  in  1836-38,  i.  e.  eight  years  before 
he  left  the  Church  of  England. 

Isaac  Williams  (formerly  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  d.  1865) :  Hymns 
translated  from  the  Parisian  Breviary.     London  1839. 

Edward  Caswall  (Anglican,  joined  the  R.  C.  Church  1847,  d.  Jan.  2, 
1878) :  Lyra  Catholica.  Containing  all  the  Breviary  and  Missal 
Hymns  together  with  some  other  hymns.  Lond.  1849.  (311  pages). 
Reprinted  N.  Y.  1851.  Admirable  translations.  They  are  also 
included  in  his  Hymns  atid  Poems,  original  and  translated.  London 
2d  ed.  1873. 

John  David  Chambers  (Recorder  of  New  Sarum):  Lauda  Syon. 
Ancient  Latin  Hymns  in  the  English  and  other  Churchy,  translated 
into  corresponding  metres.     Lond.  1857  (116  pages.) 

J.  M.  Neale:  Mediceval  Hymns  and  Sequences.  Lond.  1862;  3d  ed.  1867. 
(224  pages).  Neale  is  the  greatest  master  of  free  reproduction  of 
Latin  as  well  as  Greek  hymns.  He  published  also  separately  his 
translation  of  the. new  Jerusalem  hymns:  The  Rhythm  of  Bernard 
de  Morlaix,  Monk  of  Cluny,  on  the  Celestial  Country.  Lond.  1858,  7th 
ed.  1865,  with  the  Latin  text  as  far  as  translated  (48  pages).  Also 
Stabat  Mater  Speciosa,  Full  of  Beauty  stood  the  Mother  (1866). 

The  Seven  Great  Hymns  of  the  Mediceval  Church.  N.  York  (A.  D.  F. 
Randolph  &  Co.)  1866  ;  seventh  ed.  enlarged,  1883.  154  pages.  This 
anonymous  work  (by  Judge  C.  C.  Nott,  AVashington)  contains 
translations  by  various  authors  of  Bernard's  Celestial  Country,  the 
Dies  Irte,  the  Mater  Dolorosa,  the  Mater  Speciosa,  the  Veni  Sancte 
Spiritus,  the  Veni  Creator  Spiritus,  the  Vexilla  Regis,  and  the 
Alleluiatic  Sequence  of  Godescalcus.     The  originals  are  also  given. 

Philip  Schaff  :  Christ  in  Song.  N.  Y.  1868 ;  Lond.  1869.  Contains 
translations  of  seventy -three  Latin  hymns  by  various  authors. 

W.  H.  Odenheimer  and  Frederic  M.  Bird  :  Songs  of  the  Spirit.  N. 
York  1871.  Contains  translations  of  twenty-three  Latin  hymns  on 
the  Holy  Spirit,  with  a  much  larger  number  of  English  hymns. 

Erastus  C.  Benedict  (Judge  in  N.  Y.,  d.  1878)  :  The  Hymn  of  Hilde- 
bert  and  other  MediiBval  Hymns,  with  translations.     N.  York  1869. 

Abraham  Coles  (M.  D.)  :  Latin  Hymns,  with  Original  Translations. 
N.  York  1868.  Contains  13  translations  of  the  Dies  Tree,  which  were 
also  separately  published  in  1859. 

Hamilton  M.  Macgill,  D.D.  (of  the  United  Presb.  Ch.  of  Scotland) : 
Songs  of  the  Christian  Creed  and  Life  selected  from  Eighteen  Centuries. 
Lond.  and  Edinb.  1879.  Contains  translations  of  a  number  of  Latin 
and  a  few  Greek  hymns  with  the  originals,  also  translations  of  Eng- 
lish hymns  into  Latin. 

The  Roman  Breviary.  Transl.  out  of  Latin  into  English  by  John 
Marquess  of  Bute,  K.  T.  Edinb.  and  Lond.  1879,  2  vols.     The  best 


420  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

translations  of  the  hymns  scattered  through  this  book  are  by  the 
ex-Anglicans  Caswall  and  Cardinal  Newman.  The  Marquess  of 
Bute  is  himself  a  convert  to  Rome  from  the  Church  of  England. 

D.  F.  Morgan:  Hymns  and  other  Poetry  of  the  Latin  Church.  Oxf.  1880. 
100  versions  arranged  according  to  the  Anglican  Calendar. 

Edward  A.  Washburn  (Rector  of  Calvary  Church,  N.  Y.  d.  Feb.  2, 
1881):  Voices  from  a  Busy  Life.  N.  York  1883.  Contains,  besides 
original  poems,  felicitous  versions  of  32  Latin  hymns,  several  of 
which  had  appeared  before  in  Schaff's  Christ  in  Song. 

Samuel  W.  Duffield:  The  Latin  Hymn  Writers  and  their  IJymns  (in 
course  of  preparation  and  to  be  published,  New  York  1885.  This 
work  will  cover  the  entire  range  of  Latin  hymnology,  and  include 
translations  of  the  more  celebrated  hymns). 

IV.  German  translations  of  Latin  hymns  (mostly  accompanied  by  the 
original  text)  are  very  numerous,  e.  g.  by  Rambach,  1817  sqq.  (see 
above);  C.  Fortlage  [Gesdnge  christl.  Vorzeit,  1844);  Karl  Sim- 
rock  [Lauda  Sion,  1850);  Ed.  Kauffer  [Jesus- Hymnen,  Sammlung 
altkirchl.  lot.  Gesdnge,  etc.  Leipz.  1854,  65  pages) ;  H.  Stadelmann 
[Altchristl.  Hymnen  und  Lieder.  Augsb.  1855);  Bassler  (1858); 
J.  Fr.  H.  Schlosser  [IJie  Kirche  in  ihren  Liedcrn,  Freiburg  i.  B. 
1863,  2  vols) ;  G.  A.  Konigsfeld  [Lat.  Hymnen  und  Gesdnge,  Bonn 
1847,  new  series,  1865,  both  with  the  original  and  notes). 

§  96.  Latin  Hymns  and  Hymnists. 

The  Latin  church  poetry  of  the  middle  ages  is  much  better 
known  than  the  Greek,  and  remains  to  this  day  a  rich  source  of 
devotion  in  the  Roman  church  and  as  far  as  poetic  genius  and 
religious  fervor  are  appreciated.  The  best  Latin  hymns  have 
passed  into  the  Breviary  and  Missal  (some  with  misiraprove- 
ments),  and  have  been  often  reproduced  in  modern  languages. 
The  number  of  truly  classical  hymns,  however,  which  were 
inspired  by  pure  love  to  Christ  and  can  be  used  with  profit  by 
Christians  of  every  name,  is  comparatively  small.  The  poetry 
of  the  Latin  church  is  as  full  of  JSIariolatry  and  hagiolatry  as 
the  poetry  of  the  Greek  church.  It  is  astonishing  what  an 
amount  of  chivalrous  and  enthusiastic  devotion  the  blessed 
Mother  of  our  Lord  absorbed  in  the  middle  ages.  In  Mone's 
collection  the  hymns  to  the  Virgin  fill  a  whole  volume  of  457 
pages,  the  hymns  to  saints  another  volume  of  579  pages,  while 
the  first  volume  of  only  461  pages  is  divided  between  hymns  to 


?  96.  LATIN  HYMNS  AND  HYMNISTS.  421 

God  and  to  the  angels.  The  poets  intended  to  glorify  Christ 
through  his  mother,  but  the  mother  overshadows  the  child,  as  in 
the  pictures  of  the  Madonna.  She  was  made  the  mediatrix  of 
all  divine  grace,  and  wa.s  almost  substituted  for  Christ,  who  was 
thought  to  occupy  a  throne  of  majesty  too  high  for  sinful  man 
to  reach  without  the  aid  of  his  mother  and  her  tender  human 
sympathies.  She  is  addressed  with  every  epithet  of  praise,  as 
Mater  Dei,  Dei  Genitrix,  Mater  summi  Domini,  Mater  miseri- 
cordio;,  Mater  bonitatis,  Mater  dolorosa,  3Iater  jucundosa,  3Iater 
speciosa,  Maris  stella,  Mundi  domina,  Mundi  spes,  Porta  para- 
disi,  ilegina  coeli,  Radix  gratiae,  Virgo  virginum,  Yirgo  regia 
Dei.  Even  the  Te  Deum  was  adapted  to  her  by  the  distinguished 
St.  Bonaventura  so  as  to  read  "  Te  Matrem  laudamus,  Te  Virginem 
conjUemury^ 

The  Latin,  as  the  Greek,  hymnists  were  nearly  all  monks; 
but  an  emperor  (Charlemagne  ?)  and  a  king  (Robert  of  France) 
claim  a  place  of  honor  among  them. 

The  sacred  poetry  of  the  Latin  church  may  be  divided  into 
three  periods :  1,  The  patristic  period  from  Hilary  (d.  368)  and 
Ambrose  (d.  397)  to  Venantius  Fortunatus  (d.  about  609)  and 
Gregory  I.  (d.  604) ;  2,  the  early  mediaeval  period  to  Peter 
Damiani  (d.  1072) ;  3,  the  classical  period  to  the  thirteenth 
century.  The  first  period  we  have  considered  in  a  previous 
volume.  Its  most  precious  legacy  to  the  church  universal  is 
the  Te  Deum  loAidamus.  It  is  popularly  ascribed  to  Am- 
brose of  Milaii  (or  Ambrose  and  Augustiu  jointly),  but  in  its 
present  completed  form  does  not  appear  before  the  first  half  of 
the  sixth  century,  although  portions  of  it  may  be  traced  to  earlier 
Greek  origin ;  it  is,  like  the  Apostles'  Creed,  and  the  Greek  Gloria 
in  Excelsis,  a  gradual  growth  of  the  church  rather  than  the  pro- 
duction of  any   individual.^     The   third  period    embraces  the 

1  See  the  Marianic  Te  Deum  in  Daniel,  II.  293;  and  in  Mone,  11.  229  sq. 

'  A  carious  mediteval  legend  makes  the  Te  Deum  the  joint  product  of  St. 
Ambrose  and  St.  Augustin,  which  was  alternately  uttered  by  both,  as  by  inspira- 
tion, while  Augustin  ascended  from  the  bapti^:mal  font;  Ambrose  beginning:  Te 
Deum  laudamus,  Augustin  responding ;  "  Te  Duminum  conjitemur.''     But  neither 


422  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

greatest  Latin  hymnists,  as  Bernard  of  Morlaix  (monk  of  Cluny 
about  1150),  Bernard  of  Clair vaux  (d.  1153),  Adam  of  St.  Victor 
(d.  1192),  Bonaventura  (d.  1274),  Thomas  Aquinas  (d.  1274), 
Thomas  a  Celano  (about  1250),  Jacopoue  (d.  1306),  and  pro- 
duced the  last  and  tlie  best  Catholic  hymns  Avhich  can  never  die, 
as  Hora  Novissima ;  Jesu  dulcis  memoria ;  Salve  caput  ci'uen- 
tatum;  Stabat  3Iater ;  and  Dies  Ira:.  In  this  volume  we  are 
concerned  with  the  second  period. 

Venantius  Fortunatus,  of  Poitiers,  and  his  cotemporary.  Pope 
Gregory  I.,  form  the  transition  from  the  patristic  poetry  of 
Sedulius  and  Prudentius  to  the  classic  poetry  of  the  middle  ages. 

Fortunatus  (about  600)^  was  the  fashionable  poet  of  his 
day.  A  native  Italian,  he  emigrated  to  Gaul,  travelled  ex- 
tensively, became  intimate  with  St.  Gregory  of  Tours,  and  the 
widowed  queen  Radegund  when  she  lived  in  ascetic  retirement, 
and  died  as  bishop  of  Poitiers.  He  was  the  first  master  of  the 
trochaic  tetrameter,  and  author  of  three  hundred  poems,  chief 
among  which  are  the  two  famous  passion  hymns : 

"  Vexilla  regis  prodeunt,'' 
"  The  Royal  Banners  forward  go  ;  " 
and 

"  Pange,  lingtm,  gloriosi  proelium  certaminis," 
"  Sing,  my  tongue,  the  glorious  battle." 

Both  have  a  place  in  the  Roman  Breviary.^ 

the  writings  of  one  or  the  other  contain  the  slightest  trace  of  the  hymn  and  its 
origin.  The  first  historic  testimony  of  its  existence  and  use  is  the  eleventh 
rule  of  St.  Benedict  of  Nursia,  A.  D.  529,  which  prescribes  to  the  monks  of 
Monte  Casino :  ''  Post  quartum  autem  responsorium  indpiat  Abbas  hymnuni,  Te 
Deum  laudarmis."  But  five  or  eight  lines  of  the  hymn  are  found  in  Greek  as  a 
part  of  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis  {M^a  ev  viplaToic,  etc.)  in  the  Alexandrian  Codex 
of  the  Bible  which  dates  from  the  fifth  century.  See  Daniel,  II.  289  sqq. ; 
Christ,  p.  39  (from  KmS'  I'li^ikpav  to  elf  tovq  a'luvai;),  and  Kayser,  437  sqq.  Daniel 
traces  the  whole  Te  Deum  to  a  lost  Greek  original  (of  which  the  lines  in  the 
Cod.  Alex,  are  a  fragment),  Kayser  to  an  unknown  Latin  author  in  the  second 
half  of  the  fifth  century,  i.  e.  about  one  hundred  years  after  tiie  death  of  St. 
Ambrose. 

^  The  dates  of  his  birth  and  death  are  quite  uncertain,  and  variously  stated 
from  530  or  550  to  GOO  or  r,09. 

■■^  See  two  Latin  texts  with  critical  notes  in  Daniel,  I.  160  sqq.,  rhymed 
English   Versions    by   Mant,   Caswall,  and   Neale.      The   originals   are  not 


2  96.   LATIN  HYMNS  AND  HYMNISTS.  423 

Gregory  I.  (d.  604),  though  far  inferior  to  Fortunatus  in 
poetic  genius,  occupies  a  prominent  rank  both  in  church  poetry 
and  church  music.  He  followed  Ambrose  in  the  metrical  form, 
the  prayer-like  tone,  and  the  churchly  spirit,  and  wrote  for 
practical  use.  He  composed  about  a  dozen  hymns,  several  of 
which  have  found  a  place  in  the  Roman  Breviary.^  The  best 
is  his  Sunday  hymn  : 

"  Prima  dierum  omniion,'^ 
"  On  this  first  day  when  heaven  on  earth," 
or,  as  it  has  been  changed  in  the  Breviary, 

"  Primo  die  quo  Trlnitas,'''  , 

"  To-day  the  Blessed  Three  in  One 

Began  the  earth  and  skies  ; 
To-day  a  Conqueror,  God  the  Son, 

Did  from  the  grave  arise ; 
We  too  will  wake,  and,  in  despite 
Of  sloth  and  languor,  all  unite, 
As  Psalmists  bid,  through  the  dim  night 
Waiting  with  wistful  eyes."  ■^ 
The  Venerable  Bede  (d.  735)  wrote  a  beautiful  ascension  hymn  : 
"  Hymnum  canamus  glorice," 
"  A  hymn  of  glory  let  us  sing ;  " 
and  a  hymn  for  the  Holy  innocents, 

" Hymnum  canentes  Martyrum" 
"The  hymn  of  conquering  martyrs  raise."  ' 
rhymed,  but  very  melodious.  See  vol.  III.  597.  The  Opera  of  Fortunatus 
were  edited  by  Luchi,  Rom.  1786,  and  Migne  in  "Patrol.  Lat."  vol.  88  (Paris 
1850).  Comp.  Ampere,  Hist,  litter.  II.  275  sqq. ;  Ebert,  /.  c.  I.  494  sqq.  For- 
tunatus is  a  very  interesting  character,  and  deserves  a  special  monograph. 
Kayser  devotes  to  him  three  chapters  (p.  386-434). 

1  Daniel,  I.  175-183,  gives  ten  hymns  of  Gregory,  and  an  additional  one 
{Lavdes  canamus)  in  vol.  V.  248.  Mone  adds  some  more  of  doubtful  author- 
ship, I.  370,  376  sqq.  ;  III.  325  sqq.,  and  includes  hymns  in  praise  of  Gregory, 
as  "  0  decus  sacerdotum,  flosque  sanctorum."  English  translations  of  his  Brevi- 
ary hymns  in  Mant,  Chamber^i,  Caswall,  Newman.  On  his  merits  as  a  poet, 
see  Ebert,  I.  827  sqq.  Luther,  in  his  Tischreden  (which  are  a  strange  mixture 
of  truth  and  fiction),  declared  the  passion  hymn  Rex  Christe,  factor  omnium,  to 
be  the  best  of  all  hymns  {"  der  allerbeste  Hymnus"),  hut  this  extravagant 
praise  is  inconsistent  with  the  poetic  taste  of  Luther  and  the  fact  that  he  did 
not  reproduce  it  in  German. 

^  From  Newman's  free  reproduction  (in  Verses  on  Various  Occasions).  See 
the  Latin  text  in  both  recensions  in  Daniel,  I.  175. 

3  Daniel.  L  206  sq. ;  Mone.  I.  1  ("  Primo  Dens  cceli  globum  ")  and  284  (^t-e 
sacer  Ckrisli  sanguis).     The  hymn  for  the  infant  martyrs  at  Bethlehem  is  far 


424  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

Rabanus  Maurus,  a  native  of  Mainz  (Mayence)  on  the 
Rhine,  a  pupil  of  Alcuin,  monk  and  abbot  in  the  convent  of 
Fulda,  archbishop  of  Mainz  from  847  to  856,  was  the  chief 
poet  of  the  Carolingian  age,  and  the  first  German  who  wrote 
Latin  hymns.  Some  of  them  have  passed  into  the  Bre- 
viary.^ 

He  is  probably  the  author  of  the  pentecostal  Veni,  Creator 
Spirltus.^  It  outweighs  all  his  other  poems.  It  is  one  of  the 
classical  Latin  hymns,  and  still  used  in  the  Catholic  church  on 
the  most  solemn  occasions,  as  the  opening  of  Synods,  the  creat- 
ing of  popes  and  the  crowning  of  kings.  It  was  invested  with 
a  superstitious  charm.  It  is  the  only  Breviaiy  hymn  which 
passed  into  the  Anglican  liturgy  as  part  of  the  office  for  ordain- 
ing priests  and  consecrating  bishops.^     The  authorship  has  been 

inferior  to  the  Salvete  florea  Martyrum  of  Prudentius.  The  first  of  the  hymns 
quoted  in  the  text  is  translated  by  Mrs.  Charles  and  by  Neale.  German  ver- 
sions by  Konigsfeld  {Ihr  Siegeshijmnen  schallet  laut,  and  Unschuld' ger  Kinder 
Martyrschaar),  Knapp,  and  others.  Bede  composed  also  a  metrical  history 
of  St.  Cuthbert,  which  Newman  has  translated  in  part  {''Between  two  comrades 
dear"). 

'  His  carmina  were  edited  from  an  old  MS.  found  in  the  convent  of  Fulda 
by  Christopher  Brower,  a  Jesuit,  in  1617  (as  an  appendix  to  the  poems  of 
Venantius  Fortunatus),  and  reprinted  in  Migne's  Rab.  Mauri  Opera  (1852), 
vol.  VI.  f.  1583-1682.  Comp.  Kunstmann,  Hrabanus  Magnentius  Maurus, 
Mainz  1841 ;  Koch,  I.  90-93 ;  Ebert,  II.  120-145 ;  Hauck  in  Herzog*  XII. 
459-465.  Hauck  refers  to  Diimmler  on  the  MS.  tradition  of  the  poems  of 
R.  M. 

2  So  Brower,  and  quite  recently  S.  W.  Duffield,  in  an  article  in  Schaff's 
"Rel.  Encycl."  III.  2608  sq.     Also  Clement,  Carmina,  etc.,  p.  379. 

3  In  the  abridged  and  not  very  happy  translation  of  Bishop  Cosin  (only  four 
stanzas),  beginning: 

"Come,  Holy  Ghost,  our  souls  inspire, 
And  lighten  with  celestial  fire. 
Thou  the  anointing  Spirit  art, 
Who  dost  thy  sevenfold  gift.'i  impart." 

It  was  introduced  into  the  Prayer  Book  after  the  Restoration,  1662.  The 
alternate  ordination  hymn,  "Come,  Holy  Ghost,  eternal  God,"  appeared  in 
1549,  and  was  altered  in  1662. 


§  96.  LATIN  HYMNS  AND  HYMNISTS.  425 

variously  ascribed  to  Charlemagne/  to  Gregory  the  Great,^  also 
to  Alcuin,  and  even  to  Ambrose,  without  any  good  reason. 
It  appears  first  in  898,  is  found  in  the  MS.  containing  the 
Poems  of  Rabanus  Maurus,  and  in  all  the  old  German  Bre- 
viaries; it  was  early  and  repeatedly  translated  into  German/ 
and  agrees  very  well  in  thought  and  expression  with  his  treatise 
on  the  Holy  Spirit.* 

We  give  the  original  with  two  translations.^ 

■  1  By  Tomasi  (I.  375)  and  even  Daniel  (I.  213,  sq. ;  IV.  125),  apparently 
also  by  Trench  (p.  167).  Tomasi  based  his  view  on  an  impossible  tradition 
reported  by  the  Bollandists  {Acta  SS.  Apr.  1,  587),  that  Notker  sent  to 
Charlemagne  (who  died  a  hundred  years  before)  his  sequence  Sancti  Spiritiis 
adsit  nobis  gratia,  and  received  in  response  the  Veni,  Creator  Spiritus  from  the 
eniperor  (whose  Latin  scholarship  was  not  sufficient  for  poetic  composition). 
The  author  of  the  article  "Hymns'"  in  the  9th  ed.  of  the  "Encycl.  Brit." 
revives  the  legend,  but  removes  the  anachronism  by  substituting  for  Charle- 
magne his  nephew,  Charles  the  Bald  (who  was  still  less  competent  for  the 
task). 

^  By  Mone  (I.  242,  note),  Koch,  Wackernagel.  Mone's  reasons  are  "the 
classical  metre  with  partial  rhymes,  and  the  prayer-like  treatment." 

^  In  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  century  {Komm,  Schopfer,  heiliger  Geist),  as 
also  by  Luther  (Komm,  Oott  Schopfer,  heiliger  Geist),  by  Konigsfeld  (Komm, 
Schopfer,  heiVger  Geist,  erfreu),  and  others.  The  oldest  German  translator  (as 
reported  by  Daniel,  I.  214),  says  that  he  who  recites  this  hymn  by  day  or  by 
night,  is  secure  against  all  enemies  visible  or  invisible. 

*  As  contained  in  his  work  De  Universo  1.  I.  c.  3  (in  Migne's  edition  of  the 
Opera,  V.  23-26).  Here  he  calls  the  Holy  Spirit  digitus  Dei  (as  in  the 
hymn),  and  teaches  the  double  procession  which  had  come  to  be  the  prevailing 
doctrine  in  the  West  since  the  adoption  of  the  Filioque  at  the  Synod  of  Aix  in 
809,  though  under  protest  of  Leo  III.  against  its  insertion  into  the  Nicene 
Creed.  The  scanning  of  Paracletus  with  a  long  penultimate  differs  from  that 
of  other  Latin  poets  (Paracletos). 

^  The  Latin  text  is  from  Brower,  as  reprinted  in  Migne  (VI.  16-57),  with 
the  addition  of  the  first  doxology.  The  first  translation  is  by  Robert  Campbell, 
1850,  the  second  by  Rev.  S.  W.  Duffield,  made  for  this  work,  Feb.  1884.  Other 
English  versions  by  Wither  (1623),  Drummond  (1616),  Cosin  (1627),  Tate 
(1703),  Dryden  (1700),  Isaac  Williams  (1839),  Bishop  Williams  (1845), 
Mant  ("Come,  Holy  Ghost,  Creator  blest"),  Benedict  ("Spirit,  heavenly  life 
bestowing"),  MacGill  ("Creator  Holy  Spirit!  come''),  Morgan  (''Creator 
Spirit,  come  in  love''),  in  the  Marquess  of  Bute's  Breviary  ("Come,  Holy 
Ghost,  Creator  come").  See  nine  of  these  translations  in  Odenheimer  and 
Bird,  Songs  of  the  Spirit,  N.  Y.  1871,  p.  167-180.  German  versions  are  almost 
as  numerous.     Comp.  Daniel,  I.  213  ;  IV.  124;  Mone,  I.-242;  Koch,  L  74  sq. 


426 


FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 


Veni,  Creator  Spiritus, 
Mentes  tuorum  visita. 
Imple  superna  gratia 
Quce  tu  creasti  pectora. 

Qui  Paracletus  diceris, 
Donum  Dei  altissimi, 
Fons  vivus,  ignis,  charitas, 
Et  spiritalis  unctio. 

Tu  septi/ormis  munere, 
Dextroe  Dei  iu  digitus, 
Tu  rite  Promissum  Patris, 
Sermone  ditans  guttura. 

Accende  lumen  sensibus, 
Infunde  amorem  cordibus; 
Infirma  nostri  corporis, 
Virtute  firmans  perpetimA 

Hostem  repellas  longius, 
Pacemque  dones  protinus. 
Ductore  sic  te  prcBvio, 
Vitemus  omne  noxium. 


Per  te  sciamus,  da  Patrem, 
Noscamus  atque  Filium, 
Te  utriusque  Spiritum, 
Oredamus  omni  tempore. 


Creator,  Spirit,  Lord  of  Grace, 
O  make  our  hearts  Thy  dwelling-place, 
And  with  Thy  might  celestial  aid 
The  souls  of  those  whom  Thou  hast 
made. 

Come  from  the  throne  of  God  above, 
O  Paraclete,  O  Holy  Dove, 
Come,  Oil  of  gladness,  cleansing  Fire, 
And  Living  Spring  of  pure  desire. 

O  Finger  of  the  Hand  Divine, 
The  sevenfold  gifts  of  Grace  are  Thine, 
And  touched  by  Thee  the  lips  proclaim 
All  praise  to  God's  most  holy  Name. 

Then  to  our  souls  Thy  light  impart, 
And  give  Thy  Love  to  every  heart 
Turn  all  our  weakness  into  might, 
O  Thou,  the  Source  of  Life  and  Light. 

Protect  us  from  the  assailing  foe. 
And  Peace,  the  fruit  of  Love,  bestow  ; 
Upheld  by  Thee,  our  Strength   and 

Guide, 
No  evil  can  our  steps  betide. 

Spirit  of  Faith,  on  us  bestow 
The  Father  and  the  Son  to  know ; 
And,  of  the  Twain,  the  Spirit,  Thee: 
Eternal  One,  Eternal  Three. 


[Sit  laus  Patri  cum  Filio, 
Sancto  simul  Paracleto, 
Nobisque  mitiat  Filius 
Charisma  Sancti  Spiritus. 


To  God  the  Father  let  us  sing ; 
To  God  the  Son,  our  risen  King ; 
And  equally  with  These  adore 
The  Spirit,  God  for  evermore. 


[Proesta  hoc  Pater  piissime  , 
Patrique  compar  tinice, 
Cum  Spiritu  Paracleto, 
Regnans per  omne  sceculum.^  * 

*  Perpetim,  adv.,  perpetually, constantly.  Somecopies  read perpeli {horn perpes). 

^The  concluding  conventional  benediction  in  both  forms  is  a  later  addition. 
The  first  is  given  by  Daniel  (I.  214),  and  Mone  (I.  242),  the  second  in  the  text 
of  Eabanus  Maurus.  The  scanning  of  Paracletos  differs  in  both  from  that  in 
the  second  stanza. 


§  96.  LATIN  HYMNS  AND  HYMNISTS.  427 

O  Holy  Ghost,  Creator,  come !  Kindle  our  senses  to  a  flame, 

Thy  people's  minds  pervade ;  And  fill  our  hearts  with  love, 

And  fill,  with  Thy  supernal  grace,       And,  through  our  bodies'  weakness, 
The  souls  which  Thou  hast  made.  still 

Pour  valor  from  above ! 

Thou  who  art  called  the  Paraclete,  Drive  further  off  our  enemy. 

The  gift  of  God  most  high —  And  straightway  give  us  peace  ; 

Thou  living  fount,  and  fire  and  love,  That  with  Thyself  as  such  a  guide, 

,    Our  spirit's  pure  ally ;  We  may  from  evil  cease. 

Thou  sevenfold  giver  of  all  good ;       Through  Thee  may  we  the  Father 

Finger  of  God's  right  hand  ;  know. 

Thou  promise  of  the  Father,  rich  And  thus  confess  the  Son  ; 

In  words  for  every  land ;  For   Thee,   from  both  the    Holy 

Ghost, 
We  praise  while  time  shall  run. 

In  this  connection  we  mention  the  Veni,  Sancte  Spiritus,  the 
other  great  pentecostal  hymn  of  the  middle  ages.  It  is  gen- 
erally ascribed  to  King  Robert  of  France  (970-1031),  the  son 
and  successor  of  Hugh  Capet.^  He  was  distinguished  for  piety 
and  charity,  like  his  more  famous  successor,  St.  Louis  IX.,  and 
better  fitted  for  the  cloister  than  the  throne.  He  was  disci- 
plined by  the  pope  (998)  for  marrying  a  distant  cousin,  and 
obeyed  by  effecting  a  divorce.  He  loved  music  and  poetry, 
founded  convents  and  churches,  and  supported  three  hundred 
paupers.  His  hymn  reveals  in  terse  and  musical  language 
an  experimental  knowledge  of  the  gifts  and  operations  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  upon  the  heart.  It  is  superior  to  the  companion 
hymn,  Veni,  Creatoi- Spiritus.  Trench  calls  it  "the  loveliest"  of 
all  the  Latin  hymns,  but  we  would  give  this  praise  rather  to  St. 
Bernard's  Jesu  dulcis  memoria  ("Jesus,  the  very  thought  of 
Thee)."  The  hymn  contains  ten  half-stanzas  of  three  lines 
each  with  a  refrain  in  ium.  Each  line  has  seven  syllables,  and 
ends  with  a  double  or  triple  rhyme ;  the  third  line  rhymes  with 
the  third  line  of  the  following  half-stanza.     Neale  has  repro- 

^  A  few  writers  claim  it  for  Pope  Innocent  III. 


428 


FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 


duced  the  double  ending  of  each  third  line  (as  "  brilliancy  " — 
"  radiancy  "). 


Veni,  Sancte  Spiriius, 
Et  emittee  ccelitus 
Lucis  tucB  radium. 

Veni,  Pater  pauperum, 
Veni,  dator  munertim, 
Veni,  lumen  cordium. 

Consolator  optime, 
Dulcis  hospes  animce, 
Dulce  refrigeriuvi  : 

In  labore  requies, 
In  cestu  temperies, 
Infietu  solatium. 

O  lux  beatissima, 
Seple  cordis  intima, 
Tuorum  Jidelium. 

Sine  tuo  numine 

Nihil  est  in  homine 
Nihil  est  innoxium. 

Lava  quod  est  sordidum, 
Riga  quod  est  aridum, 
Sana  quod  est  saucium. 

Flede  quod  est  rigidnm, 
love  quod  est  languidum., 
Rege  quod  est  devium. 

Da  ttiis  fidelibus. 
In  te  conjitentibns, 
Sacrum  septenarium ; 

Da  virtutis  meritum, 
Da  salutis  exitum, 

Da  perenne  gaudium.^ 


Holy  Spirit,  God  of  light! 
Come,  and  on  our  inner  sight 

Pour  Thy  bright  and  heavenly  ray ! 

Father  of  the  lowly  !  come  ; 
Here,  Great  Giver !  be  Thy  home, 
Sunshine  of  our  hearts,  for  aye ! 

Inmost  Comforter  and  best ! 
Of  our  souls  the  dearest  Guest, 
Sweetly  all  their  thirst  allay ; 

In  our  toils  be  our  retreat, 
Be  our  shadow  in  the  heat, 
Come  and  wipe  our  tears  away. 

O  Thou  Light,  all  pure  and  blest  I 
Fill  with  joy  this  weary  breast. 
Turning  darkness  into  day. 

For  without  Thee  nought  we  find, 
Pure  or  strong  in  human  kind. 
Nought  that  has  not  gone  astray. 

Wash  us  from  the  stains  of  sin, 
Gently  soften  all  within. 
Wounded  spirits  heal  and  stay. 

What  is  hard  and  stubborn  bend. 
What  is  feeble  soothe  and  tend. 
What  is  erring  gently  sway. 

To  Thy  I'aithful  servants  give, 
Taught  by  Thee  to  trust  and  live, 
Sevenfold  blessing  from  this  day; 

Make  our  title  clear,  we  pray. 
When  we  drop  this  mortal  clay ; 
Then, — O  give  us  joy  for  aye." 


1  See  the  Latin  text  in  Daniel  II.  35  ;  V.  69 ;  Mone,  T.  244.  In  ver.  8  line 
2  Daniel  reads^  frigidum  for  languidum. 

''The  English  version  is  by  Hamilton  M.  MacGill.  Other  English  versions 
by  John  Austin,  1668  (''Come,  Holy  Spirit"):  Miss  Winkworth  (''Come,  Holy 
Spirit,  God  and  Lord");  Cnswall,  1848  ("  Holy  Spirit,  Lord  of  Light"); 
Faber,  1849  ("Come,  Holy  Spirit!  from  the  height")  ;  Robert  Campbell,  1850 


?96.   LATIN  HYMNS  AND  HYMNISTS.  429 

The  following  is  a  felicitous  version  by  an  American 
divine.^ 

Come,  O  Spirit !  Fount  of  grace  !  O  !  thrice  blessed  light  divine ! 

From  thy  heavenly  dwelling-place  Come,  the  spirit's  inmost  shrine 

One  bright  morning   beam   im-        With  Thy  holy  presence  fill ; 

part :  0  f  Thy  brooding  love  bereft, 

Come,  O  Father  of  the  poor ;  Naught  to  hopeless  man  is  left; 
Come,  O  Source  of  bounties  sure  ;  Naught  is  his  but  evil  still. 

Come,  0  Sunshine  of  the  heart ! 

Comforter  of  man  the  best !  Wash  away  each  earthly  stain, 

Making  the  sad  soul  thy  guest;  Flow  o'er  this  parched  waste  again, 

Sweet  refreshing  in  our  fears.  Heal  the  wounds  of  conscience 

In  our  labor  a  retreat,  sore. 

Cooling  shadow  in  the  heat,  Bind  the  stubborn  will  within. 

Solace  in  our  falling  tears.  Thaw  the  icy  chains  of  sin. 

Guide  us,  that  we  stray  no  more. 

Give  to  Thy  believers,  give. 
In  Thy  holy  hope  who  live, 

All  Thy  sevenfold  dower  of  love ; 
Give  the  sure  reward  of  faith. 
Give  the  love  that  conquers  death, 

Give  unfailing  joy  above. 

NoTKER,  surnamed  the  Older,  or  Balbulus  ("  the  little  Stam- 
merer," from  a  slight  lisp  in  his  speech),  was  born  about  850 
of  a  noble  family  in  Switzerland,  educated  in  the  convent  of 
St.  Gall,  founded  by  Irish  missionaries,  and  lived  there  as  an 
humble  monk.    He  died  about  912,  and  was  canonized  in  1512.^ 

("Come,  O  Spirit,  Lord  of  grace");  Neale,  1851  ("Come,  Thou  Holy  Para- 
clete"); Kay  Palmer,  1858  ("Come,  Holy  Ghost,  in  love");  Morgan 
("Come,  Holy  Spirit,  nigh").  Comp.  Odenheimer  and  Bird,  I  c.  181-190; 
German  versions  by  Witzel,  1541 ;  the  Bohemian  Brethren,  1544 ;  Mart. 
Moller,  1584 ;  Mart.  Behm,  1606.     See  Koch,  I.  100. 

^  Dr.  E.  A.  Washburn,  late  rector  of  Calvary  Church,  New  York,  a  highly 
accomplished  scholar  (d.  1881).  The  version  was  made  in  1860  and  published 
in  "  Voices  from  a  Busy  Life,"  N.  Y.  1883,  p.  142. 

2  Comp.  on  Notker  the  biography  of  Ekkehard ;  Daniel  V.  37  sqq. ;  Koch 
I.  94  sqq.;  Meyer  von  Knonaii,  Lebensbild  des  hell.  Notker  von  St.  Gallen,  and 
his  article  in  Herzog^  X.  648  sqq.  (abridged  in  Schaff-Herzog  II.  1668)  ;  and 


430  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

He  is  famous  as  the  reputed  author  of  the  Sequences  {Se- 
quentice),  a  class  of  hymns  in  rythmical  prose,  hence  also  called 
Proses  {Prosce).  They  arose  from  the  custom  of  prolonging 
the  last  syllable  in  singing  the  AUelu-ia  of  the  Gradual,  between 
the  Epistle  and  the  Gospel,  while  the  deacon  was  ascending 
from  the  altar  to  the  rood-loft  (organ-loft),  that  he  might  thence 
sing  the  Gospel.  This  prolongation  was  caW^djubilatio  or  jubi- 
lus,  or  laudes,  on  account  of  its  jubilant  tone,  and  sometimes 
sequentia  (Greek  dxoXoo&ia),  because  it  foUou-ed  the  reading  of 
the  Epistle  or  the  Alleluia.  Mystical  interpreters  made  this 
unmeaning  prolongation  of  a  mere  sound  the  echo  of  the  jubi- 
lant music  of  heaven.  A  further  development  was  to  set  words 
to  these  notes  in  rythmical  prose  for  chanting.  The  name 
sequence  was  then  applied  to  the  text,  and  in  a  wider  sense  also 
to  regular  metrical  and  rhymed  hymns.  The  book  in  which 
Sequences  were  collected  was  called  Sequentiale} 

Notker  marks  the  transition  from  the  unmeaning  musical  se- 
quence to  the  literary  or  poetic  sequence.  Over  thirty  poems 
bear  his  name.     His  first  attempt  begins  with  the  line 

"  Laudes  Deo  concinat  orbis  uhique  totus." 

More  widely  circulated  is  his  Sequence  of  the  Holy  Spirit : 

"  Sancti  Spii-itus  adsit  nobis  gratia." 

"T'/ie  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit  be  present  with  us."^ 

The  best  of  all  his  compositions,  which  is  said  to  have  been  in- 
spired by  the  sight  of  the  builders  of  a  bridge  over  an  abyss 

Ans.  Schubiger,  Die  Sdngerschule  St.  Gallens  vom  8ten  bis  12ten  Jahrh.  (Ein- 
eiedlen,  1858).  Daniel  II.  3-31  gives  thirty-five  pieces  under  the  title  Notker 
et  Notkeriana.  Neale  (p.  32)  gives  a  translation  of  one  sequence:  Sancti  Spi- 
ritus  adsit  nobis  gratia. 

'  For  further  information  on  Sequences  s=ee  especially  Neale's  Epislola  Critica 
de  Sequentiis  at  the  beginning  of  the  fif^h  vol.  of  Daniel's  Thes.  (p.  3-3G),  fol- 
lowed by  literary  notices  of  Daniel ;  also  the  works  of  Bartsch  and  Kehrein 
(who  gives  the  largest  collection),  and  Duffield  in  Schaft's  Rel.  Encyl.  III.  161. 
Neale  defines  a  sequentia:  " prolongatio  syllaboe  tov  Alleluia.'^ 

'  Translated  by  Neale,  p.  32. 


2  96.  LATIN  HYMNS  AND  HYMNISTS.  431 

in  the  Martinstobe,  is  a  meditation  on  death   {Antiphona  de 

morte) : 

"  Media  vita  in  morte  sumus  : 
Quern  qucerimus  adiutorem  nisi  te,  Domine, 
Qui  pro  peccatis  nostris  juste  irasceris  f 
Sande  Deus,  sanctefortis, 
Sancte  et  misericors  Salvator  : 
Amarce  morti  ne  tradas  nos."  ^ 

This  solemn  prayer  is  incorporated  in  many  burial  services. 
In  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  it  is  thus  enlarged  : 

"  In  the  midst  of  life  we  be  in  deatli : 

Of  whom  may  we  seek  for  succour,  but  of  Thee, 
O  Lord,  which  for  our  sins  justly  art  moved? 

Yet,  O  Lord  God  most  holy,  O  Lord  most  mighty, 
O  holy  and  most  merciful  Saviour, 

Deliver  us  not  into  the  bitter  pains  of  eternal  death. 
Thou  knowest,  Lord,  the  secrets  of  our  hearts. 

Shut  not  up  thy  merciful  eyes  to  our  prayers : 
But  spare  us,  Lord  most  holy, 

O  God  most  mighty, 
O  holy  and  merciful  Saviour, 

Thou  most  worthy  Judge  eternal, 
SuflFer  us  not,  at  our  last  hour, 

For  any  pains  of  death, 
To  fall  from  Thee."  ^ 

Peter  Damiani  (d.   1072),  a   friend   of  Hildebrand   and 

promoter  of  his  hierarchical  reforms,  wrote  a  solemn  hymn  on 

the  day  of  death  : 

"  Gravi  me  terrore  pulsas  vitcB  dies  idtima,''^ 
"  With  what  heavy  fear  thou  smitest." 

1  Daniel,  II.  329 ;  Mone,  I.  397.  Several  German  versions,  one  by  Luther 
(1524):  "Mitten  wir  im  Leben  sind  mit  dem  Tod  iimfangen."  This  version  is 
considerably  enlarged  and  has  been  translated  into  English  by  Miss  Winkworth 
in  ''  Lyra  Germanica  "  :  "In  the  midst  of  life  behold  Death  has  girt  us  round.'' 
See  notes  in  Schaff 's  Deutsches  Gesanybuch,  No.  446. 

2  The  text  is  taken  from  The  First  Book  of  Edward  VI.,  1549  (as  republished 
by  Dr.  Morgan  Dix,  N.  Y.  1881,  p.  268).  In  the  revision  of  the  Prayer  Book 
the  third  line  was  thus  improved  : 

"  O  Lord,  who  for  our  sins  art  justly  displeased  (irasceris)." 

'  Daniel,  I.  224.  English  Versions  by  Neale,  Benedict,  and  Washburn  (l.  c. 
p.  145).     German  translation  by  Konigsfeld  :    "  Wie  du  mich  mit  Schrecken 


432  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

He  is  perhaps  also  the  author  of  the  better  known  descriptive 
poem  on  the  Glory  and  Delights  of  Paradise,  which  is  usually 
assigned  to  St.  Augustin  : 

"  Ad perennis  vitoefontem  mens  sitivit  arida, 
Claustra  carnis  prcesto  /rangi  clausa  qucerit  anima: 
Gliscit,  ambit,  eluctatur  exsul  frui  patria.^'  ^ 

The  subordinate  hymn-writers  of  our  period  are  the  fol- 
lowing: ^ 

IsiDOR  of  Seville  (Isidoris  Hispalensis,  560-636).  A  hymn 
on  St.  Agatha  :  "  Festum  inslgne  prodiit." 

Cyxilla  of  Spain.  Hymnus  de  S.  Thurso  et  sociis: 
"  Exulta  nimium  turba  fidelium." 

EuGENius  of  Toledo.  Oratio  S.  Eugenii  Toletani  Episcopi : 
"  Rex  Deus." 

Paulus  Diaconus  (720-800),  of  Monte  Casino,  chaplain  of 
Charlemagne,  .historian  of  the  Lombards,  and  author  of  a 
famous  collection  of  homilies.  On  John  the  Baptist  ("  Ut 
queant  laxis)^  and  on  the  Miracles  of  St.  Benedict  [Fratres 
alacri  pectore). 

Odo  of  Cluny  (d.  941).  A  hymn  on  St.  Mary  Magdalene 
day,  "Lauda,  3Iater  Ecdesice,"  translated  by  Neale :  "  Exalt,  O 

schilltelst.'^  Neale  (p.  52)  calls  this  "  an  awful  hymn,  the  Dies  Ires  of  individual 
life."     His  version  begins : 

''O  what  terror  in  thy  forethought,  Ending  scene  in  mortal  life!" 
'  Daniel,  I.  116-118  (Rhylhrnus  de  (jloria  et  gaudiis  Paradiu),  under  the  name 
of  St.  Augustin.  So  also  Clement,  Carmina,  p.  162-166,  who  says  that  it  is 
attributed  to  Augustin  "per  les  melleurs  critiques,"  and  that  it  is  "un  reflet  de  la 
Cite  de  Dieu."  But  the  great  African  father  put  his  poetry  into  prose,  and 
only  furnished  inspiring  thoughts  to  poets.  German  translation  by  Konigsfeld 
(who  gives  it  likewise  under  the  name  of  St.  Augustin)  :  '  Nach  des  ew'gen 
Lebcns  Quellen." 

^  See  their  hymns  in  Daniel,  I.  183  sqq.,  and  partly  in  Mone,  and  Clement. 
'  From  this  poem  (see  Daniel  I.  209  sq.)  Guido  of  Arezzo  got  names  for  the 
six  notes  Ut,  Be,  Mi,  Fa,  Sol,  La  : 

"  Ut  queant  laxis  Re-sonare  fibris 
Mi-ra  gestorum  Fa-midi  tuorum, 
Solve  polluti  La-bii  reatum, 
Sancte  Joannes." 


§  96.  LATIN  HYMNS  AND  HYMNISTS.  433 

mother  Church,  to-day,  The  clemency  of  Christ,  thy  Lord." 
It  found  its  way  into  the  York  Breviary. 

GoDESCALCUs  (GoTTSCHALK,  d.  about  950,  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  his  predestinarian  namesake,  who  lived  in  the 
ninth  century),  is  next  to  Notker,  the  best  writer  of  sequences 
or  proses,  as  "Laus  Tlbi,  Christe "  ("  Praise  be  to  Thee,  O 
Christ)/'  and  Cosli  enarrant  ("The  heavens  declare  the 
glory"),  both  translated  by  Neale. 

FuLBERT  OF  Chartres  (died  about  1029)  wrote  a  paschal 
hymn  adopted  in  several  Breviaries:  ^'Chorus  novce  Jerusalem^' 
("  Ye  choirs  of  New  Jerusalem  "),  translated  by  Neale. 

A  few  of  the  choicest  hymns  of  our  period,  from  the  sixth  to 
the  twelfth  century  are  anonymous.*     To  these  belong  : 

"  Hymnum  dicat  turba  fratrum."  A  morning  hymn  men- 
tioned by  Bede  as  a  fine  specimen  of  the  trochaic  tetrameter. 

"  Sancti  venite."     A  communion  hymn. 

"Urbs  beata  Jerusalem."^  It  is  from  the  eighth  century,  and 
one  of  those  touching  New  Jerusalem  hymns  which  take  their 
inspiration  from  the  last  chapter  of  St.  John's  Apocalypse,  and 
express  the  Christian's  home-sickness  after  heaven.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  first  stanza  (with  Neale's  translation) : 

"Urbs  beata  Jerusalem,  "Blessed  City,  Heavenly  Salem, 
Dicta  pads  visio,  Vision  dear  of  Peace  and  Love, 

Quae  construitur  in  coelo  Who,  of  living  stones  upbuilded, 
Vivis  ex  lapidibus,  Art  the  joy  of  Heav'n  above, 

Et  angelis  coronata  And,  with  angel  cohorts  circled, 
Ut  sponsata  comite."  As  a  Bride  to  earth  dost  move ! " 

"  Apparebit  7'epentina"  An  alphabetic  and  acrostic  poem  on 
the  Day  of  Judgment,  based  on  Matt.  25 :  31-36 ;  from  the 
seventh  century ;  first  mentioned  by  Bede,  tlien  long  lost  sight 
of;  the  forerunner  of  the  Dies  Irce,  more  narrative  than  lyrical, 

'  See  Daniel,  Hymni  adecpotol  circa  sec.  VI-IX.  conscripti,  I.  191  sqq.    Mone 
gives  a  larger  number. 

2  In  tlie  R'lman  Breviary:  "Ccelei'tis  urba  Jerusalem.'"     Neale  thinks  that  the 
changes  in  the  revised  Breviary  of  Urban  V^lll.  liave  deprived  "  this  grand 
hymn  of  half  of  its  beauty." 
28 


434  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

less  sublime  and  terrific,  but  equally  solemn.     The  following 
are  the  first  lines  in  Xeale's  admirable  translation  : ' 

"That  great  Day  of  wrath  and  terror, 

That  last  Day  of  woe  and  doom, 

Like  a  thief  that  comes  at  midnight, 
1  On  the  sons  of  men  shall  come ; 

'  When  the  pride  and  pomp  of  ages 

All  shall  utterly  have  passed, 

And  they  stand  in  anguish,  owning 

That  the  end  is  here  at  last; 

And  the  trumpet's  pealing  clangor. 

Through  the  earth's  four  quarters  spread, 

Waxing  loud  and  ever  louder. 

Shall  convoke  the  quick  and  dead : 

And  the  King  of  heavenly  glory 

Shall  assume  His  throne  on  high, 

And  the  cohorts  of  His  angels 

Shall  be  near  Him  in  the  sky : 

And  the  sun  shall  turn  to  sackcloth. 

And  the  moon  be  red  as  blood, 

And  the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven, 

Whelm'd  beneath  destruction's  flood. 

Flame  and  fire,  and  desolation 

At  the  Judge's  feet  shall  go : 

Earth  and  sea,  and  all  abysses 

Shall  His  mighty  sentence  know." 

"  Ave,  Claris  Stella."  This  is  the  favorite  mediaeval  Mary 
hymn,  and  perhaps  the  very  best  of  the  large  number  devoted  to 
the  worship  of  the  "  Queen  of  heaven,"  which  entered  so  deeply 
into  the  piety  and  devotion  of  the  Catholic  church  both  in  the 
East  and  the  West.  It  is  therefore  given  here  in  full  with  the 
version  of  Edward  Caswall.^ 

1  See  the  original  in  Daniel,  I.  194.  Other  English  translations  by  Mrs. 
Charles,  and  E.  C  Benedict.  In  German  by  Konigsfeld :  '' Plotzlich  wird  der 
Tag  erscheinen." 

^  Daniel  (I.  204)  says  of  this  hymn :  "  Hie  hymnus  Marianus,  quern  ecelesia 
Catholica  semper  inc/enti  cum  favore  prosecuta  est,  in  omnibus  brevian-iis,  quae 
inspiciendi  unquam  jnihi  occasio  data  est,  ad  honorem  beatissimce  virginis  cantandus 
prcescribitur,  inprimis  in  Annuneiatione  ;  apud  permultos  tamen  aliis  quoque  diebua 
Festis  Marianis  adscriptus  est.  Quce  hymni  reverentia  ad  recentiora  bisque  tempora 
permansit."  It  is  one  of  tlie  few  hymns  which  Urban  VIII.  did  not  alter  in 
his  revision  of  the  Breviary.  Mone  (II.  216,  218,  220,  228)  gives  four  varia- 
tions of  Ave  Maris  Stella,  which  is  used  as  the  text. 


2  96.  LATIN  HYMNS  AND  HYMNISTS. 


435 


"  Ave,  Maris  Stella,  ^ 
Dei  Mater  alma 
Atque  semper  Virgo, 
Felix  coeli  porta. 

Sumens  illud  Ave 
Oabrielis  ore, 
Funda  nos  in  pace, 
Mutans  nomen  EvcE."^ 

Solve  vincla  reis 
Profer  lumen  ececis. 
Mala  nostra  pelle, 
Bona  cuncta  posce. 

Monstra  te  esse  matrem,^ 
Sumat  per  te  precem. 
Qui  pro  nobis  natus 
Tulit  esse  tiius. 

Virgo  singularis, 
Inter  omnes  mitis, 
Nos  culpis  solutos 
Mites  fac  et  castos. 

Vitam  prasta  puram 
Iter  para  tutum, 
Ut  videntes  lesum 
Semper  collcetemur. 

Sit  laus  Deo  Patri, 

Summo  Christo  decus, 
Spiritui  Sando 
Honor  trinus  et  unus. 


"  Hail,  thou  Star-of-Ocean, 

Portal  of  the  sky, 
Ever- Virgin  Mother 

Of  the  Lord  Most  High! 

Oh,  by  Gabriel's  Ave 

Uttered  long  ago 
Eva's  name  reversing, 

'Stablish  peace  below ! 

Break  the  captive's  fetters, 
Light  on  blindness  pour. 

All  our  ills  expelling. 
Every  bliss  implore. 

Show  thyself  a  mother,^ 
Offer  Him  our  sighs. 

Who,  for  us  Incarnate, 
Did  not  thee  despise. 

Virgin  of  all  virgins ! 

To  thy  shelter  take  us — 
Gentlest  of  the  gentle  ! 

Chaste  and  gentle  make  us. 

Still  as  on  we  journey, 
Help  our  weak  endeavor, 

Till  with  thee  and  Jesus, 
We  rejoice  for  ever. 

Through  the  highest  heaven 
To  the  Aluughty  Three, 

Father,  Son,  and  Spirit, 
One  same  glory  be. 


^  This  designation  of  Mary  is  supposed  to  be  meant  for  a  translation  of  the 
name ;  maria  being  taken  for  the  plural  of  mare :  see  Gen.  I  :  10  (Vulgate) 
'' congregationes  aquarum  appellavit  maria.  Ft  vidit  Deus,  quod  esset  bonvm." 
(See  the  note  in  Daniel,  I.  205).  Surely  a  most  extraordinary  exposition,  not 
to  say  imposition,  yet  not  too  far-fetched  for  the  middle  ages,  when  Greek  and 
Hebrew  were  unknown,  when  the  Scriptures  were  supposed  to  have  four 
senses,  and  allegorical  and  mystical  fancies  took  the  place  of  grammatical  and 
historical  exegesis. 

2  The  comparison  of  Mary  with  Eve— the  mother  of  obedience  contrasted 
with  the  mother  of  disobedience,  the  iirst  Eve  bringing  in  guilt  and  ruin,  the 
second,  redemption  and  bliss— is  as  old  as  Irenseus  (about  180)  and  is  the  fruit- 
ful germ  of  Mariolatry.  The  mystical  change  of  Eva  and  Ave  is  mediaeval— a 
sort  of  pious  conundrum. 

3  The  words  of  our  Lord  to  John :  "  Behold  thy  mother  "  (John  19  :  27), 
were  supposed  to  be  spoken  to  all  Christians. 


436  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  Latin  hymnody  was  only  for  priests  and  monks,  and 
those  few  w^ho  understood  the  Latin  language.  The  people 
listened  to  it  as  they  do  to  the  mass,  and  responded  with  the 
Kyrie  eleison,  Christe  eleison,  which  passed  from  the  Greek 
church  into  the  Western  litanies.  As  the  modern  languages  of 
Europe  developed  themselves  out  of  the  Latin,  and  out  of  the 
Teutonic,  a  popular  poetry  arose  during  the  thirteenth  and  four- 
teenth centuries,  and  afterwards  received  a  powerful  impulse 
from  the  Reformation.  Since  that  time  the  Protestant  churches, 
especially  in  Germany  and  England,  have  produced  the  richest 
hymnody,  which  speaks  to  the  heart  of  the  people  in  their  own 
familiar  tongue,  and  is,  next  to  the  Psalter,  the  chief  feeder  of 
public  and  private  devotion.  In  this  body  of  evangelical  hymns 
the  choicest  Greek  and  Latin  hymns  in  various  translations, 
reproductions,  and  transformations  occupy  an  honored  place  and 
serve  as  connecting  links  between  past  and  modern  times  in  the 
worship  of  the  same  God  and  Saviour. 

§  97.   The  Seven  Sacraments. 

Mediaeval  Christianity  was  intensely  sacramental,  sacerdotal 
and  hierarchical.  The  ideas  of  priest,  sacrifice,  and  altar  are 
closely  connected.  The  sacraments  were  regarded  as  the  chan- 
nels of  all  grace  and  the  chief  food  of  the  soul.  They  accom- 
panied human  life  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  The  child  was 
saluted  into  this  world  by  the  sacrament  of  baptism ;  the  old 
man  was  provided  with  the  viaticum  on  his  journey  to  the 
other  world. 

The  chief  sacraments  were  baptism  and  the  eucharist.  Bap- 
tism was  regarded  as  the  sacrament  of  the  new  birth  Avhicli 
opens  the  door  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  the  eucharist  as  the 
sacrament  of  sanctification  which  maintains  and  nourishes  the 
new  life. 

Beyond  these  two  sacraments  several  other  rites  were  dignified 
with  that  name,  but  there  Avas  no  agreement  as  to  the  number 
before  the  scholastic  period.     The  Latin  S'icrainnitum,  like  the 


2  97.  THE  SEVEN  SACEAMENTS.  437 

Greek  mystery  (of  which  it  is  the  translation  in  the  Vulgate), 
was  long  used  in  a  loose  and  indefinite  way  for  sacred  and  mys- 
terious doctrines  and  rites.  Rabanus  Maurus  and  Paschasius 
Kadbertus  count  four  sacraments,  Dionysius  Areopagita,  six ; 
Damiani,  as  many  as  twelve.  By  the  authority  chiefly  of  Peter 
the  Lombard  and  Thomas  Aquinas  the  sacred  number  seven  was 
at  last  determined  upon,  and  justified  by  various  analogies  with 
the  number  of  virtues,  and  the  number  of  sins,  and  the  neces- 
sities of  human  life.^ 

But  seven  sacraments  existed  as  sacred  rites  long  before  the 
church  was  agreed  on  the  number.  We  find  them  with  only 
slight  variations  independently  among  the  Greeks  under  the  name 
of  "  mysteries  "  as  well  as  among  the  Latins.  They  are,  besides 
baptism  and  the  eucharist  (which  is  a  sacrifice  as  well  as  a  sac- 
rament) :  confirmation,  penance  (confession  and  absolution), 
marriage,  ordination,  and  extreme  unetion. 

Confirmation  was  closely  connected  with  baptism  as  a  sort  of 
supplement.  It  assumed  a  more  independent  character  in  the 
case  of  baptized  infants  and  took  place  later.  It  may  be  per- 
formed in  the  Greek  church  by  any  priest,  in  the  Latin  only  by 
the  bishop.^ 

Penance  was  deemed  necessary  for  sins  after  baptism.^ 

Ordination  is  the  sacrament  of  the  hierarchy  and  indispensable 
for  the  government  of  the  church. 

1  Otto,  bishop  of  Bamberg  (between  1139  and  1189),  is  usually  reported  to 
have  introduced  the  seven  sacraments  among  the  Pomeranians  whom  he  had 
converted  to  Christianity,  but  the  discourse  on  wliich  this  tradition  rests  is  of 
doubtful  genuineness.  The  scholastic  number  seven  was  confirmed  by  the 
Council  of  Florence  (the  Greek  delegates  assenting),  and  by  the  Council  ol 
Trent  which  anathematizes  all  who  teach  more  or  less,  Sess.  VII.  can.  T.  The 
Protestant  churches  admit  only  two  sacraments,  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper, 
because  these  alone  are  especially  commanded  by  Christ  to  be  observed.  Yet 
ordination  and  marriage,  and  in  some  churches  confirmation  also,  are  retained 
as  solemn  religious  ceremonies. 

2  The  Lutheran  church  retains  confirmation  by  the  minister,  the  Anglican 
church  by  the  bishop. 

^  See  above,  I  87,  p.  381  sqq. 


438  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.D.  590-1049. 

Marriage  lies  at  the  basis  of  the  family  and  society  in  church 
and  state,  and  was  most  closely  and  jealously  guarded  by  the 
church  against  facility  of  divorce,  against  mixed  marriages,  and 
marriages  between  near  relatives. 

Extreme  unction  with  jDrayer  (first  mentioned  among  the 
sacraments  by  a  synod  of  Pavia  in  850,  and  by  Damiani)  was 
the  viaticum  for  the  departure  into  the  other  world,  and  based  on 
the  direction  of  St.  James  5 :  14,  15  (comp.  Mark  6  :  13;  16 : 
18).  At  first  it  was  applied  in  every  sickness,  by  layman  as  well 
as  priest,  as  a  medical  cure  and  as  a  substitute  for  amulets  and 
forms  of  incantation ;  but  the  Latin  church  afterwards  confined 
it  to  cases  of  extreme  danger. 

The  efficacy  of  the  sacrament  was  defined  by  the  scholastic 
term  ex  opere  operato,  that  is,  the  sacrament  has  its  intended 
effect  by  virtue  of  its  institution  and  inherent  poAver,  inde- 
pendently of  the  moral  character  of  the  priest  and  of  the  reci- 
pient, provided  only  that  it  be  performed  in  the  prescribed 
manner  and  with  the  proper  intention  and  provided  that  the 
recipient  throw  no  obstacle  in  the  way.^ 

Three  of  the  sacraments,  namely  baptism,  confirmation,  and 
ordination,  have  in  addition  the  effect  of  conferring  an  indelible 
character.^  Once  baptized  always  baptized,  though  the  benefit 
may  be  forfeited  for  ever ;  once  ordained  always  ordained, 
though  a  priest  may  be  deposed  and  excommunicated. 

^  Here,  too,  the  Protestant  (at  least  the  Reformed)  confessions  differ  from 
the  Roman  Catholic  by  requiring  faith  in  active  exercise  as  a  condition  of  re- 
ceiving the  benefit  of  the  sacrament.  In  the  case  of  infant  baptism  the  faith  of 
the  parents  or  responsible  guardians  is  taken  into  account.  Without  such 
faith  the  sacrament  would  be  wasted  and  profaned. 

*  Character  inddebilis. 


598.  THE  ORGAN  AND  THE  BELL.        439 

§  98.   The  Organ  and  the  Bell. 

To  the  external  auxiliaries  of  worship  were  added  the  organ 
and  the  bell. 

The  organ/  in  the  sense  of  a  particular  instrument  (which 
dates  from  the  time  of  St.  Augustin),  is  a  development  of  the 
Syrinx  or  Pandean  pipe,  and  in  its  earliest  form  consisted  of  a 
small  box  with  a  row  of  pipes  in  the  top,  which  were  inflated 
by  the  performer  with  the  mouth  through  means  of  a  tube  at 
one  end.  It  has  in  the  course  of  time  undergone  considerable 
improvements.  The  use  of  organs  in  churches  is  ascribed  to 
Pope  Vitalian  (657-672).  Constantine  Copronymos  sent  an 
organ  with  other  presents  to  King  Pepin  of  France  in  767. 
Charlemagne  received  one  as  a  present  from  the  Caliph  Haroun 
al  Rashid,  and  had  it  put  up  in  the  cathedral  of  Aix-la-Chapelle. 
The  art  of  organ-building  was  cultivated  chiefly  in  Germany. 
Pope  John  YIII.  (872-882)  requested  Bishop  Anno  of  Freising 
to  send  him  an  organ  and  an  organist. 

The  attitude  of  the  churches  towards  the  organ  varies.  It 
shared  to  some  extent  the  fate  of  images,  except  that  it  never 
was  an  object  of  worship.  The  poetic  legend  which  Raphael 
has  immortalized  by  one  of  his  master-pieces,  ascribes  its 
invention  to  St.  Cecilia,  the  patron  of  sacred  music.  The  Greek 
church  disapproves  the  use  of  organs.  The  Latin  church  intro- 
duced it  pretty  generally,  but  not  without  the  protest  of  eminent 
men,  so  that  even  in  the  Council  of  Trent  a  motion  was  made, 
though  not  carried,  to  prohibit  the  organ  at  least  in  the  mass. 
The  Lutheran  church  retained,  the  Calvinistic  churches  rejected 
it,  especially  in  Switzerland  and  Scotland ;  but  in  recent  times 
the  opposition  has  largely  ceased.^ 

^  Organum  from  the  Greek  dpynvov,  which  is  used  in  the  Septuagint  for 
several  musical  terms  in  Hebrew,  as  cheli,  chinor  (cilhara),  nephel  {nablium), 
yugab.     See  the  passages  in  Trommins,  Concord.  Or.  V.  LXX,  IL  144. 

^  See  Hopkins  and  Rimbault :  The  Organ,  Us  History  and  Construction,  1855  ; 
E.  de  Cousseraakee :  Histoire  des  instruments  de  musiqne  an  moyen-age,  Paris 
1859 ;  Heinrich  Otte :   Handbuch  der  kirchl.  Kunstarchdologie,  Leipz.  4th  ed. 


440  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  BELL  is  said  to  have  been  invented  hy  Paulinus  of  Nola 
(d.  431)  in  Campania;^  but  he  never  mentions  it  in  his  descrip- 
tion of  churches.  Various  sonorous  instruments  were  used 
since  the  time  of  Constantine  the  Great  for  announcing  the 
commencement  of  public  worship.  Gregory  of  Tours  mentions 
a  "  signum"  for  calling  monks  to  prayer.  The  Irish  used 
chiefly  hand-bells  from  the  time  of  St.  Patrick,  who  himself 
distributed  them  freely.  St.  Columba  is  reported  to  have  gone 
to  church  when  the  bell  rang  {pulsante  campana)  at  midnight. 
Bede  mentions  the  bell  for  prayer  at  funerals.  St.  Sturm  of 
Fulda  ordered  in  his  dying  hours  all  the  bells  of  the  convent  to 
be  rung  (779).  In  the  reign  of  Charlemagne  the  use  of  bells 
was  common  in  the  empire.  He  encouraged  the  art  of  bell- 
founding,  and  entertained  bell-founders  at  his  court.  Tancho, 
a  monk  of  St.  Gall,  cast  a  fine  bell,  weighing  from  four  hun- 
dred to  five  hundred  pounds,  for  the  cathedral  at  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle.  In  the  East,  church  bells  are  not  mentioned  before  the 
end  of  the  ninth  century. 

Bells,  like  other  church-furniture,  were  consecrated  for  sacred 
use  by  liturgical  forms  of  benediction.  They  were  sometimes 
even  baptized ;  but  Charlemagne,  in  a  capitulary  of  789,  forbids 
this  abuse.^  The  office  of  bell-ringers^  was  so  highly  esteemed 
in  that  age  that  even  abbots  and  bishops  coveted  it.     Popular 

1866,  p.  225  sqq.  O.  Wangemann :  Gesch.  der  Orgel  und  der  Orgelbaukunst, 
second  ed.  18S1.  Comp.  also  Bingham,  Augusti,  Binterim,  Siegel,  Alt,  and 
the  art.  Organ  in  Smith  and  Cheetham,  Wetzer  and  Welte,  and  in  Herzog. 

^  Hence  the  names  campanum,  or  campana,  nola  (continued  in  the  Italian 
language),  but  it  is  more  probable  that  the  name  is  derived  from  Campanian 
brass  (ces  campanum),  which  in  early  times  furnished  the  material  for  bell?. 
In  later  Latin  it  is  called  cloqua,  cloccum,  dorca,  cloca,  also  tintinnabulum,  Eng- 
lish: clock;  German:  Glochf ;  French:  cloche;  Irish:  clog  (comp.  the  Latin 
clangere  and  the  German  ktopfen). 

2  "  Ut  clocccE  non  baplizevtur.''  According  to  Baronius,  Annal.  ad  a.  968, 
Pope  John  XIII.  baptized  the  great  bell  of  the  Lateran  church,  and  called  it 
John.  The  reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century  renewed  the  protest  of  Charle- 
magne, and  abolished  the  baptism  of  bells  as  a  profanation  of  the  sacrament. 
See  Siegel,  Handbuch  der  christl.  kirchlkhen  Alterthumer,  II.  243. 

*  Campanarii,  campanalores. 


298.  THE  ORGAN  AND  THE  BELL.         441 

superstition  ascribed  to  bells  a  magical  effect  in  quietino-  storms 
and  expelling  pestilence.  Special  towers  were  built  for  them/ 
The  use  of  church  bells  is  expressed  in  the  old  lines  which  are 
inscribed  in  many  of  them  : 

"  Lauda  Deum  verum,  plebem  voco,  congrego  clerum, 
Defundos  ploro,  pestem  fugo,  festaque  honoro."^ 

*  Called  Campanile.  The  one  on  place  of  San  Marco  at  Venice  is  especially 
celebrated. 

«  The  literature  on  bells  is  given  by  Siegel,  II.  239,  and  Otte,  p.  2  and  102. 
We  mention  Nic.  Eggers :  De  Origine  et  Nomine  Campanarum,  Jeq.,  1684 ;  by 
the  same:  De  Campanarum  Materia  et  Forma,  1685;  Waller;  De  Campanis  et 
prceeipuis  earum  Usibus,  Holm.,  1694;  Eschenwecker ;  Circa  Campanas,  Hal., 
1708;  J.  B.  Thiers:  Traite  des  Cloches,  Par.,  1719;  Montanus:  Hist.  Nachricht 
von  den  Glocken,  etc,  Chemnitz,  1726;  Chrysander:  Hist.  Nachricht  von  Kirchen- 
Glocken,  Einteln,  1755;  Heinrich  Otte;  Glockenkunde,  Leipz.,  1858;  comp.  also 
his  Handbuch  der  kirchlichen  Kunst-Archdologie  des  deutschen  Mittelalters,  Leipz., 
1868,  4th  ed.,  p.  245-248  (with  illustrations) ;  and  the  articles  5e/^^,  Glocken,  in 
the  archaeological  works  of  Smith  and  Cheetham,  W^etzer  and  Welte,  and  Her- 
zog.  Schiller  has  made  the  bell  the  subject  of  his  greatest  lyric  poem,  which 
ends  with  this  beautiful  description  of  its  symbolic  meaning : 

"  Und  diess  sei  fortan  ihr  Beruf, 

Wuzii  der  Meister  sie  erschuf: 
Hoch  iiber'm  niedem  Erdenleben 

Soil  sie  im  blauen  Himmelszelt, 
Die  Nachbarin  des  Dormers,  schweben 

Und  grdnzen  an  die  SternenwcU ; 
Soil  eine  Stimme  sein  von  oben, 

Wie  der  Gedirne  helle  Schaar, 
Die  ihren  Schopfer  wandclnd  loben 

Und  filhren  das  bekrdnzte  Jahr. 
Nur  ewigen  und  ernsten  Dingen 

Sei  ihr  metall'ner  Mund  geweiht, 
Und  stUndlich  mit  den  schnellen  Schwingen 

Beriihr    im  Fltige  sie  die  Zeit. 
Dem  Schicksal  leihe  sie  die  Zunge; 

Selbiit  herzlos,  ohne  Mitgcjiihl, 
Begleite  sie  mit  ihrem  Schwunge 

Des  Lebens  wechselvolles  Spiel. 
Und  wie  der  Klang  im  Ohr  vergehet, 

Der  mdchtig  tonend  ihr  entschallt, 
So  lehre  sie,  doss  nichts  bestehet, 

Doss  alles  Irdische  verhallt." 


442  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

99.  Tlie   Worship  of  Saints. 
Comp.  vol.  III.  II  81-87  (p.  409-460). 

The  Worship  of  Saints,  handed  down  from  the  Nicene  age, 
was  a  Christian  substitute  for  heathen  idolatry  and  hero- 
worship,  and  well  suited  to  the  taste  and  antecedents  of  the 
barbarian  races,  but  was  equally  popular  among  the  culti- 
vated Greeks.  The  scholastics  made  a  distinction  between 
three  grades  of  worship  :  1)  adoration  [Xarfjeca),  which  belongs 
to  God  alone ;  2)  veneration  [douhia),  which  is  due  to  the  saints 
as  those  whom  God  himself  has  honored,  and  who  reign  with 
him  in  heaven  ;  3)  special  veneration  [vTiepdouXtta),  which  is 
due  to  the  Virgin  Mary  as  the  mother  of  the  Saviour  and  the 
queen  of  all  saints.  But  the  people  did  not  always  mind  this 
distinction,  and  the  priests  rather  encouraged  the  excesses  of 
saint- worship.  Prayers  were  freely  addressed  to  the  saints, 
though  not  as  the  givers  of  the  blessings  desired,  but  as  inter- 
cessors and  advocates.  Hence  the  form  :  "Pray  for  us"  {Ora 
pro  nobis). 

The  number  of  saints  and  their  festivals  multiplied  very 
rapidly.  Each  nation,  country,  province  or  city  chose  its  patron 
saint,  as  Peter  and  Paul  in  Rome,  St.  Ambrose  in  Milan,  St. 
Martin,  St.  Denys  (Dionysius)  and  St.  Germain  in  France,  St. 
George  in  England,  St.  Patrick  in  Ireland,  St.  Boniface  in 
Germany,  and  especially  the  Virgin  Mary,  who  has  innumer- 
able localities  and  churches  under  her  care  and  pl'otection.  The 
fact  of  saint.ship  was  at  first  decided  by  the  voice  of  the  people, 
which  was  obeyed  as  the  voice  of  God.  Great  and  good  men 
and  women  who  lived  in  the  odor  of  sanctity  and  did  eminent 
service  to  the  cause  of  religion  as  missionaries  or  martyrs  or 
bishops  or  monks  or  nuns,  were  gratefully  remembered  after 
their  death ;  they  became  patron  saints  of  the  country  or  prov- 
ince of  their  labors  and  sufferings,  and  their  worship  spread 
gradually  over  the  entire  church.    Their  relics  were  held  sacred; 


I  99.  THE  WORSHIP  OF  SAINTS.  443 

their  tombs  were  visited  by  pilgrims.  The  metropolitans 
usually  decided  on  the  claims  of  saintship  for  their  province 
down  to  A.  D.  1153.^  But  to  check  the  increase  and  to  prevent 
mistakes,  the  popes,  since  Alexander  III.  a.  d.  1170,  claimed 
the  exclusive  right  of  declaring  the  fact,  and  prescribing  the 
worship  of  a  saint  throughout  the  whole  (Latin)  Catholic 
church.^  This  was  done  by  a  solemn  act  called  canonization. 
From  this  was  afterwards  distinguished  the  act  of  beatification, 
which  simply  declares  that  a  departed  Catholic  Christian  is 
blessed  (bcatus)  in  heaven,  and  which  within  certain  limits 
permits  (but  does  not  prescribe)  his  veneration.^ 

The  first  known  example  of  a  papal  canonization  is  the 
canonization  of  Ulrich,  bishop  of  Augsburg  (d.  973),  by  John 
XV.  who,  at  a  Lateran  synod  composed  of  nineteen  dignitaries, 
in  993,  declared  him  a  saint  at  the  request  of  Luitolph  (Leut- 
hold),  his  successor  in  the  see  of  Augsburg,  after  hearing  his 
report  in  person  on  the  life  and  miracles  of  Ulrich.  His 
chief  merit  was  the  deliverance  of  Southern  Germany  from  the 
invasion  of  the  barbarous  Magyars,  and  his  devotion  to  the 

1  Sometimes  also  bishops,  synods,  and,  in  cases  of  political  importance,  kings 
and  emperors.  The  last  case  of  a  metropolitan  canonization  is  ascribed  to  the 
archbishop  of  Rouen,  A.  d.  1153,  in  favor  of  St.  Gaucher,  or  Gaultier,  abbot 
of  Pontoise  (d.  April  9,  1130).  But  Labbe  and  Alban  Butler  state  that  he  was 
canonized  by  Celestine  111.  in  1194.  It  seems  that  even  at  a  later  date  some 
bishops  exercised  a  limited  canonization  ;  hence  the  prohibition  of  this  prac- 
tice as  improper  by  Urban  VIII.  in  1625  and  1634. 

^  The  occasion  of  the  papal  decision  in  1170  was  the  fact  that  the  monks  of 
a  convent  in  the  diocese  of  Lisieux  worshiped  as  a  saint  their  prefect,  who  had 
been  killed  in  the  refectory  by  two  of  their  number  in  a  state  of  intoxication. 

^  Comp.  on  this  subject  Benedict  XIV.  (Lambertini) :  De  Servorum  Dei 
Beatificaiione  et  Beatorum  Canon isatione.  Bononiae  1734-'38;  ed.  II.  Venet.  et 
Patav.  1743,  4  vols.  fol.  Ferraris  :  Bibliotheca  Canonica,  s.  v.  "  Veneratio  Sanct- 
orum.'' Canonization  includes  seven  privileges:  1)  recognition  as  saint  by 
the  whole  (Roman)  church;  2)  invocation  in  public  and  private  prayers; 
3)  erection  of  churches  and  altars  to  the  honor  of  the  saints  ;  4)  invocation  at 
the  celebration  of  the  mass ;  5)  appointment  of  special  days  of  commemora- 
tion ;  6)  exhibition  of  their  images  with  a  crown  on  their  head  ;  7)  exhibition 
of  their  bones  and  relics  for  veneration.  The  question  whether  the  papal 
bulls  of  canonization  are  infallible  and  de  fide,  or  only  sententia  communis  et 
eerta,  seems  to  be  still  disputed  among  Roman  Catholics. 


444  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-101'J. 

interests  of  his  large  diocese.  He  used  to  make  tours  o{"  visita- 
tion on  an  ox-cart,  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  beggars  and 
cripples.  He  made  two  pilgrimages  to  Rome,  the  second  in  liis 
eighty-first  year,  and  died  as  an  humble  penitent  on  the  bare 
floor.  The  bull  puts  the  worship  of  the  saints  on  the  ground 
that  it  redounds  to  the  glory  of  Christ  who  identifies  himself 
with  his  saints,  but  it  makes  no  clear  distinction  between  the 
different  degrees  of  worship.  It  threatens  all  who  disregard 
this  decree  with  the  anathema  of  the  apostolic  see.' 

A  mild  interpretation  of  the  papal  prerogative  of  canonization 
reduces  it  to  a  mere  declaration  of  a  fact  preceded  by  a  careful 
examination  of  the  merits  of  a  case  before  the  Conffresration  of 
Rites.  But  nothing  short  of  a  divine  revelation  can  make  such 
a  fact  known  to  mortal  man.  The  examination  is  conducted  by 
a  regular  process  of  law  in  which  one  acts  as  Advocatus  Diaboli 
or  accuser  of  the  candidate  for  canonization,  and  another  as 
Advocatus  Dei.  Success  depends  on  the  proof  that  the  can- 
didate must  have  possessed  the  highest  sanctity  and  the  power 
of  working   miracles   either   during   his  life,  or   through   his 

^  See  Mansi,  XIX.  f.  169-179.  The  bull  is  signed  by  the  pope,  five  biahopa, 
nine  cardinal  priest.",  an  archdeacon  and  four  deacons.  It  decrees  that  the 
memory  of  Saint  Udalricus  be  venerated  "affectu  piisimo  et  devotione  Jidelis' 
sima,"  and  be  dedicated  to  divine  worship  {" divino  cultui  dicala").  It  ju.stifiea 
it  by  the  reason  ''quoniam  sic  adoramus  (.')  et  coHmus  reliquias  martyrum  et  covfes- 
sorum,  ut  eum,  cuius  marlyres  et  confe^sores  sunt,  adoremus.  Honaramus  senos,  ut 
honor  redundet  inDominum,  qui  dixit:  'Qui  vos  recipit  me  red  pit' :  ac  proinde 
nos,  qui  fiduciam  nostrce  justitice  non  kahemus,  illorum  precibus  et  meritis  apud 
elementissimum  Deumjurjiter  adiuvemur."  The  bull  mentions  many  miracles  of 
Ulrich,  "  quce  sive  in  corpore,  site  extra  corpus  gesta  sunt,  videlicet  ccecos  illumi- 
nasse,  dccmones  ah  obsessis  corporibus  efugasse,  paralyticos  rurasse,  et  quamplurima 
alia  sigiia  gessisse."  On  the  life  of  St.  Ulrich  see  the  biography  by  his  friend 
and  companion  Gerhard  (between  983  and  993),  best  edition  by  Wirtz  in  the 
Monum.  G.  Scripiores,  IV.  377  sqq. ;  Acta  Sanct.,  Bolland.  ad  4  Jul. ;  Mabillon, 
Acta  Ordinis  S.  i?.,  V.  415-477;  Braun,  Gesch.  der  Bisch'ofe  vnn  Augsburg 
(Augsb.  1S13),  vol.  I.;  Schrodl,  in  Wetzer  and  Welte,  vol.  XI.  370-383,  and 
Vogel  in  Herzogi  vol.  XVI.  624-628.  Ulrich  cannot  be  the  author  of  a  tract 
against  celibacy  which  wa«  first  published  under  his  name  by  Flacius  in  his 
Catalogus  Testium  Veritatis,  but  dates  from  the  year  1059  when  Pope  Nicolaa 
II.  issued  a  decree  enforcing  celibacy.     See  Vogel,  I.  c  p.  627. 


2  99.  THE  WORSHIP  OF  SAINTS.  445 

dead  bones,  or  through  invocation  of  his  aid.  A  proverb  says 
that  it  requires  a  miracle  to  prove  a  miracle.  Nevertheless  it  is 
done  by  papal  decree  on  such  evidence  as  is  satisfactory  to  Roman 
Catholic  believers.^  . 

The  question,  how  the  saints  and  the  Virgin  Mary  can  hear 
so  many  thousands  of  prayers  addressed  to  them  simultaneously 
in  so  many  diiFerent  places,  without  being  clothed  with  the  divine 
attributes  of  omniscience  and  omnipresence,  did  not  disturb  the 
faith  of  the  people.  The  scholastic  divines  usually  tried  to 
solve  it  by  the  assumption  that  the  saints  read  those  prayers  in 
the  omniscient  mind  of  God.  Then  why  not  address'God  di- 
rectly ? 

In  addition  to  the  commemoration  days  of  particular  saints, 
two  festivals  were  instituted  for  the  commemoration  of  all  the 
departed. 

The  Festival  of  All  Saints ^  was  introduced  in  the  West  by 
Pope  Boniface  IV.  on  occasion  of  the  dedication  of  the  Pantheon 
in  Pome,  which  was  originally  built  by  Agrippa  in  honor  of 
the  victory  of  Augustus  at  Actium,  and  dedicated  to  Jupiter 
Vindex ;  it  survived  the  old  heathen  temples,  and  was  presented 
to  the  pope  by  the  Emperor  Phocas,  a.  d.  607 ;  whereupon  it 

^  The  most  recent  acts  of  canonization  occurred  in  our  generation.  Pope 
Pius  IX.  canonized  in  1862  with  great  solemnity  twenty-six  Japanese  mis- 
sionaries and  converts  of  the  Franciscan  order,  who  died  in  a  persecution  in 
1597.  Leo  XIII.  canonized,  December  8,  1881,  four  comparatively  obscure 
paints  of  ascetic  habits  and  self-denying  charity,  namely,  Giovanni  Battista  de 
Eossi,  Lorenzo  di  Brindisi,  Giuseppe  Labre,  and  Clara  di  Montefalco.  A 
Eoman  priest  describes  "the  blessed  Labre"  as  a  saint  who  "never  washed, 
never  changed  his  linen,  generally  slept  under  the  arches  of  the  Colosseum 
and  prayed  for  hours  together  in  the  Church  of  the  Orphanage  where  there  is 
a  tablet  to  his  memory."  St.  Labre  evidently  did  not  believe  that  ''cleanliness 
is  next  to  godliness  " 

'  Omnium  Sanctorum  Natalis,  or  Festivifas,  Snlemnilas,  AllerheiHgevfesf.  The 
Greek  church  had  long  before  a  similar  festival  in  commemoration  of  all  mar- 
tyrs on  the  first  Sunday  after  Pentecost,  called  KvpiaKT/  tuv  'Ayiuv  navTuv. 
Chrysostom,  in  a  sermon  for  that  day,  says  that  on  the  Octave  of  Pentecost  the 
Christinns  were  surroimded  by  the  host  of  martyrs.  In  the  West  the  first 
Sunday  after  Pentecost  was  devoted  to  the  Trinity,  and  closed  thj  festival  part 
of  the  church  year.     See  vol.  III.  408. 


446  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

was  cleansed,  restored  and  dedicated  to  the  service  of  God  in  the 
name  of  the  ever- Virgin  Mary  and  all  martyrs.  Baronius  tells 
us  that  at  the  time  of  dedication  on  May  13  the  bones  of  mar- 
tyrs from  the  various  cemeteries  were  in  solemn  procession 
transferred  to  the  church  in  twenty-eight  carriages.'  From 
Rome  the  festival  spread  during  tlie  ninth  century  over  the 
West,  and  Gregory  IV.  induced  Lewis  the  Pious  in  835  to 
make  it  general  in  the  Empire.  The  celebration  was  fixed  on 
the  first  of  November  for  the  convenience  of  the  people  who 
after  harvest  had  a  time  of  leisure,  and  were  disposed  to  give 
thanks  to  God  for  all  his  mercies. 

The  Festival  of  All  Souls  ^  is  a  kind  of  supplement  to  that 
of  All  Saints,  and  is  celebrated  on  the  day  following  (Nov.  2). 
Its  introduction  is  traced  to  Odilo,  Abbot  of  Cluny,  in  the  tenth 
century.  It  sjaread  very  soon  without  a  special  order,  and  ap- 
pealed to  the  sympathies  of  that  age  for  the  sufferings  of  the 
souls  in  purgatory.  The  worshippers  appear  in  mourning;  the 
mass  for  the  dead  is  celebrated  Avith  the  "  Dies  irce,  Dies  illa,^^ 
and  the  oft-repeated  "Requiem  ceternam  dona  eis,  Domine."  In 
some  places  {e.g.  in  Munich)  the  custom  prevails  of  covering  the 
graves  on  that  day  with  the  last  flowers  of  the  season. 

The  festival  of  Michael  the  Archangel,^  the  leader  of  the 
angelic  host,  was  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  angels,*  on  the 
29th  of  September.'^  It  rests  on  no  doctrine  and  no  fact,  but  on 
the  sandy  foundation  of  miraculous  legends."     We  find  it  first 

1  Marfyrologio  Romano,  May  13  and  Nov.  1.  The  Pantheon  or  Rotunda, 
like  Westminster  Abbey,  and  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in  London,  contains  the 
ashes  of  other  distinguished  men  besides  saints,  and  is  the  resting-place  of 
Raphael,  and  since  1883  even  of  Victor  Emanuel,  the  founder  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Italy,  whom  the  pope  regards  as  a  robber  of  the  patrimony  of  Peter. 

2  Omnium  Fidelium  defunctorum  Memoria  or  Commemoratio,  Allerseelentag. 

3  Festum  S-  Mlchaelis,  or  Michaelis  Archangeli,  Michaelmas. 

*  Hence  also  called  Festum  omnium  Angelorum,  St.  Michael  and  all  Angels. 

5  In  the  Eastern  church  on  November  8.  The  origin  of  the  Eastern  cele- 
bration is  obscure. 

«  Namely,  sundry  apparitions  of  Michael,  at  Chonae,  near  Colossre,  in  Monte 
Gargano  in  the  diocese  of  Sipontum  in  Apulia  (variously  assigned  to  A.  D.  492, 
520,  and  536),  in  Monte  Tumba  in  Normandy  (about  710),  and  especially  one 


§  100.  THE  WORSHIP  OF  IMAGES.  447 

in  the  East.  Several  churches  in  and  near  Constantinople  were 
dedicated  to  St.  Michael,  and  Justinian  rebuilt  two  which  had 
become  dilapidated.  In  the  West  it  is  first  mentioned  by  a 
Council  of  Mentz  in  813,  as  the  "dedicatio  S.  3Iichaelis"  among 
the  festivals  to  be  observed;  and  from  that  time  it  spread 
throughout  the  Church  in  spite  of  the  apostolic  warning  against 
angelolatry  (Col.  2:  18;  Rev.  19:  10;  22:  8,  9).^ 

§  100.   The  Worship  of  Mages.     Literature.     Different  Theories. 

'  Comp.  Vol.  II.,  chs.  vi.  (p.  266  sqq.)  and  vii.  (p.  285  sqq.) ;  Vol.  III.  U 
109-111  (p.  660  sqq.). 
(I.)  John  of  Damascus  (chief  defender  of  image-worship,  about  750) : 

Aoyoi  anoXoyrjriKol  irpoq  rovq  dLajidHovTaq  raq  dyiaq  eUovag  (ed.  Le  Quieu 
I.  305).  NiCEPHORUS  (Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  d.  828) :  Brevia- 
rium  Hist,  (to  A.  D.  769),  ed.  Petavius,  Paris,  1616.  Theophanes 
(Confessor  and  almost  martyr  of  image-worship,  d.  c.  820) :  Chrono- 
graphia,  cum  notis  Goari  et  Combejisii,  Par.,  1655,  Ven.  1729,  and  in 
the  Bonn  ed.  of  the  Byzant.  historians,  1839,  Tom.  I.  (reprinted  in 
Migne's  "Patrol.  Grte'ca,"  Tom.  108).  The  later  Byzantine  his- 
torians, who  notice  the  controversy,  draw  chiefly  from  Theophanes ; 
so  alsoAnastasius  [Historia  Eccles.)  and  Paulus  Diaconus  [Historia 
miscella  and  Hist.  Longobardorum). 

The  letters  of  the  popes,  and  the  acts  of  synods,  especially  the  Acta 
Concilii  Nic(B)ii  II.  (A.D.  787)  in  Mansi,  Tom.  XIII.,  and  Harduik, 
Tom.  IV. 
M.  H.  GOLDAST :  Imperialia  Decreta  de  Cultu  hnaginum  in  utroque  imperio 
promulgata.     Frankf.,  1608. 

The  sources  are  nearly  all  on  the  orthodox  side.     The  seventh  oecu- 
menical council   (787)  ordered  in  the  fifth  session  that  all  the  books 
against  images  should  be  destroyed. 
(II.)  J.  Dall^us  (Calvinist) :  De  Iniaginibus.     Lugd.  Bat.,  1642. 

to  Pope  Gregory  I.  in  Rome,  or  his  successor,  Boniface  III.  (607-610),  after  a 
pestilence  over  the  Moles  Hadriani,  which  ever  since  has  been  called  the  Cas- 
tello  di  St.  Angelo,  and  is  adorned  by  the  statue  of  an  angel. 

1  See  vol.  III.  444  sq.;  Acta  Sand.,  Sept.  29;  Siegel,  Handbuch  der  christl. 
Mrchl.  Alterthumer,  III.  419-425;  Smith  &  Cheethara,  11.1176-1180;  also 
Augusti,  Binterira,  and  the  monographs  mentioned  by  Siegel,  p.  419.  The 
ancrel-worship  in  ColossEe  was  heretical  and  probably  of  Essenic  origm.  See 
the  commentaries  in  loc,  especially  Lightfoot,  p.  101  sqq.  A  council  of  Lao- 
dicea  near  Colossfe,  about  363,  found  it  necessary  strongly  to  forbid  angelolatry 
as  then  still  prevailing  in  Phrygia.  St.  Augustin  repeatedly  objects  to  it.  De 
vera  Rel.  110;  Covf.  X.  42;  De  Gv.  D.  X.  19,  25. 


448  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

L.  Maimbourg    (Jesuit) :    Histoire   de  V  heresie  des  iconodastes.     Paris, 

1679  and  1683,  2  vols.  (Hefele,  III.  371,  calls  this  work  "nicht  gam 

zuverldssig,"  not  quite  reliable). 
Fr.  Spanheim  (Calvinist) :  Historia  Imaginum   restituta.     Lugd.    Bat. 

1686  (in  Opera,  II.  707). 
Chr.  W.  Fr.  Walch  (Lutheran):  Ketzerhistorie.    Leipz.,  1762  sqq.,  vol. 

X.  (1782)  p.  65-828,  and  the  whole  of  vol.  XL  (ed.  by  Spittler,  1785). 

Very  thorough,  impartial,  and  tedious. 
F.  Ch.  Schlosser:  Oeschichte  der  bildersturmenden  Kaiser  des  ostromisch- 

en  Reichs.     Frankf.  a.  M.,  1812. 
J.  Marx  (R.  C.) :  Der  Bilderstreit  der  Byzant  Kaiser.     Trier,  1839. 
Bishop  Hefele:   ConciYiew^rescA.  vol  III.  366-490;  694-716  (revised  ed., 

Freib.  i.  B.  1877). 
K.  Schenk:  Kaiser  Leo  III.  Ein  Beitrag  zur  Geschichte  des  Bilderstreites, 

Halle,  1880. 
General   Church  Histories:  1)    R.  Cath.:    Baronius,  Pagi,   Natalis 

Alexander,  Alzog,  Hergenrother  (I.  121-143;  152-168).    2) 

Protest.:    Basxage,  Gibbon  (ch.  49),  Schrceckh  (vol.  XX.),  Ne- 

ANDER  (III.  197-243;  532-553,  Bost.  ed.;  full  and  fair);  Gieseler 

(11.  13-19,  too  short). 
The  literature  on  the  image-controversy  is  much  colored  by  the  doctrinal 

stand-point  of  the  writers.     Gibbon  treats  it  with  cold  philosophical 

indifference,  and  chiefly  in  its  bearing  on  the  political  fortunes  of 

the  Byzantine  empire. 

With  the  worship  of  saints  is  closely  connected  a  subordinate 
worship  of  their  images  and  relics.  The  latter  is  the  legitimate 
application  of  the  former.  But  while  the  mediseval  churches 
of  the  East  and  West — with  the  exception  of  a  few  protesting 
voices — were  agreed  on  the  worship  of  saints,  there  was  a  vio- 
lent controversy  about  the  images  which  kept  the  Eastern 
church  in  commotion  for  more  than  a  century  (a.  d.  724-842), 
and  hastened  the  decline  of  the  Byzantine  empire. 

The  abstract  question  of  the  use  of  images  is  connected  with 
the  general  subject  of  the  relation  of  art  to  worship.  Chris- 
tianity claims  to  be  the  perfect  and  universal  religion ;  it 
pervades  with  its  leavening  power  all  the  faculties  of  man  and 
all  departments  of  life.  It  is  foreign  to  nothing  which  God  has 
made.  It  is  in  harmony  with  all  that  is  true,  and  beautiful,  and 
good.     It  is  friendly  to  philosophy,  science,  and  art,  and  takes 


?  100.  THE  WOESHIP  OF  IMAGES.  449 

them  into  its  service.  Poetry,  music,  and  architecture  achieve 
their  highest  mission  as  handmaids  of  religion,  and  have  de- 
rived the  inspiration  for  their  noblest  works  from  the  Bible. 
Why  then  should  painting  or  sculpture  or  any  other  art  which 
comes  from  God,  be  excluded  from  the  ase  of  the  Church? 
Why  should  not  Bible  history  as  well  as  all  other  history  admit 
of  pictorial  and  sculptured  representation  for  the  instruction  and 
enjoyment  of  children  and  adults  who  have  a  taste  for  beauty  ? 
Whatever  proceeds  from  God  must  return  to  God  and  spread 
his  glory. 

But  from  the  use  of  images  for  ornament,  instruction  and 
enjoyment  there  is  a  vast  step  to  the  worship  of  images,  and 
experience  proves  that  the  former  can  exist  without  a  trace  of 
the  latter.  In  the  middle  ages,  however,  owing  to  the  prevail- 
ing saint-worshi]!,  the  two  were  inseparable.  The  pictures  were 
introduced  into  churches  not  as  works  of  art,  but  as  aids  and 
objects  of  devotion.  The  image-controversy  was  therefore  a 
purely  practical  question  of  worship,  and  not  a  philosophical 
or  artistic  question.  To  a  rude  imagination  an  ugly  and  re- 
volting picture  served  the  devotional  purpose  even  better  than 
one  of  beauty  and  grace.  It  was  only  towards  the  close  of  the 
middle  ages  that  the  art  of  Christian  painting  began  to  produce 
works  of  high  merit.  Moreover  the  image  controversy  was 
complicated  with  the  second  commandment  of  the  decalogue 
which  clearly  and  wisely  forbids,  if  not  all  kinds  of  figurative 
representations  of  the  Deity,  at  all  events  every  idolatrous  and 
superstitious  use  of  pictures.  It  was  also  beset  by  the  difficulty 
that  we  have  no  authentic  pictures  of  Christ,  the  Madonna  and 
the  Apostles  or  any  other  biblical  character. 

We  have  traced  in  previous  volumes  the  gradual  introduction 

of  sacred  images  from  the  Roman  Catacombs  to  the  close  of  the 

sixth  century.     The  use  of  symbols  and  pictures  was  at  first 

quite  innocent  and  spread  imperceptibly  with  the  growth  of  the 

worship  of  saints.    The  East  M^hich  inherited  a  love  for  art  from 

the  old  Greeks,  was  chiefly  devoted  to  images,  the  Western  bar- 
29 


450  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

barians  who  could  not  appreciate  works  of  art,  cared  more  for 
relics. 

We  may  distinguish  three  theories,  of  which  two  came  into 
open  conflict  and  disputed  the  ground  till  the  year  842. 

1.  The  theory  of  image- worship.  It  is  the  orthodox 
theory,  denounced  by  the  opponents  as  a  species  of  idolatry,^  but 
strongly  supported  by  the  people,  the  monks,  the  poets,  the 
women,  the  Empresses  Irene  and  Theodora,  sanctioned  by  the 
seventh  oecumenical  Council  (787)  and  by  the  popes  (Gregory 
II.,  Gregory  III.  and  Hadrian  I).  It  maintained  the  right  and 
duty  of  using  and  worshipping  images  of  Christ,  the  Virgin,  and 
the  saints,  but  indignantly  rejected  the  charge  of  idolatry,  and 
made  a  distinction  (often  disregarded  in  practice)  between  a 
limited  worship  due  to  pictures,^  and  adoration  proper  due  to 
God  alone.^  Images  are  a  pictorial  Bible,  and  speak  to  the 
eye  even  more  eloquently  than  the  word  speaks  to  the  ear. 
They  are  of  special  value  to  the  common  people  who  cannot 
read  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The  honors  of  the  living  originals 
in  heaven  were  gradually  transferred  to  their  wooden  pictures 
on  earth ;  the  pictures  were  reverently  kissed  and  surrounded 
by  the  pagan  rites  of  genuflexion,  luminaries,  and  incense;  and 
prayers  were  thought  to  be  more  effective  if  said  before  them. 
Enthusiasm  for  pictures  went  hand  in  hand  with  the  worship  of 
saints,  and  was  almost  inseparable  from  it.  It  kindled  a  poetic 
inspiration  which  enriched  the  service  books  of  the  Greek 
church.  The  chief  hymnists,  John  of  Damascus,  Cosmas  of 
Jerusalem,  Germanus,  Theophanes,  Theodore  of  the  Studium, 
were  all  patrons  of  images,  and  some  of  them  suffered  deposi- 
tion, imprisonment,  and  mutilation  for  their  zeal ;  but  the 
Iconoclasts  did  not  furnish  a  single  poet.* 

The  chief  argument  against  this  theory  was  the  second  com- 

1  Its  advocates  were  called  eiKovoTidrpcu,  ^vloTia-pat,  elt^uSo?MTpac. 

2  TifiTjTiKfi  Trpo(jKvv?/(yig.    For  this  word  the  Latin  has  no  precise  equivalent. 
The  English  word  "  worship"  is  used  in  different  senses. 

3  laTpeia,  adoratio. 

*  See  g  94,  p.  403  sqq. 


2  100.  THE  WORSHIP  OF  IMAGES.  451 

mandment.  It  was  answered  in  various  ways.  The  prohibition 
was  understood  to  be  merely  temporary  till  the  appearance  of 
Christ,  or  to  apply  only  to  graven  images,  or  to  the  making 
of  images  for  idolatrous  purposes. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  cherubim  over  the  ark,  and  the 
brazen  serpent  in  the  wilderness  were  appealed  to  as  examples 
of  visible  symbols  in  the  Mosaic  worship.  The  incarnation  of 
the  Son  of  God  furnished  the  divine  warrant  for  pictures  of 
Christ.  Since  Christ  revealed  himself  in  human  form  it  can  be 
no  sin  to  represent  him  in  that  form.  The  significant  silence 
of  the  Gospels  concerning  his  personal  appearance  was"  supplied 
by  fictitious  pictures  ascribed  to  St.  Luke,  and  St.  Veronica,  and 
that  of  Edessa.  A  superstitious  fancy  even  invented  stories  of 
wonder-working  pictures,  and  ascribed  to  them  motion,  speech, 
and  action. 

It  should  be  added  that  the  Eastern  church  confines  images 
to  colored  representations  on  a  plane  surface,  and  mosaics,  but 
excludes  sculptures  and  statues  from  objects  of  worship.  The 
Roman  church  makes  no  such  restriction. 

2.  The  ICONOCLASTIC  theory  occupies  the  opposite  extreme. 
Its  advocates  were  called  image-breakers.^  It  was  maintained  by 
the  energetic  Greek  emperors,  Leo  III.  and  his  son  Constantine, 
Avho  saved  the  tottering  empire  against  the  invasion  of  the 
Saracens ;  it  was  popular  in  the  army,  and  received  the  sanction 
of  the  Constantinopolitan  Synod  of  754.  It  appealed  first  and  last 
to  the  second  commandment  in  the  decalogue  in  its  strict  sense 
as  understood  by  the  Jews  and  the  primitive  Christians.  It  was 
considerably  strengthened  by  the  successes  of  the  Mohammedans 
who,  like  the  Jews,  charged  the  Christians  with  the  great  sin  of 
idolatry,  and  conquered  the  cities  of  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Egypt 
in  spite  of  the  sacred  images  which  were  relied  on  for  protec- 
tion and  miraculous  interposition.  The  iconoclastic  Synod  of 
754  denounced  image-worship  as  a  relapse  into  heathen  idolatry, 

1  Ekovo/iAd(7r«i  (from  /cAdw,  to  break),  sLKovoKavarai,  e'lKovnixdxoi,  ;\;piOTmi'OKa- 
Tfjyopoi. 


452  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

which  the  devil  had  smuggled  into  the  church  in  the  place  of 
the  worship  of  God  alone  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 

The  iconoclastic  party,  however,  was  not  consistent ;  for  it 
adhered  to  saint-worship  which  is  the  root  of  image-worship, 
and  instead  of  sweeping  away  all  religious  symbols,  it  retained 
the  sign  of  the  cross  with  all  its  superstitious  uses,  and  justified 
this  exception  by  the  Scripture  passages  on  the  efficacy  of  the 
cross,  though  these  refer  to  the  sacrifice  of  the  cross,  and  not  to 
the  sign. 

The  chief  defect  of  iconoclasm  and  the  cause  of  its  failure 
was  its  negative  character.  It  furnished  no  substitute  for  image- 
worship,  and  left  nothing  but  empty  walls  which  could  not 
satisfy  the  religious  wants  of  the  Greek  race.  It  was  very 
different  from  the  iconoclasm  of  the  evangelical  Reformation, 
which  put  in  the  place  of  images  the  richer  intellectual  and 
spiritual  instruction  from  the  Word  of  God. 

3.  The  MODERATE  theory  sought  a  via  media  between  image- 
worship  and  image-hatred,  by  distinguishing  between  the  sign 
and  the  thing,  the  use  and  the  abuse.  It  allowed  the  repre- 
sentation of  Christ  and  the  saints  as  aids  to  devotion  by  calling 
to  remembrance  the  persons  and  facts  set  forth  to  the  eye. 
Pope  Gregory  I.  presented  to  a  hermit  at  his  Avish  a  picture  of 
Christ,  of  Mary,  and  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  with  a  letter  in 
which  he  approves  of  the  natural  desire  to  have  a  visible  re- 
minder of  an  object  of  reverence  and  love,  but  at  the  same  time 
warned  him  against  superstitious  use.  "  We  do  not,"  he  says, 
"kneel  down  before  the  picture  as  a  divinity,  but  we  adore 
Him  whose  birth  or  passion  or  sitting  on  the  throne  of  majesty 
is  brought  to  our  remembrance  by  the  picture."  The  same  pope 
commended  Serenus,  bishop  of  Marseilles,  for  his  zeal  against 
the  adoration  of  pictures,  but  disapproved  of  his  excess  in  that 
direction,  and  reminded  him  of  the  usefulness  of  such  aids  for 
the  people  who  had  just  emerged  from  pagan  barbarism  and 
could  not  instruct  themselves  out  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The 
Frankish  church  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries  took  a  more 


?  100.  THE  WORSHIP  OF  IMAGES.  453 

decided  stand  against  the  abuse,  without,  however,  going  to  the 
extent  of  the  iconoclasts  in  the  East. 

In  the  course  of  time  the  Latin  church  went  just  as  far  if  not 
further  in  practical  image-worship  as  the  Eastern  church  after 
the  seventh  oecumenical  council.  Gregory  II.  stoutly  resisted 
the  iconoclastic  decrees  of  the  Emperor  Leo,  and  made  capital 
out  of  the  controversy  for  the  independence  of  the  papal  throne. 
Gregory  III.  followed  in  the  same  steps,  and  Hadrian  sanc- 
tioned the  decree  of  the  second  council  of  Nicsea.  Image-worship 
cannot  be  consistently  opposed  without  surrendering  the  worship 
of  saints. 

The  same  theories  and  parties  reappeared  again  in  the  age  of 
the  Reformation :  the  Roman  as  well  as  the  Greek  church  ad- 
hered to  image-worship  with  an  occasional  feeble  protest  against 
its  abuses,  and  encouraged  the  development  of  fine  arts,  especially 
in  Italy;  the  radical  Reformers  (Carlstadt,  Zwingli,  Calvin, 
Knox)  renewed  the  iconoclastic  theory  and  removed,  in  an 
orderly  way,  the  pictures  from  the  churches,  as  favoring  a 
refined  species  of  idolatry  and  hindering  a  spiritual  worship ; 
the  Lutheran  church  (after  the  example  set  by  Luther  and  his 
friend  Lucas  Kranach),  retained  the  old  pictures,  or  replaced 
them  by  new  and  better  ones,  but  freed  from  former  superstition. 
The  modern  progress  of  art,  and  the  increased  mechanical  facili- 
ties for  the  multiplication  of  pictures  have  produced  a  change  in 
Protestant  countries.  Sunday  School  books  and  other  works  for 
old  and  young  abound  in  pictorial  illustrations  from  Bible 
history  for  instruction;  and  the  masterpieces  of  the  great  re- 
ligious painters  have  become  household  ornaments,  but  will 
never  be  again  objects  of  worship,  which  is  due  to  God  alone. 

NOTES. 

The  Council  of  Trent,  Sess.  XXV.  held  Dec.  1563,  sanctions,  together 
with  the  worship  of  saints  and  relics,  also  the  "legitimate  use  of  images" 
in  the  following  terms:  "Moreover,  that  the  images  of  Christ,  of  the 
Virgin  Mother  of  God,  and  of  the  other  saints,  are  to  be  had  and  re- 
tained particularly  in  temples,  and  that  due  honor  and  veneration  are  to 


454  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

be  given  them  ;  not  that  any  divinity,  or  virtue,  is  believed  to  be  in 
them,  on  account  of  which  they  are  to  be  worshiped;  or  that  anything 
is  to  be  asked  of  them ;  or  that  trust  is  to  be  reposed  in  images,  as  was 
of  old  done  by  the  Gentiles,  who  placed  their  hope  in  idols ;  but  because 
the  honor  which  is  shown  them  is  referred  to  the  prototypes  which  those 
images  represent ;  in  such  wise  that  by  the  images  which  we  kiss,  and 
before  which  we  uncover  the  head,  and  prostrate  ourselves,  we  adore 
Christ,  and  we  venerate  the  saints,  whose  similitude  they  bear :  as,  by 
the  decrees  of  Councils,  and  especially  of  the  second  Synod  of  Nicaea, 
has  been  defined  against  the  opponents  of  images."  The  Profession  of 
the  Tridentine  Faith  teaches  the  same  in  art.  IX.  (See  SchafF,  Greeds,  II. 
p.  201,  209). 

The  modern  standards  of  the  Eastern  Church  reiterate  the  decision 
of  the  seventh  Oecumenical  Council.  The  Synod  of  Jerusalem,  or  the 
Confession  of  Dositheus,  includes  pictures  of  Christ,  the  mother  of  God, 
the  saints  and  the  holy  angels  who  appeared  to  some  of  the  patriarchs 
and  prophets,  also  the  symbolic  representation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  under 
the  form  of  a  dove,  among  the  objects  of  worship  {npocKwov/iev  nal  n/iufiev 
/cat  aana^o/iE^a).  See  SchafF,  L  c.  II.  436.  The  Longer  Russian  Cate- 
chism, in  the  exposition  of  the  second  commandment  (Schaff,  II.  527), 
thus  speaks  of  this  subject: 

"  What  is  an  icon  [sIkuv)  ? 

"  The  word  is  Greek,  and  means  an  image  or  representation.  In  tho 
Orthodox  Church  this  name  designates  sacred  representations  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  God  incarnate,  his  immaculate  Mother,  and  his 
saints. 

"  Is  the  use  of  holy  icons  agreeable  to  the  second  commandment? 

"  It  would  then,  and  then  only,  be  otherwise,  if  any  one  were  to  make 
gods  of  them  ;  but  it  is  not  in  the  least  contrary  to  this  commandment  to 
honor  icons  as  sacred  representations,  and  to  use  them  for  the  religious 
remembrance  of  God's  works  and  of  his  saints  ;  for  when  thus  used  icons 
are  books,  writen  with  the  forms  of  persons  and  things  instead  of  letters. 
(See  Greg.  Magn.  lib.  ix.  Ep.  9,  ad  Seren.  Epis.). 

"  What  disposition  of  mind  should  we  have  when  we  reverence  icons? 

"  While  we  look  on  them  with  our  eyes,  we  should  mentally  look  to 
God  and  to  the  saints,  who  are  represented  on  them." 

§  101.   The  Iconoclastic  War,  and  the  Synod  of  754. 

The  history  of  the  image-controversy  embraces  three  periods : 
1)  The  war  upon  images  and  the  abolition  of  image- worship  by 
the  Council  of  Constantinople,  A.  d.  726-754.  2)  The  reaction 
in  favor  of  image-worship,  and  its  solemn  sanction  by  the 
second  Council  of  Nicaea,  A.  d.  754-787.     3)  The  renewed  con- 


?  101.  THE  K^ONOCLASTIC  WAR.  455 

flict  of  the  two  parties  and  the  final  triumph  of  image-worship, 
A.  D.  842. 

Image-worship  had  spread  with  the  worship  of  saints,  and 
become  a  general  habit  among  the  people  in  the  Eastern  church 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  Christian  apologists  had  great  diffi- 
culty to  maintain  their  ground  against  the  charge  of  idolatry 
constantly  raised  against  them,  not  only  by  the  Jews,  but  also 
by  the  followers  of  Islam,  who  could  point  to  their  rapid  suc- 
cesses in  support  of  their  abhorrence  of  every  species  of  idolatry. 
'  Churches  and  church-books,  palaces  and  private  houses,  dresses 
and  articles  of  furniture  were  adorned  with  religious*  pictures. 
They  took  among  the  artistic  Greeks  the  place  of  the  relics 
among  the  rude  Western  nations.  Images  were  made  to  do  ser- 
vice as  sponsors  in  the  name  of  the  saints  whom  they  repre- 
sented. Fabulous  stories  of  their  wonder-working  power  were 
circulated  and  readily  believed.  Such  excesses  naturally  called 
forth  a  reaction. 

Leo  III.,  called  the  Isaurian  (716-741),  a  sober  and  energetic, 
but  illiterate  and  despotic  emperor,  who  by  his  military  talents 
and  successes  had  risen  from  the  condition  of  a  peasant  in  the 
mountains  of  Isauria  to  the  throne  of  the  Csesars,  and  delivered 
his  subjects  from  the  fear  of  the  Arabs  by  the  new  invention  of 
the  "  Greek  fire,"  felt  himself  called,  as  a  second  Josiah,  to 
use  his  authority  for  the  destruction  of  idolatry.  The  Byzan- 
tine emperors  did  not  scruple  to  interfere  with  the  internal 
aifairs  of  the  church,  and  to  use  their  despotic  power  for  the 
purpose.  Leo  was  influenced  by  a  certain  bishop  Constantinus  i 
of  Nakolia  in  Phrygia,  and  by  a  desire  to  break  the  force  of 
the  IMohammedan  charge  against  the  Christians.  In  the  sixth 
year  of  his  reign  he  ordered  the  forcible  baptism  of  Jews  and 
Montanists  (or  Manich^eans)  ;  the  former  submitted  hypocriti- 

1  Not  Theophilus,  as  Baronius  and  Schlosser  erroneously  call  hira.  See 
Hefele,  III.  372.  Theophanes  mentions  also  a  renegade  Beser,  who  had  be- 
come a  Mohammedan,  and  then  probably  returned  to  Christianity  and  stood 
in  high  honor  at  the  court  of  Leo. 


456  FOUKTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

cally  and  mocked  at  the  ceremony ;  the  latter  preferred  to  set 
fire  to  their  meeting-houses  and  to  perish  in  the  flames.  Then, 
in  the  tenth  year  (726)/  he  began  his  war  upon  the  images.  At 
first  he  only  prohibited  their  worship,  and  declared  in  the  face  of 
the  rising  opposition  that  he  intended  to  protect  the  images  against 
profanation  by  removing  them  beyond  the  reach  of  touch  and 
kiss.  But  in  a  second  edict  (730),  he  commanded  the  removal 
or  destruction  of  all  the  images.  The  pictured  walls  were  to  be 
whitewashed.  He  replaced  the  magnificent  picture  of  Christ 
over  the  gate  of  the  imperial  palace  by  a  plain  cross.  He  re- 
moved the  aged  Germanus,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  and 
put  the  iconoclastic  Anastasius  in  his  place. 

These  edicts  roused  the  violent  opposition  of  the  clergy,  the 
monks,  and  the  people,  who  saw  in  it  an  attack  upon  religion 
itself.  The  servants  who  took  down  the  picture  from  the  palace 
gate  were  killed  by  the  mob.  John  of  Damascus  and  Germanus, 
already  known  to  us  as  hymnists,  were  the  chief  opponents. 
The  former  was  beyond  the  reach  of  Leo,  and  wrote  three  elo- 
quent orations,  one  before,  two  after  the  forced  resignation  of 
Germanus,  in  defence  of  image-worship,  and  exhausted  the 
argument.^  The  islanders  of  the  Archipelago  under  the  control 
of  monks  rose  in  open  rebellion,  and  set  up  a  pretender  to  the 
throne;  but  they  were  defeated,  and  their  leaders  put  to  death. 
Leo  enforced  obedience  within  the  limits  of  the  Eastern  empire, 
but  had  no  power  among  the  Christian  subjects  of  the  Saracens, 
nor  in  Rome  and  Ravenna,  where  his  authority  was  openly  set 
at  defiance.  Pope  Gregory  II.  told  him,  in  an  insulting  letter 
(about  729),  that  the  children  of  the  grammar-school  would 
throw  their  tablets  at  his  head  if  he  avowed  himself  a  destroyer 
of  images,  and  the  unwise  would  teach  him  what  he  refused  to 
learn  from  the  wise.^     Seventy  years  afterwards  the  West  set 

1  There  is  considerable  confusion  about  the  beginning  of  the  conflict  and  the 
precise  order  of  events.    See  Hefele,  III.  376  sqq. 

See  summaries  of  his  Myoi  anoAoyTjriKoi  in  Schroeckh  and  Neander. 

^  According  to  older  liistorians  (Baronius),  the  pope  even  excommunicated 
the  emperor,  withdrew  his  Italian  subjects  from  their  allegiance,  and  forbat'e 


^  101.  THE  ICONOCLASTIC  WAR.  457 

up  an  empire  of  its  own  in  close  connection  with  the  bishop  of 
Rome. 

Constantino  V.,  surnamed  Copronymos/  during  his  long  reign 
of  thirty-four  years  (741-775),  kept  up  his  father's  policy  with 
great  ability,  vigor  and  cruelty,  against  popular  clamor,  sedition 
and  conspiracy.  His  character  is  very  differently  judged  ac- 
cording to  the  doctrinal  views  of  the  writers.  His  enemies 
charge  him  with  monstrous  vices,  heretical  opinions,  and  the 
practice  of  magical  arts;  while  the  iconoclasts  praise  him 
highly  for  his  virtues,  and  forty  years  after  his  death  still 
prayed  at  his  tomb.  His  administrative  and  military  talents 
and  successes  against  the  Saracens,  Bulgarians,  and  other  ene- 
mies, as  well  as  his  despotism  and  cruelty  (which  he  shares  with 
other  Byzantine  emperors)  are  beyond  dispute. 

He  called  an  iconoclastic  council  in  Constantinople  in  754, 
which  was  to  be  the  seventh  oecumenical,  but  was  afterwards 
disowned  as  a  pseudo-synod  of  heretics.  It  numbered  three 
hundred  and  thirty  subservient  bishops  under  the  presidency  of 
Archbishop  Theodosius  of  Ephesus  (the  son  of  a  former  empe- 
ror), and  lasted  six  months  (from  Feb.  10th  to  Aug.  27th);  but 
the  patriarchs  of  Jerusalem,  Antioch,  and  Alexandria,  being 
under  Moslem  rule,  could  not  attend,  the  see  of  Constantinople 
was  vacant,  and  Pope  Stephen  III.  disregarded  the  imperial  sum- 
mons. The  council,  appealing  to  the  second  commandment  and 
other  Scripture  passages  denouncing  idolatry  (Rom.  1 :  23,  25 ; 
John  4:  24),  and  opinions  of  the  Fathers  (Epiphanius,  Euse- 
bius,  Gregory  Nazianzen,  Chrysostom,  etc.),  condemned  and 
forbade  the  public  and  private  worship  of  sacred  images  on  pain 

the  payment  of  tribute.  But  this  is  an  error.  On  the  contrary,  in  a  second 
letter,  Gregory  expressly  disclaims  the  power  of  interfering  with  the  sovereign, 
while  he  denies  in  the  strongest  terms  the  right  of  the  emperor  to  interfere 
with  the  Church.  See  the  two  letters  of  Gregory  to  Leo  (between  726  to  731) 
in  Mansi,  XII.  959  sqq.,  and  the  discussion  in  Hefele,  III.  389-404- 

1  The  surname  KoTvp^wiioc  (from  Kdirpog,  clung)  was  given  him  by  his  enemies 
on  acco'int  of  his  having  polluted  the  baptismal  font  in  his  infancy.  Tbeo- 
phanes,  Chronogr.  ed.  Bonn.  I.  615.  He  was  also  called  Cabellimu%  from  his 
love  of  horses. 


458  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

of  deposition  and  excommunication,  but  (inconsistently)  ordered 
at  the  same  time  that  no  one  should  deface  or  meddle  with 
sacred  vessels  or  vestments  ornamented  with  figures,  and  for- 
mally declared  its  agreement  with  the  six  oecumenical  councils, 
and  the  lawfulness  of  invoking  the  blessed  Virgin  and  saints. 
It  denounced  all  religious  representations  by  painter  or  sculptor 
as  presuiuptuous,  pagan  and  idolatrous.  Those  who  make  pic- 
tures of  the  Saviour,  who  is  God  as  well  as  man  in  one  insepa- 
rable person,  either  limit  the  incomprehensible  Godhead  to  the 
bounds  of  created  flesh,  or  confound  his  two  natures,  like  Euty- 
ches,  or  separate  them,  like  Nestorius,  or  deny  his  Godhead,  like 
Arius ;  and  those  who  worship  such  a  picture  are  guilty  of  the 
same  heresy  and  blasphemy.  The  eucharist  alone  is  the  proper 
image  of  Christ.  A  three-fold  anathema  was  pronounced  on 
the  advocates  of  image- worship,  even  the  great  John  of  Damas- 
cus under  the  name  of  Mansur,  who  is  called  a  traitor  of  Christ, 
an  enemy  of  the  empire,  a  teacher  of  impiety,  and  a  perverter 
of  the  Scriptures.  The  acts  of  the  Synod  were  destroyed  except 
the  decision  [opo^)  and  a  brief  introduction,  which  are  embodied 
and  condemned  in  the  acts  of  the  second  Nicene  Council.^ 

The  emperor  carried  out  the  decree  with  great  rigor  as  far  as 
his  power  extended.  The  sacred  images  were  ruthlessly  de- 
stroyed and  replaced  by  white-wash  or  pictures  of  trees,  birds, 
and  animals.  The  bishops  and  clergy  submitted;  but  the  monks 
who  manufactured  the  pictures,  denounced  the  emperor  as  a 
second  Mohammed  and  heresiarch,  and  all  the  iconoclasts  as 
heretics,  atheists  and  blasphemers,  and  were  subjected  to  impris- 
onment, flagellation,  mutilation,  and  all  sorts  of  indignities, 
even  death.  The  principal  martyrs  of  images  during  this  reign 
(from  761-775)  are  Petrus  Kalabites  (i.  e.  the  inhabitant  of  a 
hut,  xaAui^r),  Johannes,  Abbot  of  INIonagria,  and  Stephanus, 
Abbot  of  Auxentius,  opposite  Constantinople  (called  "  the  new 
Stephanus,"  to  distinguish  him  from  the  proto-martyr).  The 
emperor  made  even  an  attempt  to  abolish  the  convents.^ 

>  Mansi,  XIII.  205-363;  Gie-eler,  II.  16;  Hefele,  III.  410-418. 

*  On  these  persecutions  see,   be,sides  Theophanes,  the   Ada  Snnct.  of  the 


2  102.  THE  RESTORATION  OF  IMAGE- WORSHIP.        459 

§  102.  The  Restoration  of  Image-  Worship  by  the  Seventh  (Ecu- 
menical Council,  787. 

Leo  ly.,  called  Chazarus  (775-780),  kept  up  the  laws  against 
images,  though  with  more  moderation.  But  his  wife  Irene  of 
Athens,  distinguished  for  beauty,  talent,  ambition  and  intrigue, 
was  at  heart  devoted  to  image- worship,  and  after  his  death  and 
during  the  minority  of  her  son  Constantine  VI.  Porphyroge- 
nitus,  labored  with  shrewdness  and  perseverance  for  its  restorar- 
tion  (780-802).  At  first  she  proclaimed  toleration  to  both  par- 
ties, which  she  afterwards  denied  to  the  iconoclasts.  She  raised 
the  persecuted  monks  to  the  highest  dignities,  and  her  secretary, 
Tarasius,  to  the  patriarchal  throne  of  Constantinople,  with  the 
consent  of  Pope  Hadrian,  who  was  willing  to  overlook  the 
irregularity  of  the  sudden  election  of  a  layman  in  prospect 
of  his  services  to  orthodoxy.  She  removed  the  iconoclastic 
imperial  guard,  and  replaced  it  by  one  friendly  to  her  views. 

But  the  crowning  measure  was  an  oecumenical  council,  which 
alone  could  set  aside  the  authority  of  the  iconoclastic  council  of 
754.  Her  first  attempt  to  hold  such  a  council  at  Constantinople 
in  786  completely  failed.  The  second  attempt,  owing  to  more 
careful  preparations,  succeeded. 

Irene  convened  the  seventh  oecumenical  council  in  the  year 
787,  at  Nicsea,  which  was  less  liable  to  iconoclastic  disturbances 
than  Constantinople,  yet  within  easy  reach  of  the  court,  and 
famous  as  the  seat  of  the  first  and  weightiest  oecumenical  coun- 
cil. It  was  attended  by  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  bishops,' 
under  the  presidency  of  Tarasius,  and  held  only  eight  sessions 
from  September  24  to  October  23,  the  last  in  the  imperial  j^alace 
of  Constantinople.    Pope  Hadrian  I.  sent  two  priests,  both  called 

Bolland.  for  Oct.,  Tom.  VIII.  124  sqq.   (publ.  Brussels,  1853),  and  Hefele, 
III.  421-428. 

1  The  accounts  vary  between  330  and  367.  The  Acts  are  signed  by  308 
bishops  and  episcopal  representatives.  Nicephorus,  the  almost  contempora- 
neous patriarch  of  Constantinople,  in  a  letter  to  Leo  III.,  mentions  only  150, 
See  Hefele,  III.  460. 


460  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Peter,  whose  names  stand  first  in  the  Acts.  The  three  Eastern 
patriarchs,  who  were  subject  to  the  despotic  rule  of  the  Saracens, 
could  not  safely  leave  their  homes;  but  two  Eastern  monks, 
John,  and  Thomas,  who  professed  to  be  syncelli  of  two  of  these 
patriarchs  and  to  have  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  prevailing 
orthodoxy  of  Egypt  and  Syria,  w^ere  allowed  to  sit  and  vote  in 
the  place  of  those  dignitaries,  although  they  had  no  authority 
from  them,  and  were  sent  simply  by  a  number  of  their  fellow- 
monks.* 

The  Nicene  Council  nullified  the  decrees  of  the  iconoclastic 
Synod  of  Constantinople,  and  solemnly  sanctioned  a  limited 
worship  (proskynesis)  of  images.^ 

Under  images  were  understood  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  pic- 
tures of  Christ,  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  of  angels  and  saints. 
They  may  be  drawn  in  color  or  composed  of  Mosaic  or  formed 
of  other  suitable  materials,  and  placed  in  churches,  in  houses, 
and  in  the  street,  or  made  on  walls  and  tables,  sacred  vessels 
and  vestments.  Homage  may  be  paid  to  them  by  kissing,  bow- 
ing, strewing  of  incense,  burning  of  lights,  saying  prayers  be- 
fore them;  such  honor  to  be  intended  for  the  living  objects  in 
heaven  which  the  images  represented.  The  Gospel  book  and 
the  relics  of  martyrs  were  also  mentioned  among  the  objects  of 
veneration. 

The  decree  was  fortified  by  a  few  Scripture  passages  about 
the  Cherubim  (Ex.  25:  17-22;  Ezek.  41:  1,  15,  19;  Heb.  9: 
1-5),  and  a  large  number  of  patristic  testimonies,  genuine  and 

*  Theodore  of  the  Studium,  himself  a  zealous  advocate  of  image-worship, 
exposes  this  trick,  and  intimates  that  the  council  was  not  strictly  oecumenical, 
although  he  sometimes  gives  it  that  name.  The  question  connected  with  these 
two  irresponsible  monks  is  discussed  with  his  usual  minuteness  and  prolixity 
by  Walch,  X.  551-558.     See  also  Neander,  III.  228,  and  Hefele,  III.  459. 

*  The  definition  (opof)  sanctions  the  aaTracT/iog  Kal  rifiriTiKf/  TvpoaKvyT/Gic,  osculum 
(or  salutatio)  et  honoraria  adoratio,  but  not  a'X7/-&ivtj  ?iaTp£la  i)  -rrpETvei  /uovti  r?)  deig 
<j>vaei,  vera  lalria,  guce  solam  divinam  naturam  decet.  Mansi,  XIII.  378  sq.  The 
terra  aanaafidc  embraces  salutation  and  kiss,  the  TrpooKvvriaic,  bowing  the  knee 
and  other  demonstrations  of  reverence,  see  p.  450. 


§  102.  THE  KESTORATION  OF  IMAGE- WORSHIP.         461 

forged,  and  alleged  miracles  performed  by  images.^  A  presby- 
ter testified  that  he  was  cured  from  a  severe  sickness  by  a  pic- 
ture of  Christ.  Bishop  after  bishop,  even  those  who  had  been 
members  of  the  Synod  of  754,  renounced  his  iconoclastic  opin- 
ions, and  large  numbers  exclaimed  together :  "  We  all  have 
sinned,  we  all  have  erred,  w^e  all  beg  forgiveness."  Some  pro- 
fessed conscientious  scruples,  but  were  quieted  when  the  Synod 
resolved  that  the  violation  of  an  oath  which  was  contrary  to  the 
law  of  God,  was  no  perjury.  At  the  request  of  one  of  the  Ro- 
man delegates,  an  image  was  brought  into  the  assembly,  and 
reverently  kissed  by  all.  At  the  conclusion,  the  assembled 
bishops  exclaimed  unanimously:  "Thus  we  believe.  This  is 
the  doctrine  of  the  apostles.  Anathema  upon  all  who  do  not 
adhere  to  it,  who  do  not  salute  the  images,  who  call  them  idols, 
and  who  charge  the  Christians  with  idolatry.  Long  life  to 
the  emperors !  Eternal  memory  to  the  new  Constantine  and 
the  new  Helena!  God  protect  their  reign!  Anathema  upon 
all  heretics!  Anathema  especially  upon  Theodosius,  the  false 
bishop  of  EjDhesus,  as  also  upon  Sisinnius  and  Basilius !  The 
Holy  Trinity  has  rejected  their  doctrines."  Then  follows  an 
anathema  upon  other  distinguished  iconoclasts,  and  all  who  do 
not  confess  that  Christ's  humanity  has  a  circumscribed  form, 
who  do  not  greet  the  images,  who  reject  the  ecclesiastical  tradi- 
tions, written  or  unwritten ;  while  eternal  memory  is  given  to 
the  chief  champions  of  image-worship,  Germanus  of  Constanti- 
nople, John  of  Damascus,  and  George  of  Cyprus,  the  heralds  of 
truth. 2 

1  Walch  (X.  572)  says  of  these  proofs  from  tradition:  "Die  untergeaehobenen 
Schriften,  die  in  der  Hauptsache  nichts  entscheidenden  Stellen  und  die  mit  grosser 
Unwissenheit  verdrehten  Ausspriiche  sind  so  hdufig,  dass  man  sich  beides  iiber  die 
Unwissenheit  und  Unverschcimtheit  nichl  geniig  verwundern  kann,  welche  in  diesen 
Sammlungen  sichtbar  sind."  Even  moderate  Roman  Catholic  historians,  aa 
Alexander  Natalis  and  Fleury,  admit  quietly  the  errors  in  some  patristic  quo- 
tations. 

2  See  the  acta  of  the  council  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  vols,  of  Mansi,  and 
a  summary  in  Hefele,  HI.  460-482.  On  the  different  texts  and  defective 
Latin  versions,  see  Walch,  X.  420-422,  and  Hefele,  III.  486.     Gibbon  calls 


462  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A,  D.  590-1049. 

The  decrees  of  the  Synod  were  publicly  proclaimed  in  an 
eighth  session  at  Constantinoj)le  in  the  presence  of  Irene  and 
her  son,  and  signed  by  them ;  whereupon  the  bishops,  with  the 
people  and  soldiers,  shouted  in  the  usual  form  :  "  Long  live  the 
orthodox  queen-regent."  The  empress  sent  the  bishops  home 
with  rich  presents. 

The  second  Council  of  Nicsea  stands  far  below  the  first  in 
moral  dignity  and  doctrinal  importance,  and  occupies  the  lowest 
grade  among  the  seven  oecumenical  synods;  but  it  determined 
the  character  of  worship  in  the  oriental  church  for  all  time  to 
come,  and  herein  lies  its  significance.  Its  decision  is  binding 
also  upon  the  Roman  church,  which  took  part  in  it  by  two  papal 
legates,  and  defended  it  by  a  letter  of  Pope  Hadrian  to  Charle- 
magne in  answer  to  the  Libri  CaroUni.  Protestant  churches 
disregard  the  council  because  they  condemn  image-worship  as  a 
refined  form  of  idolatry  and  as  a  fruitful  source  of  superstition ; 
and  this  theory  is  supported  by  tho,  plain  sense  of  the  second 
commandment,  the  views  of  the  primitive  Christians,  and,  nega- 
tively, by  the  superstitions  which  have  accompanied  the  history 
of  image-worship  down  to  the  miracle-working  Madonnas  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  At  the  same  time  it  may  be  readily 
conceded  that  the  decree  of  Nicsea  has  furnished  aid  and  comfort 
to  a  low  and  crude  order  of  piety  which  needs  visible  supports, 
and  has  stimulated  the  develojjment  of  Christian  art.  Iconoclasm 
would  have  killed  it.  It  is,  however,  a  remarkable  fact  that 
the  Catholic  Raphael  and  Michael  Angelo,  and  the  Protestant 
Lucas  Kranach  and  Albrecht  Diirer,  were  contemporaries  of  the 
Reformers,  and  that  the  art  of  painting  reached  its  highest  per- 
fection at  the  period  when  image-worship  for  a  great  part  of 


the  acts  "a  curious  monument  of  superstition  and  ignorance,  of  falsehood  and 
folly."  This  is  too  severe,  but  not  without  some  foundation.  The  personal 
character  of  Irene  casts  a  deep  shadow  over  the  Council,  and  would  have  been 
condemned  even  by  the  Byzantine  historians,  if  her  devotion  to  images  had 
not  so  blinded  them  and  Roman  historians,  like  Baronius  and  Maimbourg,  that 
they  excuse  her  darkest  crimes  and  overwhelm  her  with  praise. 


§  102.  THE  RESTORATION  OF  IMAGE-WORSHIP.        4G3 

Christendom  was  superseded  by  the  spiritual  worship  of  God 
alone. 

A  few  months  after  the  Nicene  Council,  Irene  dissolved  the 
betrothal  of  her  son,  the  Emperor  Constantine,  to  Rotrude,  a 
daughter  of  Charlemagne,  which  she  herself  had  brought  about, 
and  forced  him  to  marry  an  Armenian  lady  whom  he  afterward 
cast  off  and  sent  to  a  convent.^  From  this  time  dates  her  rup- 
ture with  Constantine.  In  her  ambition  for  despotic  power,  she 
rendered  him  odious  by  encouraging  his  bad  habits,  and  at  last 
incapable  of  the  throne  by  causing  his  eyes  to  be  plucked  out, 
while  he  was  asleep,  with  such  violence  that  he  dial  of*  it  (797). 
It  is  a  humiliating  fact  that  Constantine  the  Great,  the  convener 
of  the  first  Nicene  Council,  and  Irene,  the  convener  of  the 
second  and  last,  are  alike  stained  with  the  blood  of  their  own 
offspring,  and  yet  honored  as  saints  in  the  Eastern  church,  in 
whose  estimate  orthodoxy  covers  a  multitude  of  sius.^  She 
enjoyed  for  five  years  the  fruit  of  unnatural  cruelty  to  her  only 
child.  As  she  passed  through  the  streets  of  Constantinople,  four 
patricians  marched  on  foot  before  her  golden  chariot,  holding 
the  reins  of  four  milk-white  steeds.  But  these  patricians  con- 
spired against  their  queen  and  raised  the  treasurer  Nicephorus 
to  the  throne,  who  was  crowned  at  St.  Sophia  by  the  venal 
patriarch.  Irene  was  sent  into  exile  on  the  Isle  of  Lesbos,  and 
had  to  earn  her  bread  by  the  labors  of  her  distaff  as  she  had 
done  in  the  days  of  her  youth  as  an  Athenian  virgin.  She 
died  of  grief  in  803.  With  her  perished  the  Isaurian  dynasty. 
Startling  changes  of  fortune  were  not  uncommon  among  princes 
and  patriarchs  of  the  Byzantine  empire. 

^  Charlemagne  afterwards  offered  Irene  his  hand  with  a  view  to  unite  the 
Eastern  and  Western  empires,  and  she  accepted  the  offer ;  but  her  prime-min- 
ister, Aetius,  who  wished  to  raise  his  own  brother,  Leo,  to  the  throne,  pre- 
vented the  marriage. 

2  The  memory  of  Irene  is  celebrated  bv  the  Greeks  on  the  15th  of  Aufrnst. 
Her  patriarch,  Tarasius  (d.  806),  is  canonized  in  the  Roman  as  well  as  the 
Greek  Church, 


4G4  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 


§  103.    Iconoclastic   Reaction,  and  Final    Triumph   of  Image- 
Worship,  A.  D.  842. 

Walch,  X.  592-828.     Hefele,  IV.  1-6  ;  38-47  ;  104-109. 

During  the  five  reigns  which  succeeded  that  of  Irene,  a  period 
of  thirty-eight  years,  the  image-war  was  continued  with  varying 
fortunes.  The  soldiers  were  largely  iconoclastic,  the  monks  and 
the  people  in  favor  of  image- worship.  Among  these  Theodore 
of  the  Studium  was  distinguished  by  his  fearless  advocacy  and 
cruel  sufferings  under  Leo  V.,  the  Armenian  (813-820),  who  was 
slain  at  the  foot  of  the  altar.  Theophilus  (829-842)  was  the 
last  and  the  most  cruel  of  the  iconoclastic  emperors.  He  per- 
secuted the  monks  by  imprisonment,  corporal  punishment,  and 
mutilation,^ 

But  his  Avidow,  Theodora,  a  second  Irene,  without  her  vices,^ 
in  the  thirteenth  year  of  her  regency  during  the  minority  of 
Michael  the  Drunkard,  achieved  by  prudent  and  decisive  mea- 
sures the  final  and  permanent  victory  of  image-worship.  She 
secured  absolution  for  her  deceased  husband  by  the  fiction  of  a 
death-bed  repentance,  although  she  had  promised  him  to  make 
no  change.  The  iconoclastic  patriarch,  John  the  Grammarian, 
was  banished  and  condemned  to  two  hundred  lashes ;  the  monk 
Methodius  of  opposite  tendency   (honored  as  a  confessor  and 

'  Hefele,  IV.  lOo,  says  that  under  this  reign  the  famous  poets,  Theophanes 
and  his  brother,  Theodore  of  the  Stadium,  were  punished  with  two  hundred 
lashes  and  the  branding  of  Greek  mock-verses  on  their  forehead,  whence  they 
received  the  name  "  the  Marked  "  {ypaTTToi),  But,  according  to  the  Bolland- 
ists,  Theophanes  died  in  820,  and  Hefele  himself.  III.  370,  puts  his  death  in 
818,  although  in  vol.  IV.  108  he  reports  that  Theophanes  ypa-ro^  was  made 
bishop  of  Smyrna  by  Theodora,  842.  See  on  this  conflict  in  chronology  above, 
p.  407. 

2  The  tongue  of  slander,  however,  raised  the  story  of  her  criminal  intimacy 
with  the  patriarch  Methodius,  whom  she  had  appointed.  The  court  instituted 
an  investigation  during  which  the  patriarch  by  indecent  exposure  fiimi.shed 
the  proof  of  the  physical  impossibility  of  sexual  sin  on  his  part;  whereupon 
the  accuser  confessed  that  she  had  been  bribed  by  his  iconoclastic  predecessor. 
Hefele,  IV.  109. 


?  104.  THE  CAROLINE  BOOKS.  465 

saint)  was  put  in  his  place ;  the  bishops  trembled  and  changed 
or  were  deposed ;  the  monks  and  the  people  were  delighted.  A 
Synod  at  Constantinople  (the  acts  of  it  are  lost)  reenacted  the 
decrees  of  the  seven  oecumenical  Councils,  restored  the  worship 
of  images,  pronounced  the  anathema  upon  all  iconoclasts,  and 
decided  that  the  event  should  be  hereafter  commemorated  on  the 
first  Sunday  in  Lent  by  a  solemn  procession  and  a  renewal  of 
the  anathema  on  the  iconoclastic  heretics. 

On  the  19th  of  February,  842,  the  images  were  again  intro- 
duced into  the  churches  of  Constantinople.  It  was  the  first 
celebration  of  the  "  Sunday  of  Orthodoxy,"  ^  which  afterwards 
assumed  a  wider  meaning,  as  a  celebration  of  victory  over  all 
heresies.  It  is  one  of  the  most  characteristic  festivals  of  the 
Eastern  church.  The  old  oecumenical  Councils  are  dramatically 
represented,  and  a  threefold  anathema  is  pronounced  upon  all 
sorts  of  heretics  such  as  atheists,  antitrinitarians,  upon  those 
who  deny  the  virginity  of  Mary  before  or  after  the  birth  of 
Christ,  the  inspiration  of  the  Sci-iptures,  or  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  who  reject  the  mysteries  (sacraments),  the  traditions 
and  councils,  who  deny  that  orthodox  princes  rule  by  divine 
appointment  and  receive  at  their  unction  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
upon  all  iconoclasts.  After  this  anathema  follows  the  grate- 
ful commemoration  of  the  orthodox  confessors  and  "all  who 
have  fought  for  the  orthodox  faith  by  their  words,  writings, 
teaching,  sufferings,  and  godly  example,  as  also  of  all  the  pro- 
tectors and  defenders  of  the  Chm-ch  of  Christ."  In  conclusion 
the  bishops,  archimandrites  and  priests  kiss  the  sacred  icons.^ 

§  104.  The  Caroline  Books  and  the  Fi'anJdsh  Church  on  Image- 
Worship. 

I.  LiBRi  Carolini,  first  ed.  by  EUas  Philyra  {i.  e.,  Jean  du   Tillet,  or 
Tilius,  who  was  suspected   of  Calvinism,  but  afterwards   became 

1  fj  KvpiaKfi  T7j(  bp&oSoS'iag. 

*  See  the  description  of  Walch  (X.  800-808)  from  the  Byzantine  historiansj 
and  from  Allacci,  and  King  (on  the  Russian  church). 
80 


466  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

bishop  of  Meaux),  from  a  French  (Paris)  MS.,  Paris,  1549;  then  by 
Melchior  Goldast  in  his  collection  of  imjjerial  decrees  on  the  image- 
controversy,  Fraucof.,  1608  (67  sqq.),  and  in  the  first  vol.  of  his  Col- 
lection of  Co7istitutiones  imperiales,  with  the  addition  of  the  last  ch. 
(lib.  IV.,  c.  29),  which  was  omitted  by  Tilius;  best  ed.  by  Ch.  A.  Heu- 
mann,  Hanover,  1731,  under  the  title:  Augusta  Concilii  Nicceni  II. 
Censura,  h.  e.,  Caroli  Magni  de  impio  imaginmn  cnltu  libri  IV.,  with 
prolegomena  and  notes.  The  ed.  of  Abbe  Migne,  in  his  "Patrol. 
Lat.,"  Tom.  98,  i.  990-1248  (in  vol.  II.  of  Opera  Caroli  M.),  is  a  re- 
print of  the  ed.  of  Tilius,  and  inferior  to  Heumann's  ed.  ("JE's  ist  zu 
bedauerii,'^  says  Hefele,  III.  696,  "  dass  Migne,  statt  Besseres,  entscTiie- 
den  Geringeres  geboten  hat,  ah  man  bisher  schon  besass^'.) 
II.  Walch  devotes  the  greater  part  of  the  eleventh  vol.  to  the  history  of 
image-worship  in  the  Prankish  Church  from  Pepin  to  Louis  the 
Pious.  Neander,  III.  233-243 ;  Gieseler,  II.  66-73  ;  Hefele,  IIL 
694-716;  Hergenbother,  I.  553-557.  Floss:  De  suspeeta 
librorum  Carolinorum  fide.  Bonn,  1860.  Reifferscheid  :  Narratio 
de  Vaticano  librorum  Carolinorum  Codice.     Breslau,  1873. 

The  churcli  of  Rome,  under  the  lead  of  the  popes,  accepted 
and  supported  the  seventh  oecumenical  council,  and  ultimately- 
even  went  further  than  the  Eastern  church  in  allowing  the  wor- 
ship of  graven  as  well  as  painted  images.  But  the  church  in 
the  empire  of  Charlemagne,  who  was  not  on  good  terms  with 
the  Empress  Irene,  took  a  position  between  image-worship  and 
iconoclasm. 

The  question  of  images  was  first  discussed  in  France  under 
Pepin  in  a  synod  at  Gentilly  near  Paris,  767,  but  we  do  not 
know  with  what  result.^  Pope  Hadrian  sent  to  Charlemagne  a 
Latin  version  of  the  acts  of  the  Nicene  Council ;  but  it  was  so 
incorrect  and  unintelligible  that  a  few  decades  later  the  Roman 
librarian  Anastasius  charged  the  translator  with  ignorance  of 
both  Greek  and  Latin,  and  superseded  it  by  a  better  one. 

1  See  Walch,  XT.  7-36;  Hefele,  III.  461-463.  The  sources  are  silent.  Walch 
carefully  gives  the  different  conjectures  of  Baronius,  Pagi,  Daill($,  Natalis, 
Alexander,  Maimburg,  Fleury,  Sirmond,  Spanheim,  Basnage,  Seraler.  No- 
thing new  has  been  added  since.  But  the  preceding  iconoclastic  zeal  of  Bishop 
Sereuus  of  Marseilles,  and  the  succeeding  position  of  Charlemagne  and  the 
Frankish  church,  rather  favor  the  inference  of  Sirmond  and  Spanheim,  that 
the  synod  rejected  the  worship  of  images. 


2  104.  THE  CAEOLINE  BOOKS.  467 

Charlemagne,  with  the  aid  of  his  chaplains,  especially  Alcuin, 
prepared  and  published,  three  years  after  the  Nicene  Coun- 
cil, an  important  work  on  image- worship  under  the  title  Qua- 
iuor  Lihri  Carolini  (790).^  He  dissents  both  from  the  iconoclastic 
synod  of  754  and  the  anti-iconoclastic  synod  of  787,  but  more 
from  the  latter,  which  he  treats  very  disrespectfully.^  He  decid- 
edly rejects  image-worship,  but  allows  the  use  of  images  for  orna- 
ment and  devotion,  and  supports  his  view  with  Scripture  passages 
and  patristic  quotations.  The  spirit  and  aim  of  the  book  is 
almost  Protestant.  The  chief  thoughts  are  these:  God  alone 
is  the  object  of  worship  and  adoration  [colendus  et  adorandus). 
Saints  are  only  to  be  revered  [venei-andi).  Images  can  in  no 
sense  be  worshipped.  To  bow  or  kneel  before  them,  to  salute 
or  kiss  them,  to  strew  incense  and  to  light  candles  before 
them,  is  idolatrous  and  superstitious.  It  is  far  better  to  search 
the  Scriptures,  which  know  nothing  of  such  practices.  The 
tales  of  miracles  wrought  by  images  are  inventions  of  the  imagi- 
nation, or  deceptions  of  the  evil  spirit.  On  'the  other  hand,  the 
iconoclasts,  in  their  honest  zeal  against  idolatry,  went  too  far  in 
rejecting  the  images  altogether.  The  legitimate  and  proper  use 
of  images  is  to  adorn  the  churches  and  to  perpetuate  and  popu- 
larize the  memory  of  the  persons  and  events  which  they  repre- 
sent. Yet  even  this  is  not  necessary ;  for  a  Christian  should  be 
able  without  sensual  means  to  rise  to  the  contemplation  of  the 
virtues  of  the  saints  and  to  ascend  to  the  fountain  of  eternal 
light.  Man  is  made  in  the  image  of  God,  and  hence  capable  of 
receiving  Christ  into  his  soul.     God  should  ever  be  present  and 

1  Alcuin's  share  in  the  composition  appears  from  the  similarity  of  thoughts 
in  his  Commentary  on  John,  and  the  old  English  tradition  that  he  wrote  a 
book  against  the  Council  of  Nicaea.   See  Walch,  XL  65  sqq.;  Hefele,  IIL  697. 

2  He  calls  it  posterior  tempore,  non  tamen  posterior  crimine,  eloquentia,  sensuque 
carens,  synodus  ineptissima,  etc.  He  distrusted  a  Council  in  which  the  Church 
of  his  dominions  was  not  represented.  He  also  objected  to  a  woman  assuming 
the  office  of  teacher  in  the  church,  as  being  contrary  to  the  lex  divina  and  lex 
naturce  (III.  13,  ed.  Migne,  fol.  1136).  He  had  reason  to  be  angry  with  Irene 
for  dissolving  the  betrothal  of  her  son  with  his  daughter. 


468  FOUETH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

adored  in  our  hearts.  O  unfortunate  memory,  which  can  realize 
the  presence  of  Christ  only  by  means  of  a  picture  drawn  in  sen- 
suous colors.  The  Council  of  Nicaea  committed  a  great  wrong  in 
condemning  those  who  do  not  worship  images. 

The  author  of  the  Caroline  books,  however,  falls  into  the 
same  inconsistency  as  the  Eastern  iconoclasts,  by  making  an  ex- 
ception in  favor  of  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  the  relics  of  saints. 
The  cross  is  called  a  banner  which  puts  the  enemy  to  flight,  and 
the  honoring  of  the  relics  is  declared  to  be  a  great  means  of  pro- 
moting piety,  since  the  saints  reign  with  Christ  in  heaven,  and 
their  bones  will  be  raised  to  glory;  while  images  are  made  by 
men's  hands  and  return  to  dust. 

A  Synod  in  Frankfort,  A.D.  794,  the  most  important  held 
during  the  reign  of  Charlemagne,  and  representing  the  churches 
of  France  and  Germany,  in  the  presence  of  two  papal  legates 
(Theophylactus  and  Stephanus),  endorsed  the  doctrine  of  the 
Libri  CaroUni,  unanimously  condemned  the  worship  of  images 
in  any  form,  and  rejected  the  seventh  oecumenical  council.^ 
According  to  an  old  tradition,  the  English  church  agreed  with 
this  decision.^ 

'  The  Synod  is  often  called  universalis,  and  condemned  Adoptionism  (see 
Hefele,  111.  678  aqq.).  The  decision  against  images  see  in  Mansi,  XIII.  909. 
The  chief  passage  is  :  " Sanctissimi  Patres  nostri  omnimodis  et  adorationem  et  ser- 
vitutem  eis  [sc.  imaginibus  Sanctorurn]  renuentes  conlemserunt  atque  consent ientes 
condemnaverunt."  Einhard  made  the  following  entry  in  his  Annals  ad  a.d. 
794  (in  Pertz,  Monum.  I.  181,  and  Gieseler  II.  67):  " Synodus  etiam,  quce  ante 
paucos  annob  in  Constant Inopoli  [where  the  Nicene  Synod  was  closed]  sub  Her 
rena  llrene}  et  Constantino  filio  ejus  congregata,  et  ab  ipsis  non  solum  sepfima, 
verum  etiam  universalis  est  appellata,  ut  nee  septima  nee  universalis  kaberetur  dice- 
returve,  quasi  supervacua  in  totum  ab  omnibus  [the  hishops  assembled  at  Frank- 
fort] abdicata  est."  Baronius,  Bellarmin,  and  even  Hefele  (III.  689),  charge 
this  Synod  with  misrepresenting  the  Council  of  Nicsea,  which  sanctioned  the 
worship  (in  a  wider  sense),  but  not  the  adoration,  of  images.  But  the  Latin 
version,  which  the  pope  sent  to  Charlemagne,  rendered  TrpoaKvvtjaiQ  uniformly 
by  adoratio,  and  Anastasius,  the  papal  librarian,  did  the  same  in  his  improved 
translation,  thus  giving  double  sanction  to  the  confusion. 

^  This  rests  partly  on  the  probable  share  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  Alcuin 
had  in  the  composition  of  the  Caroline  Books,  partly  on  the  testimony  of 
Simeon  of  Durham  (about  1100).     See  Twysden's  Hist.  Angl.  Scriptores  decern 


§  104.  THE  CAROLINE  BOOKS.  469 

Charlemagne  sent  a  copy  of  his  book,  or  more  probably  an 
extract  from  it  (85  Capitula  or  Capitulare  de  Imaginibus) 
through  Angilbert,  his  son-in-law,  to  his  friend  Pope  Hadrian, 
who  in  a  long  answer  tried  to  defend  the  Eastern  orthodoxy  of 
Nicsea  with  due  respect  for  his  Western  protector,  but  failed  to 
satisfy  the  Frankish  church,  and  died  soon  afterwards  (Dec.  25, 
795).i 

A  Synod  of  Paris,  held  under  the  reign  of  Charlemagne's  son 
and  successor,  Louis  the  Pious,  in  the  year  825,  renewed  the 
protest  of  the  Frankfort  Synod  against  image-worship  and  the 
authority  of  the  second  council  of  Nicsea,  in  reply  to  an  em- 
bassy of  the  Emperor  Michael  Balbus,  and  added  a  slight  rebuke 
to  the  pope.^ 

NOTES. 

The  Caroline  Books,  if  not  written  by  Charlemagne,  are  at  all  events 
issued  in  his  name ;  for  the  author  repeatedly  calls  Pepin  his  father,  and 
speaks  of  having  undertaken  the  work  with  the  consent  of  the  priests  in 
his  dominion  [conniventia  sacerdotum  in  regno  a  Deo  nobis  concesso).  The 
book  is  first  mentioned  by  Archbishop  Hiucmar  of  Rheims  in  the  ninth 
century,  as  directed  against  the  pseudo-Sy nodus  Grcecorum  (the  second 
Nicene  Council),  and  he  quotes  a  passage  from  a  copy  which  he  saw  in 
the  royal  palace.     The  second  mention  and  quotation  was  made  by  the 

I,  III ;  3Ion.  Hist.  Brit.,  p.  667;  Wilkin's  Cone  Magn.  Brit.,  I.  73;  Gieseler,  II. 
67,  note  6,  and  Hardwick's  Church  Hist,  of  the  Middle  Age,  p.  78,  note  3. 

1  There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  whether  Charlemagne  sent  to  the  pope 
his  whole  book,  or  only  an  abridgement,  and  whether  he  sent  Angilbert 
before  or  after  the  Frankfort  synod  to  Rome.  Hefele  (III.  713)  decides  that 
the  Capitula  (85)  were  an  extract  of  the  Libri  Carolini  (121  chs.),  anrl  that 
Angilbert  was  twice  in  Rome,  A.  v.  792  and  794.  Hadrian's  answer  must 
have  been  written  at  all  events  before  Dee.  25,  795.  It  is  printed  in  Mansi, 
XIII.  759-810,  and  Migne,  Opera  Car.  M.  II.  fol.  1247-1292.  It  is  full  of 
glaring  blunders.  Bishop  Hefele  (p.  716)  divides  the  responsibility  between 
the  (fallible)  pope,  the  emperor,  and  the  copyists. 

»  Mansi,  XIV.  415  sqq. ;  Walch,  XI.  95  sqq. ;  Gieseler,  II.  68  ;  Hefele,  IV. 
41  sqq.  (second  ed.  1879).  Walch  says  (p.  98)  that  the  Roman  church  played 
comedy  with  the  acts  of  this  Synod.  Mansi  was  the  first  to  publish  them,  but 
he  did  it  with  an  excuse,  and  added  as  indispensable  the  refutation  of  Bellar- 
min  in  the  appendix  to  his  tract  De  Cultn  Imaginum.  Hefele  and  Hergenro- 
ther  represent  this  synod  as  being  guilty  of  the  same  injustice  to  the  Nicene 
Council  as  the  Synod  of  Frankfort;  but  this  does  not  alter  the  fact. 


470  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

papal  librarian  Augustin  Steuchus  (d.  1550)  from  a  very  old  copy  in  the 
Bibliotheca  Palatina.  As  soon  as  it  appeared  in  print,  Flavins  and  other 
Protestant  polemics  used  it  against  Rome.  Baronius,  Bellarmin,  and 
other  Romanists  denied  the  genuineness,  and  ascribed  the  book  to  certain 
heretics  in  the  age  of  Charlemagne,  who  sent  it  to  Rome  to  be  condemned ; 
some  declared  it  even  a  fabrication  of  the  radical  reformer  Carl stadt  I 
But  Sirmond  and  Natalis  Alexander  convincingly  proved  the  genuine- 
ness. More  recently  Dr.  Floss  (R.  C.)  of  Bonn,  revived  the  doubts 
(1860),  but  they  are  permanently  removed  since  Professor  ReifFerscheid 
(1866)  discovered  a  new  MS.  from  the  tenth  century  in  the  Vatican  library 
which  diifers  from  the  one  of  Steuchus,  and  was  probably  made  in  the 
Cistercian  Convent  at  Marienfeld  in  Westphalia.  "Therefore,"  writes 
Bishop  Hefele  in  1877  (III.  698),  "the  genuineness  of  the  Libri  Carolini 
is  hereafter  no  longer  to  be  questioned  [nicht  mehr  zu  beanstanden) ." 

§  105.  Evangelical  Reformers.    Agobardus  of  Lyons,  and  Clavr- 
dins  of  Turin. 

I.  Agobardus:   Contra  eorum  superstitionem  qui  picturis  et  imaginihus 

SS.  adorationis  obsequium  deferendum  ptitant.  Opera  ed.  Baluzius 
Par.  1666,  2  vols.,  and  Migne,  "  Patrol.  Lat."  vol.  104,  fol.  29-351.— 
Histoire  Utter,  de  la  France,  IV.  567  sqq.  C.  B.  Hundeshagen  :  De 
Agobardi  vita  et  scriplis.  Pars  I.  Giessse  1831 ;  and  his  article  in 
Herzog^  I.  212  sq.  Bahr:  Gesch.  der  r'dm.  Lit.  im  Karoling. 
Zeitalter,  p.  383-393.  Bluegel  :  De  Agobardi  archiep.  Lugd.  vita 
et  scriptis.  Hal.  1865.  Simson  :  Jahrbiicher  des  frdnkischen  Reichs 
unter  Ludwig  dem  Frommen.  Leipz.  1874  and  '76.  C.  Deedes  in 
Smith  and  Wace,  I.  63-64.     Lichtenberger,  I.  119. 

II.  Claudius  :    Ojyera  in  Migne's  "  Patrol.  Lat."  vol.  104,  fol.  609-927. 

Commentaries  on  Kings,  Gal.,  Ephes.,  etc.,  Eulogium  Augustini,  and 
Apologeticum.  Some  of  his  works  are  still  unpublished.  Rudel- 
BACH  :  Claudii  Tar.  Ep.  ineditorumoperumspedmina^prcemissa'deejus 
doctrina  script isque  dissert.  Havnite  1824.  C.  ScHMlDT:  Claudius 
V.  Turin  in  Illgen's  "  Zeitschrift  f  die  hist.  Theol."  1843.  II.  39;  and 
his  art.  in  Herzog^  III.  243-245. 

III.  Neander,  III.  428-439  (very  full  and  discriminating  on  Claudius) ; 
Gieseler,  II.  69-73  (with  judicious  extracts) ;  Reuter:  Geschichte 
der  Aufklarung  im  Mittelalter,  vol.  I.  (Berlin  1875),  16-20  and  24-41. 

The  opposition  to  image-worship  and  other  superstitious 
practices  continued  in  the  Frankish  church  during  the  ninth 
century. 

Two  eminent  bishops  took  the  lead  in  the  advocacy  of  a  more 


U05.    EVANGELICAL  REFORMERS.  471 

spiritual  and  evangelical  type  of  religion.  In  this  they  differed 
from  the  rationalistic  and  destructive  iconoclasts  of  the  East. 
They  were  influenced  by  the  writings  of  Paul  and  Augus- 
tiu,  those  inspirers  of  all  evangelical  movements  in  church  his- 
tory ;  with  this  difference,  however,  that  Paul  stands  high  above 
parties  and  schools,  and  that  Augustin,  with  all  his  anti-Pelagian 
principles,  was  a  strong  advocate  of  the  Catholic  theory  of  the 
church  and  church-order. 

Agobard    (in   Lyonese   dialect    Agobaud    or  Aguebaud),  a 
native  of  Spain,  but  of  Gallic  parents,  and  archbishop  of  Lyons 
(816-841),  figures  prominently  in  the  political  and  ecclesiastical 
history  of  France  during  the  reign  of  Louis  the  Pious.     He  is 
known  to  us  already  as  an  opponent  of  the  ordeal,  the  judicial 
duel  and  other  heathen  customs.^     His  character  presents  singu- 
lar contrasts;     He  was  a  rigid  ecclesiastic  and  sacerdotalist,  and 
thoroughly  orthodox  in  dogma  (except  that  he  denied  the  verbal 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures) ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  a  sworn 
enemy  of  all  superstition,  and  advocate  of  liberal  views  in  mat- 
ters of  worship.^     He  took  part  in  the  rebellion  of  Lothaire 
against  his  father  Louis  in  833,  which  deprived  him  of  his 
bishopric  and  left  a  serious  stain  on  his  character,  but  he  was 
afterwards  reconciled  to  Louis  and  recovered  the  bishopric.     He 
opposed  Adoptionism  as  a  milder  form  of  the  Nestorian  heresy. 
He  attacked  the  Jews,  who  flocked  to  Lyons  in  large  numbers, 
and  charges  them  with  insolent  conduct  towards  the  Christians. 
In  this  he  shared  the  intolerance  of  his  age.     But,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  wrote  a  book  against  image-worship.^     He  goes  back 
to  the  root  of  the  difficulty,  the  worship  of  saints.     He  can  find 
no  authority  for  such  worship.     The  saints  themselves  declme 
it.     It  is  a  cunning  device  of  Satan  to  smuggle  heathen  idolatry 
into  the  chiu-ch  under  pretext  of  showing  honor  to  saints.     He 

1  See  I  79,  p.  347.  ,^ 

-  Renter  (L  24)   calb  him   "the  clearest  head  of  the  ninth  century,    and 
"  the  systematized  of  the  AuJMarunf  {i.  e.  of  Rationalism  m  the  mxddle  age}. 
3  De  Imaginihus  Sanctorum,  in  Migne,  vol.  104,  fol.  199-228. 


472  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

thus  draws  men  away  from  a  spiritual  to  a  sensual  worship. 
God  alone  should  be  adored  ;  to  him  alone  must  we  present  the 
sacrifice  of  a  broken  and  contrite  heart.  Angels  and  holy  men 
who  are  crowned  with  victory,  and  help  us  by  their  interces- 
sions, may  be  loved  and  honored,  but  not  worshiped.  "  Cursed 
be  the  man  that  trusteth  in  man"  (Jer.  17  :  5).  We  may  look 
with  pleasure  on  their  pictures,  but  it  is  better  to  be  satisfied 
with  the  simple  symbol  of  the  cross  (as  if  this  were  not  liable 
to  the  same  abuse).  Agobart  approves  the  canon  of  Elvira, 
which  forbade  images  altogether.  He  says  in  conclusion : 
"  Since  no  man  is  essentially  God,  save  Jesus  our  Saviour,  so 
we,  as  the  Scripture  commands,  shall  bow  our  knees  to  his 
name  alone,  lest  by  giving  this  honor  to  another  we  may  be 
estranged  from  God,  and  left  to  follow  the  doctrines  and  tradi- 
tions of  men   according  to  the  inclinations  of  our  hearts." ' 

Agobard  was  not  disturbed  in  his  position,  and  even  honored 
as  a  saint  in  Lyons  after  his  death,  though  his  saintship  is  dis- 
puted.^ His  works  were  lost,  until  Papirius  Masson  discovered 
a  MS.  copy  and  rescued  it  from  a  bookbinder's  hands  in  Lyons 
(1605). 

Claudius,  bishop  of  Turin  (814-839),  was  a  native  of  Spain, 
but  spent  three  years  as  chaplain  at  the  court  of  Louis  the  Pious 
and  was  sent  by  him  to  the  diocese  of  Turin.  He  wrote  prac- 
tical commentaries  on  nearly  all  the  books  of  the  Bible,  at  the 
request  of  the  emperor,  for  the  education  of  the  clergy.  They 
were  mostly  extracted  from  the  writings  of  Augustin,  Jerome, 

1  Cap.  35  (in  Migne,  fol.  227) :  "  Flectamus  genu  in  nomine  solius  Jesu,  quod 
est  super  omne  nomen;  ne  si  alteri  hunc  honorem  tribuimus,  alieni  judicemur  a  Deo, 
et  dimittamur  secundum  desideria  cordis  nostri  ire  in  adijiventionibus  noslris." 
Gieseler  directs  attention  to  the  verbal  agreement  between  Agobart  and 
Claudius  in  several  sentences. 

^  See  Acta  SS-  Jun.  II.  748,  and  the  Elogia  de  S.  Agohardo  in  Migne,  fol. 
13-16.  The  Bollandists  honor  him  with  a  place  in  their  work,  because 
Masson,  the  first  editor,  allows  him  the  title  saint,  and  because  he  is  commonly 
called  St.  Aguebaud  in  the  church  of  Lyons,  and  is  included  in  the  local  mar- 
tyrologies.  A  rite  of  nine  lessons  is  assigned  to  him  in  the  Breviarium  Lug- 
dunense. 


§106.    EVANGELICAL  REFORMERS.  473 

and  other  Latin  fathers.  Only  fragments  remain.  He  was 
a  great  admirer  of  Augustin,  but  destitute  of  his  wisdom  and 
moderation.^ 

He  found  the  Italian  churches  full  of  pictures  and  picture- 
worshipers.  He  was  told  that  the  people  did  not  mean  to  wor- 
ship the  images,  but  the  saints.  He  replied  that  the  heathen  on 
the  same  ground  defend  the  worship  of  their  idols,  and  may 
become  Christians  by  merely  changing  the  name.  He  traced 
image-worship  and  saint-worship  to  a  Pelagian  tendency,  and 
met  it  with  the  Augustinian  view  of  the  sovereignty  of  divine 
grace.  Paul,  he  says,  overthrows  human  merits,  in  ^hich  the 
monks  now  most  glory,  and  exalts  the  grace  of  God.  We 
are  saved  by  grace,  not  by  works.  ^Ve  must  worship  the  Crea- 
tor, not  the  creature.  "Whoever  seeks  from  any  creature  in 
heaven  or  on  earth  the  salvation  which  he  should  seek  from 
God  alone,  is  an  idolater."  The  departed  saints  themselves  do 
not  wish  to  be  worshipped  by  us,  and  cannot  help  us.  While 
we  live,  we  may  aid  each  other  by  prayers,  but  not  after  death. 
He  attacked  also  the  superstitious  use  of  the  sign  of  the  cross, 
going  beyond  Charlemagne  and  Agobard.  He  met  the  defence 
by  carrying  it  to  absurd  conclusions.  If  we  worship  the  cross, 
he  says,  because  Christ  suffered  on  it,  we  might  also  worship 
every  virgin  because  he  was  born  of  a  virgin,  every  manger  be- 
cause he  was  laid  in  a  manger,  every  ship  because  he  taught 
from  a  ship,  yea,  every  ass  because  he  rode  on  an  ass  into  Jeru- 
salem. We  should  bear  the  cross,  not  adore  it.  He  banished 
the  pictures,  crosses  and  crucifixes  from  the  churches,  as  the  only 

1  In  his  comments  on  Paul's  Epistles  (in  Migne,  104  f.  927  sq.),  he  eulogizes 
Augustin  as  " amantissimus  Domini  sanctL<^simus  Aug ustinus,  calamus  TrinitatiH 
lingua  Spirilus  Sandi,  terrenus  homo,  sed  coelestis  angelus,  in  qurj-Mionibus  solvendts 
acutus,  in  revincendis  hwretieis  cireitmspedus,  in  explicandis  Scripturis  canonicm 
cautus."  In  the  same  place,  he  says  of  Paul  that  his  epistles  are  wholly  given 
to  destroy  man's  merits  and  to  exalt  God's  grace  {"ut  merita  hominum^  tollat, 
unde  maxime  nunc  monachi  glorinntur,  et  gratiam  Dei  commended).  On  his  Au- 
gustinianism,  see  the  judicious  remarks  of  Neander.  Renter  (I.  20)  calls  him 
both  a  biblical  reformer  and  a  critical  rationalist. 


474  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

way  to  kill  superstition.  He  also  strongly  opposed  the  pilgrim- 
ages. He  had  no  appreciation  of  religious  symbolism,  and  went 
in  his  Puritanic  zeal  to  a  fanatical  extreme. 

Claudius  was  not  disturbed  in  his  seat;  but,  as  he  says  him- 
self, he  found  no  sympathy  with  the  people,  and  became  "  an 
object  of  scorn  to  his  neighbors,"  who  pointed  at  him  as  *'  a 
frightful  spectre."  He  was  censured  by  Pope  Paschalis  I.  (817- 
824),  and  opposed  by  his  old  friend,  the  Abbot  Theoderair  of 
the  diocese  of  Nismes,  to  whom  he  had  dedicated  his  lost  com- 
mentary on  Leviticus  (823),  by  Dungal  (of  Scotland  or  Ire- 
land, about  827),  and  by  Bishop  Jonas  of  Orleans  (840),  who 
unjustly  charged  him  with  the  Adoptionist  and  even  the  Arian 
heresy.  Some  writers  have  endeavored,  without  proof,  to  trace 
a  connection  between  him  and  the  Waldenses  in  Piedmont,  who 
are  of  much  later  date.* 

Jonas  of  Orleans,  Hincmar  of  Rheims,  and  Wallafrid  Strabo 
still  maintained  substantially  the  moderate  attitude  of  the  Caro- 
line books  between  the  extremes  of  icouoclasm  and  image- wor- 
ship. But  the  all-powerful  influence  of  the  popes,  the  sensuous 
tendency  and  credulity  of  the  age,  the  ignorance  of  the  clergy, 
and  the  grosser  ignorance  of  the  people  combined  to  secure  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  image-worship  even  in  France.  The  rising 
sun  of  the  Carolingian  age  was  obscured  by  the  darkness  of  the 
tenth  century. 

'  C.  Schmidt  in  Herzog'^  III.  245  says  of  this  view:  ''  Diese,  sehr  spat,  in 
dogmatischem  Interesse  aufgenommene  Ansicht,  die  sich  bei  Leger  und  andern,  ja 
aelbst  noch  bei  Hahn  findel,  hat  keinen  historischen  Grund  und  ist  von  alien  griind- 
lichen  Kennern  der  Waldensej-geschichte  liivgst  aiifgegeben.  Dabei  soil  nicht  geleug- 
net  iverden,  dass  die  Tendenzen  des  Claudius  sich  noch  eine  zeitlang  in  Italien 
erhalten  haben;  es  ist  soeben  bemerkt  warden,  dcLss,  nach  dem  Zeugniss  des  Jonas 
von  Orleans,  man  um  840  versuchte,  sie  von  neuem  zu  verbreiten.  Dass  sie  sich 
aber  bis  zum  Auftreten  des  Peter  Waldus  und  speciell  in  den  piemontesisehen  Thd- 
lern  forlgepjlanzt,  davon  ist  nicht  die  geringste  Spur  vorhanden." 


CHAPTER   XI. 

DOCTRINAL   CONTROVERSIES. 

§  106.    General  Survey. 

Our  period  is  far  behind  the  preceding  patristic  and  the 
succeeding  scholastic  in  doctrinal  importance,  but  it  mediates 
between  them  by  carrying  tiie  ideas  of  the  fathers  over  to  the 
acute  analysis  of  the  schoolmen,  and  marks  a  progress  in  the 
development  of  the  Catholic  system.  It  was  agitated  by  seven 
theological  controversies  of  considerable  interest. 

1.  The  controversy  about  the  single  or  double  Procession  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  This  belongs  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity 
and  was  not  settled,  but  divides  to  this  day  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches. 

2.  The  Monotheletic  controversy  is  a  continuation  of  the 
Eutychian  and  Monophysitic  controversies  of  the  preceding 
period.  It  ended  with  the  condemnation  of  Monotheletism 
and  an  addition  to  the  Chalcedonian  Christology,  namely,  the 
doctrine  that  Christ  has  two  wills  as  well  as  two  natures. 

3.  The  Adoptionist  controversy  is  a  continuation  of  the  Nes- 
torian.  Adoptionism  was  condemned  as  inconsistent  with  the 
personal  union  of  the  two  natures  in  Christ. 

4  and  5.  Two  Eucharistic  controversies  resulted  in  the  general 
prevalence  of  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation. 

6.  The  Predestinarian  controversy  between  Gottsehalk  and 
Hincmar  tended  to  weaken  the  influence  of  the  Augustinian 
system,  and  to  promote  semi-Pelagian  views  and  practices. 

7.  The  Image-controversy  belongs  to  the  history  of  worship 

475 


476  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

rather  than  theology,  and  has  been  discussed  iu  the  preceding 
chapter.^ 

The  first,  second,  and  seventh  controversies  affected  the  East 
and  the  West ;  the  Adoptionist,  the  two  Eucharistic,  and  the 
Predestinariau  controversies  were  exclusively  carried  on  in  the 
West,  and  ignored  iu  the  East. 

§  107.   The  Controversy  on  the  Procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

See  the  Lit.  in  ?  67,  p.  304  sq.  The  arguments  for  both  sides  of  the  ques- 
tion were  fully  discussed  in  the  Union  Synod  of  Ferrara — Florence, 
1438-'39 ;  see  Hefele  :  Conciliengesch.  VII.  P.  II.  p.  683  sqq. ;  706 
sqq. ;  712  sqq. 

The  FiLiOQUE-controversy  relates  to  the  eternal  procession  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  is  a  continuation  of  the  triuitarian  con- 
troversies of  the  Nicene  age.  It  marks  the  chief  and  almost 
the  only  important  dogmatic  difference  between  the  Greek  and 
Latin  churches.  It  belongs  to  metaphysical  theology,  and  has 
far  less  practical  value  than  the  regenerating  and  sanctifying 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  hearts  of  men.  But  it  figures 
very  largely  in  history,  and  has  occasioned,  deepened,  and  per- 
petuated the  greatest  schism  in  Christendom.  The  single  word 
Filioque  keeps  the  oldest,  largest,  and  most  nearly  related 
churches  divided  since  the  ninth  century,  and  still  forbids  a 
reunion.  The  Eastern  church  regards  the  doctrine  of  the  single 
procession  as  the  corner-stone  of  orthodoxy,  and  the  doctrine  of 
the  double  procession  as  the  mother  of  all  heresies.  She  has 
held  most  tenaciously  to  her  view  since  the  fourth  century,  and 
is  not  likely  ever  to  give  it  up.  Nor  can  the  Roman  church 
change  her  doctrine  of  the  double  procession  without  sacri- 
ficing the  principle  of  infallibility. 

The  Protestant  Confessions  agree  with  the  Latin  dogma,  while 
on  the  much  more  vital  question  of  the  papacy  they  agree  Avith 
the  Eastern  church,  though  from  a  different  point  of  view. 
The  church  of  England  has  introduced  the  double  procession 

1  Seech.  X.  U  100-104. 


^  107.  ON  THE  PROCESSION  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIEIT.  477 

of  the  Spirit  even  into  her  litany.^  It  should  be  remembered, 
however,  that  this  dogma  was  not  a  controverted  question  in 
the  time  of  the  Reformation,  and  was  received  from  the 
mediaeval  church  without  investigation.  Protestantism  is  at 
perfect  liberty  to  go  back  to  the  original  form  of  the  Nicene 
Creed  if  it  should  be  found  to  be  more  in  accordance  with  the 
Scripture.  But  the  main  thing  for  Christians  of  all  creeds  is 
to  produce  "  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  love,  joy,  peace, 
long-suffering,  kindness,  goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness,  self- 
control." 

Let  us  first  glance  at  the  external  history  of  the  confroversy. 

1.  The  New  Testament.  The  exegetical  starting-point  and 
foundation  of  the  doctrine  of  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  the  word  of  our  Lord  in  the  farewell  address  to  his  disciples : 
"  When  the  Paraclete  (the  Advocate)  is  come,  whom  I  will  send 

^  ''O  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  proceedeth  from  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
have  mercy  upon  us  miserable  sinners."  No  orthodox  Greek  or  Russian 
Christian  could  join  an  Anglican  in  this  prayer  without  treason  to  his  church. 
It  is  to  be  understood,  however,  that  some  of  the  leading  divines  of  the  church 
of  England  condemn  the  insertion  of  the  Filioque  in  the  Creed.  Dr.  Neale 
{Introduction  to  the  Historii  of  the  Holy  Eastern  Church,  vol.  II.  p.  1168)  con- 
cludes that  this  insertion  "  in  the  inviolable  Creed  was  an  act  utterly  unjusti- 
fiable, and  throws  on  the  Roman  church  the  chief  guilt  in  the  horrible  schism 
of  1054.  It  was  done  in  the  teeth  of  the  veto  passed  in  the  sixth  session  of 
the  Council  of  Ephesus,  in  the  fifth  of  Chalcedon,  in  the  sixth  collation  of  the 
second  of  Constantinople,  and  in  the  seventh  of  the  third  of  Constantinople. 
It  was  done  against  the  express  command  of  a  most  holy  Pope,  himself  a  be- 
liever in  the  double  Procession,  who  is  now  with  God.  No  true  union — ex- 
perience has  shown  it— can  take  place  between  the  churches  till  the  Filioque 
be  omitted  from  the  Creed,  even  if  a  truly  cecumenical  Synod  should  after- 
wards proclaim  the  truth  of  the  doctrine."  Bishop  Pearson  was  of  the  same 
opinion  as  to  the  insertion,  but  approved  of  the  Latin  doctrine.  He  says  (in 
his  Exposition  of  the  Creed,  Art.  VIII) :  "  Now  although  the  addition  of  the 
words  to  the  formal  Creed  without  the  consent,  and  against  the  protestation  of 
the  Oriental  Church,  be  not  justifiable ;  yet  that  which  was  added,  is  neverthe- 
less certainly  a  truth,  and  may  be  so  used  in  that  Creed  by  them  who  believe 
the  same  to  be  a  truth  ;  so  long  as  they  pretend  it  not  to  be  a  definition  of  that 
Council,  but  an  addition  or  explication  inserted,  and  condemn  not  those  who, 
out  of  a  greater  respect  to  such  synodical  determinations,  will  admit  of  no 
such  insertion,  nor  speak  any  other  language  than  the  Scriptures  and  their 
fathers  spake." 


478  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

unto  you  from  the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  who  pro- 
cecdeth  (or,  (/oeth  forth)  from  the  Father,  he  shall  bear  witness 
of  me." ' 

On  this  passage  the  Nicene  fathers  based  their  doctrine  of  the 
procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit,^  as  liis  personal  property  or 
characteristic  individuality^  while  the  unbegotten  fatherhood* 
belongs  to  the  person  of  the  Father,  and  the  eternal  generation'^ 
to  the  person  of  the  Son. 

Our  Lord  says  neither  that  the  Holy  Spirit  pi-oceeds  from 
the  Father  alone,  nor  that  he  proceeds  from  the  Father  and  the 
Son.  But  in  several  other  passages  of  the  same  farewell  ad- 
dresses he  speaks  of  the  Spirit  as  being  sent  by  the  Father  and 
the  Son,  and  promises  this  as  a  future  event  which  was  to  take 
place  after  his  departure,  and  which  actually  did  take  place  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost  and  ever  since.^ 

On  these  passages  is  based  the  doctrine  of  the  mission  of  the 
Spirit.^  This  is  regarded  as  a  temporal  or  historical  act,  and 
must  be  distinguished  from  the  eternal  procession  in  the  Trinity 
itself.  In  other  words,  the  procession  belongs  to  the  Trinity 
of  essence,  and  is  an  intertrinitarian  process  (like  the  eternal  gen- 
eration of  the  Son),  but  the  mission  belongs  to  the  Trinity  of 

1  John  15:  2G:  6  IlapdKXTjToc . . .  rd  nvev/ia  ryq  a/l?/i9e/af,  o  Tvapa  tov  Harpbc 
EKTTopEVETai  (Vulg. :  proccdU).  The  verb  eKrrop£vo/Mi  (med.),  procedo,  may  in 
itself  describe  either  proceeding  from  a  source,  or  proceeding  on  a  mission ; 
but  in  the  former  case  sk,  out  of,  would  be  a  more  suitable  preposition  than 
napd,  from  the  side  of.  Hence  the  Nicene  Creed  and  the  Greek  fathers  substi- 
tute £K  for  TTopd  in  stating  their  dogma.  The  napd,  however,  does  not  exclude 
the  EK,  and  the  Father  is  in  any  case  the  source  of  the  Spirit.  The  question 
is  only,  whether  he  is  the  sole  source,  or  jointly  with  the  Son. 

2  EKTropfvat^,  a  patristic  noun,  derived  from  the  biblical  and  classical  verb 
EKnopEvofiai,  as  the  Latin  processio  is  from  procedere. 

'  Called  by  the  Greeks  l^iov  or  ISidrT/Q^  by  the  Latins  proprieias  personalis  or 
character  hypostaticus.     See  vol.  III.  ^  130,  p.  679. 

*  ayEvvTjaia,  paternitas. 

6  yEvvT/aia,  yEvvr/atc,  generatio,  filiatio. 

^  John  15:  26,  Christ  says  of  the  Spirit:  bv  Eyi)  Tripipu.  Comp.  16:  7: 
KE fiipu  avTof,  and  14:  26:  b  TrifxipEc  6  Ilar^p  kv  r^'  bvdpari  fiov. 

'  EKKEfi'tpcg,  missio. 


§  107.  ON  THE  PEOCESSION  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT.         479 

revelation  in  the  historical  execution  of  the  scheme  of  redemp- 
tion. In  this  exegesis  the  orthodox  divines  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  churches  are  agreed.  They  differ  on  the  source  of  the 
procession,  but  not  on  the  mission. 

Modern    exegetes,    who    adhere    closely   to    the    grammatical 
sense,  and  are  not  governed  by  dogmatic  systems,  incline  mostly 
to  the   view  that  no   metaphysical   distinction    is    intended   in 
those  passages,  and  that  the  procession  of  the  Spirit  from  the 
Father,  and   the   mission  of  the  Spirit  by  the   Father  and  the 
Son,  refer  alike   to   the   same   historic  event  and  soteriological 
operation,  namely,  the   outpouring  of  the   Holy  Spirit  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  and  his  continued  work  in  the  church  and  in 
the  heart  of  believers.     The   Spirit   "  proceeds "   when  he  "  is 
sent "  on  his  divine  mission  to  glorify  the  Son  and  to  apply  the 
redemption  to  men.     The  Saviour  speaks  of  the  office  and  work 
of  the  Spirit  rather  than  of  his  being  and  essence.     Neverthe- 
less there  is  a  difference  which  must  not  be  overlooked.     In  the 
procession,  the  Spirit  is  active ;  in  the  mission,  he  is  passive ;  the 
procession  is  spoken  of  In  the  present  tense  (exTvops'hTa:)  as  a 
present  act,  the  mission  in  the  future  tense  (;ri/i^o>)  as  a  future 
act,  so  that  the  former  seems  to  belong  to  the  eternal  Trinity  of 
essence,  the  latter  to  the  historical   or  economical  Trinity  of 
revelation.     Now  God  indeed  reveals  himself  as  he  actually  is, 
and  we  may  therefore  reason  back  from  the  divine  office  of  the 
Spirit  to  his  divine  nature,  and  from  his  temporal  mission  to  his 
eternal  relation.     Yet  it  may  be  questioned  whether  such  infer- 
ence justifies  the  doctrine  of  a  double  procession  in  the  absence 
of  any  express  Scripture  warrant.^ 

1  On  the  exegetical  question,  see  the  commentaries  on  John  15 :  26  and  the 
parallel  passages  by  Lange  (Am.  ed.,  p.  469),  Luthardt,  Meyer  Weiss  (6th 
ed  of  Meyer),  Alford,  Westcott,  Godet.  Lange  says:  "To  the  Father  doubt- 
less belongs  the  honor  of  being  the  first  apx>}  from  which  the  Son  himself  pro- 
ceeds; but  since  the  Holy  Spirit  is  at  the  same  time  the  Spirit  of  the  bon 
unto  whom  it  is  also  given  to  have  life  in  himself,  the  Sea  rov  mov  («  ™-  '^^^^ff ) 
of  the  Greek  theology  is  not  sufficient."  Godet  ir.  loc  :  « It  is  difficult  (with 
Luthardt,  Meyer,  and  most  moderns)  to  refer  the  words:  who  proceedelh  from 


480  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1041. 

2.  The  Nicene  Creed,  in  its  original  form  of  325,  closes 
abruptly  Avith  the  article :  "■  And  [we  believe]  into  the  Holy 
Spirit."  ^  In  the  enlarged  form  (which  is  usually  traced  to  the 
Council  of  Constantinople,  381,  and  incorporated  in  its  acts 
since  451,  but  is  found  earlier  in  Epiphanius,  373,  and  Cyril  of 
Jerusalem,  362)  we  have  the  addition :  "  the  Lord  and  Giver 
of  Life,  who  proceeds  from  the  Father,^'  etc.^  This  form  was 
generally  adopted  in  the  Eastern  churches  since  the  Council  of 
Chalcedon,  451  (at  which  both  forms  were  recited  and  con- 
firmed), and  prevails  there  to  this  day  unaltered.     It  is  simply 

the  Father,  to  the  same  fact  as  the  former:  rvhom  I  will  send  to  you  from  the 
Father,  as  this  would  be  mere  tautology.  Besides,  the  future  ne/npcj,  I  will  send, 
refers  to  an  historical  fact  to  take  place  at  an  undefined  period,  while  the  pre- 
sent eKTvopeverai,  proceedeth,  seems  to  refer  to  a  permanent,  divine,  and  therefore 
eternal  relation.  As  the  historic  fact  of  the  incarnation  corresponds  to  the 
eternal  generation  of  the  Son,  so  the  pentecostal  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
the  eternal  procession  of  the  Spirit  from  God.  The  divine  facts  of  revelation 
are  based  upon  the  Trinitarian  relations,  and  are,  so  to  speak,  their  reflections. 
{Les  fails  de  la  revelation  reposent  sur  les  relations  trinitaires.  llsensont  comme  les 
reflets.)  As  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  is  related  to  His  eternal  generation,  so 
is  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  His  procession  with  the  divine  essence. — 
The  I^atin  Church,  starting  from  the  words,  I  ivill  send,  is  not  wrong  in  affirm- 
ing the  Filioque,  nor  the  Greek  church,  starting  from  the  words  :/ro??i  the  Father, 
in  maintaining  per  Filium,  and  the  subordination.  To  harmonize  these  two 
views,  we  must  place  ourselves  at  the  christological  stand-point  of  St.  John's 
Gospel,  according  to  which  the  homoousia  and  the  subordination  are  both  at 
the  same  time  true  (sont  vrais  simul(ancment)."  Milligan  and  Moulton  in  he- 
(in  Schaff's  Revision  Com.) :  "  The  words  ^  which  goeth  forth  from  the  Father,'  are 
not  intended  to  express  any  metaphysical  relation  between  the  First  and  Third 
Persons  of  the  Trinity,  but  to  lead  our  thoughts  back  to  the  fact  that,  as  it  is 
the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  Jesus  that  He  comes  from  the  Father,  so 
One  of  like  Divine  ^lower  and  glory  is  now  to  take  His  place.  The  same 
words  'from  the  Father'  are  again  added  to  '  I  will  send,'  because  the  Father  is 
the  ultimate  source  from  which  the  Spirit  as  well  as  the  Son  'goes  forth,'  and 
really  the  Giver  of  the  Spirit  through  the  Son  who  asks  for  Him  (comp.  14: 
Ifi).  In  the  power  of  this  Spirit,  therefore,  the  connection  of  the  disciples 
with  the  Father  will,  in  the  time  to  come,  be  not  less  close,  and  their  .strength 
from  the  Father  not  less  efficacious,  than  it  had  been  while  Jesus  was  Himself 
beside  them." 

1  Kal  [TTicTTevofiEv']  e'lr  to  aytov  nvevfia. 

»  TO  Kipiov  (icai)  TO  ^uonoibv,  to  ck  Toii  iraTpb^  inTropevd^evov,  k.  t.  1.  See  my 
Creeds  of  Christendom.,  vol.  II.  57,  60. 


2  107.  ON  THE  PROCESSION  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT.         481 

the  Scripture  phrase  without  any  addition,  either  of  the  Greek 
"  alone,''  or  of  the  Latin  "  and  from  the  SonJ'  The  Greek 
church  understood  the  clause  In  an  exclusive  sense,  the  Latin 
church,  since  Augustin  and  Leo  I.,  in  an  Incomplete  sense.^ 

The  Latin  church  had  no  right  to  alter  an  oecumenical  creed 
without  the  knowledge  and  consent  of  the  Greek  church  which 
had  made  it;  for  in  the  oecumenical  Councils  of  Nicsea  and 
Constantinople  the  Western  church  was  scarcely  represented,  at 
Nic£ea  only  by  one  bishop  (Hosius  of  Spain),  in  tlie  second  not 
at  all ;  and  in  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  the  delegates  of  Pope 
Leo  I.  fully  agreed  to  the  enlarged  Greek  form  of  the  Nicene 
symbol,  yet  without  the  Filioque,  which  was  then  not  thought 
of,  although  the  doctrine  of  the  double  procession  was  already 
current  in  the  West.  A  departure  from  this  common  symbolical 
standard  of  the  most  weighty  oecumenical  councils  by  a  new 
addition,  without  consent  of  the  other  party,  opened  the  door  to 
endless  disputes. 

The  Enlargement  of  the  Nicene  Creed. 

The  third  national  Synod  of  Toledo  in  Spain,  A.  d.  589,  held 
after  the  conversion  of  King  Reccared  to  the  Catholic  faith,  in 
its  zeal  for  the  deity  of  Christ  against  the  Arian  heresy  which 
lingered  longest  in  that  country,  and  without  intending  the  least 
disrespect  to  the  Eastern  church,  first  inserted  the  clause  Filioque 
in  the  Latin  version  of  the  Nicene  Creed.'  Other  Spanish 
synods  of  Toledo  did  the  same.^ 

1  The  chief  passages  of  Augustin  on  the  double  procession  are  quoted  in  vol. 
III.  I  131,  p.  686.  See  on  his  whole  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  Theod.  Gangauf, 
Des  heil.  AugusHmts'  speculative  Lehre  von  Goit  dem  dreieinigen  (Augsb.  1866), 
and  Langen,  Die  trinitarisehe  Lehrdifferenz,  etc.  (Bonn,  1876).  On  the  teach- 
ing of  Leo.  I.  comp.  Perthel,  Leo  der  Grosse,  p.  138  sqq. 

2  Mansi  IX.  981 :  "  Credimus  et  in  Spiritwn  S.,  dominum  et  vivificatorem,  ex 
Patre  et  Filio  procedentem,"  etc  On  the  third  Synodus  Toletana  see  Hefele, 
III.  48  sqq. 

3  The  fourth  Council  of  Toledo  (633)  likewise  repeated  the  Creed  with  the 
Filioque,  see  Hefele  III.  79.  AH  the  other  Councils  of  Toledo  (a.  d.  638,  646, 
655,  675,  681,  683,  684,  688,  694)  begin  with  a  confession  of  faith,  several  with 
the'unaltered  Nicene  creed,  othtrs  with  enlarged  forms. 

31 


482  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

From  Spain  the  clause  passed  into  the  Frankish  church.  It 
was  discussed  at  the  Synod  of  Gentilly  near  Paris  in  767,  but 
we  do  not  know  with  what  result.^  The  Latin  view  was  advo- 
cated by  Paulinus  of  Aquileja  (796)/  by  Alcuin  (before  804), 
and  by  Theodulf  of  Orleans.^  It  was  expressed  in  the  so-called 
Athanasian  Creed,  which  made  its  appearance  in  France  shortly 
before  or  during  the  age  of  Charlemagne.*  The  clause  was  sung 
in  his  chapel.  He  brought  the  matter  before  the  Council  of  Aix- 
la-Chapelle  in  809,  which  decided  in  favor  of  the  double  proces- 
sion.^ He  also  sent  messengers  to  Pope  Leo  III.,  with  the  re- 
quest to  sanction  the  insertion  of  the  clause  in  the  Nicene  Creed. 
The  pope  decided  in  favor  of  the  doctrine  of  the  double  proces- 
sion, but  protested  against  the  alteration  of  the  creed,  and 
caused  the  Nicene  Creed,  in  its  original  Greek  text  and  the 
Latin  version,  to  be  engraved  on  two  tablets  and  suspended  in 
the  Basilica  of  St.  Peter,  as  a  perpetual  testimony  against  the 
innovation.^     His  predecessor,  Hadrian  I.,  had  a  few  years  be- 

1  Hefele,  III.  432. 

2  At  a  synod  in  Forumjnlii  (Friaul),  at  that  time  the  seat  of  the  bishops  of 
Aquileja.     Hefele,  III.  718  sq. 

3  Alcuin  wrote  a  book  De  Proeessione  S.  Spiritus  {Opera,  ed.  Migne,  II.  63), 
and  Theodulf  another,  at  the  request  of  Charlemagne  (Migne,  Tom.  105). 

*  Ver.  23:  "Spiritus  Sancfus  a  Patre  et  Filio:  non  f actus,  nee  creatus,  nee 
genifus:  sed  procedens."  For  this  reason  the  Greek  church  never  adopted  the 
Athanasian  Creed.  Most  Greek  copies  read  only  and  tov  irarpog,  and  omit  et 
Filio." 

5  It  is  uncertain  whether  the  Synod  also  sanctioned  the  insertion  of  the  Filio- 
que  in  the  creed.  Pagi  denies,  Burterim,  Hefele  (III.  751),  and  Hergenrother 
(I.  698)  affirm  it.  The  Synod  of  Aries  (813)  likewise  professed  the  double 
procession,  Hefele,  III.  757. 

6  Mansi,  XIV.  18;  Baronius,  ad  ann.  809;  Gieseler,  II.  75  (Am.  ed.);  He- 
fele, III.  754;  Hergenrother,  Photius,  I.  699  sqq.  The  fact  of  the  silver  tablets, 
weighing  nearly  one  hundred  pounds,  is  related  by  Anastasius  (in  Vita  Leonis 
in.),  and  by  Photius  {Epist.  ad  Patriarch.  Aquilej.),  and  often  appealed  to  by 
the  Greek  controversialists.  The  imperial  commissioners  urged  that  the  belief 
in  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit  from  the  Son  was  necessary  for  salvation ; 
but  the  pope  replied  that  other  things  were  nece<!sary  for  salvation,  and  yet  not 
mentioned  in  the  creed.  He  also  advised  to  omit  the  signing  of  the  clause  in 
the  imperial  chapel ;  all  other  churches  in  France  would  follow  the  example 
of  omission,  and  thus  the  offence  given  would  be  most  easily  removed. 


1 107.  ON  THE  PKOCESSION  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT.         483 

fore  (between  792  and  795)  defended  the  Greek  formula  of 
John  of  Damascus  and  patriarch  Tarasius,  that  the  Sphut  pro- 
ceeds from  the  Father  through  the  Son}  But  the  violent 
assault  of  Photius  upon  the  Latin  doctrine,  as  heretical,  drove 
the  Latin  church  into  the  defensive.  Hence,  since  the  ninth 
century,  the  Filioque  was  gradually  introduced  into  the  Nicene 
Creed  all  over  the  West,  and  the  popes  themselves,  notwith- 
standing their  infallibility,  approved  what  their  predecessors 
had  condemned.^ 

The  coincidence  of  the  triumph  of  the  Filioque  in  the  West 
with  the  founding  of  the  new  Roman  Empire  is  significant ;  for 
this  empire  emancipated  the  pope  from  the  Byzantine  rule. 

The  Greek  church,  however,  took  little  or  no  notice  of  this 
innovation  till  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  later,  when 
Photius,  the  learned  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  brought  it  out 
in  its  full  bearing  and  force  in  his  controversy  with  Nicolas  L, 
the  pope  of  old  Rome.^  He  regarded  the  single  procession  as 
the  principal  part  of  the  doctrine  concerning  the  Holy  Spirit  on 
which  the  personality  and  deity  of  the  Spirit  depended,  and 

1  In  his  defence  of  the  second  council  of  Nicfea  against  the  Lihri  Carolini, 
which  had  charged  Tarasius  with  error.   See  Migne's  Opera  Caroli  M.,  H.  1249. 

2  Pope  John  VIII.,  in  a  letter  to  Photius,  condemned  the  Filioque;  but  this 
letter  is  disputed,  and  declared  by  Eoman  Catholic  historians  to  be  a  Greek 
fabrication.  See  above,  p.  315,  and  Hefele,  IV.  482.  It  is  not  quite  certain 
when  the  Eoman  church  adopted  the  Filioque  in  her  editions  of  the  Nicene 
Creed.  Some  date  it  from  Pope  Nicolas,  others  from  Pope  Christophorus 
(903),  still  others  from  Sergius  III.  (904-911),  but  most  writers  from  Benedict 
VIII.  (1014-1015).     See  HergenrotVer,  Photius,  I.  706. 

3  In  his  Encyclical  letter,  867,  and  in  his  Liber  de  Spiritus  Sancti  Mystagogia, 
written  after  885,  first  edited  by  Hergenrother,  Ratisbon,  1857.  Also  in  Pho- 
Tii  Opera,  ed.  Migne  (Pan,  1861),  Tom.  II.  722-742  and  279-391.  Comp. 
Hergenrother-s  Photius,  vol.  III.,  p.  154  sqq.  The  title  iivarayi^yla  {=uopolo- 
yia,  ^Eoloyia,  sacra  dodrina)  promises  a  treatise  on  the  whole  doctrine  of  the 
third  per.son  of  the  Trinity,  but  it  confines  itself  to  the  controverted  doctrine 
of  the  procession.  The  book,  says  Hergenrother  (III.  157).  shows  great  dia- 
lectical dexterity,  rare  acumen,  and  a  multitude  of  various  sophisms,  and  has 
been  extensively  copied  by  later  champions  of  the  schism.'  On  the  contro- 
versy between  Photius  and  Nicolas,  see  §  70,  p.  312-317. 


484  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

denounced  the  denial  of  it  as  heresy  and  blasphemy.  After  this 
time  no  progress  was  made  for  the  settlement  of  the  diiference, 
althouo-h  much  was  written  on  both  sides.  The  chief  defenders 
of  the  Greek  view,  after  the  controversy  with  Photius,  were 
Theophylactus,  Euthymius  Zigabenus,  Nicolaus  of  Methone, 
Nicetus  Choniates,  Eustratius,  and  in  modern  times,  the  Rus- 
sian divines,  Prokovitch,  Zoernicav,  MouraviefF,  and  Philaret. 
The  chief  defenders  of  the  Latin  doctrine  are  JEneas,  bishop  of 
Paris,^  Ratramnus  (or  Bertram),  a  monk  of  Corbie,  in  the  name 
of  the  French  clergy  in  the  ninth  century,^  Anselm  of  Canter- 
bury (1098),^  Peter  Chrysolanus,  archbishop  of  Milan  (1112),* 
Anselm  of  Havelberg  (1120),'  and  Thomas  Aquinas  (1274),^ 
and  in  more  recent  times,  Leo  Alacci,  Michael  Le  Quien,  and 
Cardinal  Hergenr5ther7 

§  108.  The  Arguments  for  and  against  the  FUioque. 

We  proceed  to  the  statement  of  the  controverted  doctrines 
and  the  chief  arguments. 

I.  The  Greek  and  Latin  churches  agree  in  holding — 

(1)  The  personality  and  deity  of  the  third  Person  of  the  holy 
Trinity. 

(2)  The  eternal  procession  {kxKops'jat^,  processio)  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  within  the  Trinity. 

1  Liher  adv.  Grcecos,  in  Acheri  Spicileg.,  and  in  Migne,  "  Patrol.  Lat.,"  vol. 
121,  fol.  685-762.     Insignificant. 

'  Ratramni  contra  Orcecornm  opposita,  Homanam  ecclesiam  wfamantia.  libri  IV., 
in  Acherii  Spicil.,  and  in  Migne,  I.  c,  fol.  225-346.  Tliis  book  is  much  more 
important  than  that  of  -(Eneas  of  Paris.  See  an  extract  in  Hergenrother's 
Photiiis,  I.  675  sqq. 

'  De  Processione  Spiritus  Sancti. 

*  He  went  in  the  name  of  Pope  Paschalis  II.  to  Constantinople,  to  defend 
the  Latin  doctrine  before  the  court. 

6  In  his  Dialogues  with  the  Greeks  when  he  was  ambassador  of  Emperor 
Lothaire  II.  at  the  court  of  Constantinople. 

6  Contra  errores  Orcecorum,  and  in  his  Summa  TheologioB. 

■»  Photius,  I.  p.  684-711. 


^  108.  ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST  THE  FILIOQUE.    485 

(3)  The  temporal  mission  {-JiefXipc:;,  missio)  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  beginning  with  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost, and  continued  ever  since  in  the  church. 

II.  They  differ  on  the  source  of  the  eternal  procession  of  the 
Spirit,  whether  it  be  the  Father  alone,  or  the  Father  and  the 
Son.  The  Greeks  make  the  Son  and  the  Spirit  equally  dependent 
on  the  Father,  as  the  one  and  only  source  of  the  Godhead ;  the 
Latins  teach  an  absolute  co-ordination  of  the  three  Persons  of 
the  Trinity  as  to  essence,  but  after  all  admit  a  certain  kind  of 
subordination  as  to  dignity  and  office,  namely,  a  subordination 
of  the  Son  to  the  Father,  and  of  the  Spirit  to  bt)th.  The 
Greeks  approach  the  Latins  by  the  admission  that  the  Spirit 
proceeds  from  the  Father  through  the  Son  (this  was  the  doctrine 
of  Cyril  of  Alexandria  and  John  of  Damascus);  the  Latins 
approach  the  Greeks  by  the  admission  that  the  Spirit  proceeds 
chiefly  [principaliter)  from  the  Father  (Augustin).  But  little  or 
nothing  is  gained  by  this  comj)romise.  The  real  question  is, 
whether  the  Father  is  the  only  source  of  the  Deity,  and  whether 
the  Son  and  the  Spirit  are  co-ordinate  or  subordinate  in  their 
dependence  on  the  Father. 

1.  The  Greek  doctrine  in  its  present  shape.  The  Holy 
Spirit  proceeds  from  the  Father  alone  (kx  fxovoo  zoo  ;rar/?6c),  as 
the  beginning  (dpyij),  cause  or  root  {atria,  pc^yj,  causa,  radix), 
and  fountain  {ttyjpj)  of  the  Godhead,  and  not  from  the  Son.^ 

^  Confessio  Orth.,  Qu,  71  (Schaff's  Creeds  of  Christendom,  II.  349  sq.): 
Ai6a(7KEc  [^  avaroTiiK?)  e/c/cZ^crfa]  TTug  to  Trvev/na  to  ayiov  eKrropeveTai.  f/c  fi6vov  tov 
Ilarpof,  (jf  TTTjyiiQ  koI  apxv?  TV?  ■&e6Tr}To^.  Then  follow  the  proofs  from  John  15 : 
26,  and  the  Greek  fathers.  In  the  same  question,  the  formula  koX  sk  tov  viov 
{Filioque)  is  rejected  as  a  later  adulteration.  In  the  heat  of  the  controversy, 
it  was  even  stigmatized  as  a  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Longer  Russian 
Catechism,  on  the  Eighth  Article  of  the  Nicene  Creed  (in  Schaff's  Creeds,  etc., 
II.  481),  denies  that  the  doctrine  of  the  single  procession  admits  of  any  change 
or  supplement,  for  the  following  reasons:  "First,  because  the  Orthodox 
Church  repeats  the  very  words  of  Christ,  and  his  words  are  doubtless  the 
exact  and  perfect  expression  of  the  truth.  Secondly,  because  the  Second 
(Ecumenical  Council,  whose  chief  object  was  to  establish  the  true  doctrine 
respecting  the  Holy  Spirit,  has  without  doubt  sufficiently  set  forth  the  same  in 


486  FOURTH  PEKIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

John  of  Damascus,  who  gave  the  doctrine  of  the  Greek 
fathers  its  scholastic  shape,  about  A.  d.  750,  one  hundred  years 
before  the  controversy  between  Photius  and  Nicolas,  maintained 
that  the  procession  is  from  the  Father  alone,  but  through  the 
Son,  as  mediator/  The  same  formula,  Ex  Patre  per  Filium,  was 
used  by  Tarasius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  who  presided 
over  riie  seventh  oecumenical  Council  (787),  approved  by  Pope 
Hadrian  I,,  and  was  made  the  basis  for  the  compromise  at  the 
Council  of  Ferrara  (1439),  and  at  the  Old  Catholic  Conference 
at  Bonn  (1875).  But  Photius  and  the  later  Eastern  contro- 
versialists dropped  or  rejected  the  per  Filium,  as  being  nearly 
equivalent  to  ex  Filio  or  Filioque,  or  understood  it  as  being 
applicable  only  to  the  mission  of  the  Spirit,  and  emphasized  the 
exclusiveness  of  the  procession  from  the  Father.^ 

The  arguments  for  the  Greek  doctrine  are  as  follows : 
(a)  The  words  of  Christ,  John  15  :  26,  understood  in  an  ex- 
clusive sense.     As  this  is  the  only  passage  of  the  Bible  in  which 

the  Creed ;  and  the  Catholic  Church  has  acknowledged  this  so  decidedly  that 
the  third  CEcuraenical  Council  in  its  seventh  canon  forbade  the  composition 
of  any  new  creed."  Then  the  Catechism  quotes  the  following  passage  from 
John  of  Damascus:  "Of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  both  say  that  He  is  fi'om  the 
Father,  and  call  Him  the  Spirit  of  the  Father;  while  we  nowise  say  that  He 
is  from  the  Son,  but  only  call  Him  the  Spirit  of  the  Son."  (TheoL,  lib.  1.  c.  11, 
V.  4.) 

^  See  the  doctrine  of  John  of  Damascus,  with  extracts  from  his  writings, 
stated  by  Hergenrother,  Photius,  I.  G91  sq. ;  and  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
Dollinger  Conference  (SchafFs  Creeds  of  Christendom,  II.  553  sq.).  Dr.  Langen 
(Old  Cath.  Prof  in  Bonn),  in  his  monograph  on  John  of  Damascus  (Gotha, 
1879,  p.  283  sq.),  thus  sums  up  the  views  of  this  great  divine  on  the  proces- 
sion:    1)  The  Holy  Spirit  proceeds  from   the  Father  and  rests  in  the  Son. 

2)  He  does  not  proceed  from  the  Son,  but  from  the  Father  through  the  Son. 

3)  He  is  the  image  of  the  Son,  as  the  Son  is  the  image  of  the  Father.  4)  He 
forms  the  mediation  between  the  Father  and  the  Son,  and  is  through  the  Son 
connected  with  the  Father. 

^  Langen,  I.  c.  p.  286:  "So  hat  demnaeh  die  grosse  Trennung  zivischen  Orient 
und  Occident  in  diesem  LehrstUcke  die  Folge  gehnbt,  dass  die  Auffassung  des 
Damasceners,  gleichsam  in  der  Mitte  stehend,  von  dem  Patriarchal  Tarasius 
amtlich  approbirt  und  vom  Papste  Hadrian  I.  vertheidigt,  weder  im  Orient  noch  im 
Occident  zur  Geltung  kam.  Dort  gait  sie  als  zu  zweideulig,  und  hier  ward  sie  al» 
unzureichend  befunden." 


2  108.  AKGUMENTS  FOE  AND  AGAINST  THE  FILIOQUE.    487 

the  procession  of  the  Spirit  is  expressly  taught,  it  is  regarded 
by  the  Greeks  as  couclusive. 

(6)  The  supremacy  or  monarchia  of  the  Father.  He  is  the 
source  aud  root  of  the  Godhead.  The  Son  and  the  Spirit  are 
subordinated  to  him,  not  indeed  in  essence  or  substance  (obaia), 
which  is  one  and  the  same,  but  in  dignity  and  office.  This  is 
the  Nicene  subordinationism.  It  is  illustrated  by  the  comparison 
of  the  Father  with  the  root,  the  Son  with  the  stem,  the  Spirit 
with  the  fruit,  and  such  analogies  as  the  sun,  the  ray,  and  the 
beam ;  the  fire,  the  flame,  and  the  light. 

(c)  The  analogy  of  the  eternal  generation  of  the  Spn,  which 
is  likewise  from  the  Father  alone,  without  the  agency  of  the 
Spirit. 

(d)  The  authority  of  the  Nicene  Creed,  and  the  Greek  fathers, 
especially  Athanasius,  Gregory  Nazianzen,  Chrysostom,  Theo- 
dore of  Mopsuestia,  Theodoret  of  Cyrus,  and  John  of  Damascus. 
The  Antiochean  school  is  clearly  on  the  Greek  side ;  but  the 
Alexandrian  school  leaned  to  the  formula  through  the  Son 
(dia  zoi>  uio'j,  jjer  Filmm).  The  Greeks  claim  all  the  Greek 
fathers,  and  regard  Augustin  as  the  inventor  of  the  Latin  dog- 
ma of  the  double  procession. 

The  Latin  doctrine  is  charged  with  innovation,  and  with 
dividing  the  unity  of  the  Godhead,  or  establishing  two  sources 
of  the  Deity.  But  the  Latins  replied  that  the  procession  was 
from  one  and  the  same  source  common  to  both  the  Father  and 
the  Son. 

2.  The  Latin  theory  of  the  double  procession  is  defended 
by  the  following  arguments : 

{a)  The  passages  where  Christ  says  that  he  will  send  the  Spirit 
from  the  Father  (John  15:  26;  16:  7);  and  that  the  Father 
will  send  the  Spirit  in  Christ's  name  (14 :  26) ;  and  where  he 
breathes  the  Spirit  on  his  disciples  (20  :  22).  The  Greeks  refer 
all  these  passages  to  the  temporal  mission  of  the  Spirit,  and  un- 
derstand the  insufflation  to  be  simply  a  symbolical  act  or  sacra- 
mental   sign   of    the   pentecostal   effusion    which    Christ    had 


488  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

promised.  The  Latins  reply  that  the  procession  and  the 
mission  are  parallel  processes,  the  one  ad  intra,  the  other  ad 
extra. 

(6)  The  equality  of  essence  [b/jiooiXTca)  of  the  Father  and  Son 
to  the  exclusion  of  every  kind  of  subordinationism  (since 
Augustiu)  requires  the  double  procession.  The  Spirit  of  the 
Father  is  also  the  Spirit  of  the  Son,  and  is  termed  the  Spirit  of 
Christ.  But,  as  already  remarked,  Augustiu  admitted  that  the 
Sj)irit  proceeds  chiefly  from  the  Father,  and  this  after  all  is  a 
kind  of  subordination  of  dignity.  The  Father  has  his  being 
{ouaca)  from  himself,  the  Son  and  the  Spirit  have  it  from  the 
Father  by  way  of  derivation,  the  one  by  generation,  the  other 
by  procession. 

(c)  The  temporal  mission  of  the  Spirit  is  a  reflection  of  his 
eternal  procession.  The  Trinity  of  revelation  is  the  basis  of  all 
our  speculations  on  the  Trinity  of  essence.  We  know  the  latter 
only  from  the  former. 

(d)  The  Nicene  Creed  and  the  Nicene  fathers  did  not  under- 
stand the  procession  from  the  Father  in  an  exclusive  sense,  but 
rather  in  opposition  to  the  Pneumatomachi  who  denied  the 
divinity  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Some  Greek  fathers,  as  Epij)h- 
■anius,  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  and  John  of  Damascus,  teach  the 
Latin  doctrine.  This  is  not  the  case  exactly.  The  procession 
of  tlie  Spirit  "  through  the  Son,"  is  not  equivalent  to  the  pro- 
cession "from  the  Son,"  but  implies  a  subordination. 

(e)  The  Latin  fathers  are  in  favor  of  Filioque,  especially 
Ambrose,  Augustin,  Jerome,  Leo  I.,  Gregory  I.' 

(/)  The  insertion  of  the  Filioque  is  as  justifiable  as  the  other 
iind  larger  additions  to  the  Apostles'  Creed  and  to  the  original 
Nicene  Creed  of  325,  and  was  silently  accepted,  or  at  least  not 
objected  to  by  the  Greek  church  until  the  rivalry  of  the  Patri- 

1  Hilary  of  Poitiers  is  also  quoted,  as  he  uses  the  formula  a  Patre  el  Filio 
(Trinit.  II.  29)  as  well  as  the  other  ex  Patre  per  Filium.  Tertullian,  however, 
is  rather  on  the  Greek  side :  "  Spiritum  S.  non  aliunde  puto  quam  a  Patre  per 
Filium."     Adv.  Prax.  c  4.     So  also  Novatian,  De  Trinit. 


I  109.  THE  MONOTHELETIC  CONTEOVERSY.     489 

arch  of  Constantinople  made  it  a  polemical  weapon  against  the 
Pope  of  Kome.  To  this  the  Greeks  reply  that  the  other  addi- 
tions are  consistent  and  were  made  by  common  consent,  but  the 
Filioque  was  added  without  the  knowledge  and  against  the 
teaching  of  the  East  by  churches  (in  Spain  and  France)  which 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  original  production. 

This  controversy  of  the  middle  ages  was  raised  from  the 
tomb  by  the  Old  Catholic  Conference  held  in  Bonn,  1875,  un- 
der the  lead  of  the  learned  historian,  Dr.  Dollinger  of  Munich, 
and  attended  by  a  number  of  German  Old  Catholic,  Greek  and 
Russian,  and  high  Anglican  divines.  An  attempt  was*  made  to 
settle  the  dispute  on  the  basis  of  the  teaching  of  the  fathers  be- 
fore the  division  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  churches,  espe- 
cially the  doctrine  of  John  of  Damascus,  that  is,  the  single 
procession  of  the  Spirit  from  the  Father  mediated  through  the 
Son.  The  Filioque  was  surrendered  as  an  unauthorized  and 
unjustifiable  interpolation. 

But  the  Bonn  Conference  has  not  been  sanctioned  by  any 
ecclesiastical  authority,  and  forms  only  an  interesting  modern 
episode  in  the  history  of  this  controversy,  and  in  the  history  of 
the  Old  Catholic  communion.^ 

§  109.  Tlie  Monotheletie  Controversy. 

Literature. 

(I.)  Sources:  Documents  and  acts  of  the  first  Lateran  Synod  (649),  and 
the  sixth  oecumenical  Council  or  Concilium  Trullanum  I.,  held  in 
Constantinople  (680),  in  Maxsi,  X.  863  sqq.  and  XI.  187  sqq. 

Anastasius  (Vatican  librarian,  about  870) :  Collectanea  de  Us  quce 
spectant  ad  controv.  et  hisfor.  Monothelit.  hceret,  first  ed.  by  Sirmond, 

1  See  the  theses  of  the  Conference  in  the  Proceedings  published  by  Dr. 
Eeusch,  Bonn,  1875,  p.  80  sqq.,  and  in  Schaff's  Creeds  of  Christendom,  vol.  IL 
552  sqq.  Formerly  Dr.  Dollinger,  when  he  was  still  in  communion  with 
Rome,  gave  the  usual  one-sided  Latin  view  of  the  Filioque-controveraj,  and 
characterized  Photius  as  a  man  "  of  unbounded  ambition,  not  untouched  by 
the  corruption  of  the  court,  and  well  versed  in  all  its  arts  of  intrigue." 
Hist,  of  the  Church,  trans,  by  E.  Cor,  vol.  III.  86.  Comp.  his  remarks  on  the 
Council  of  Photius  (879),  quoted  in  ?  70,  p.  317. 


490  FOUETH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Par.  1620,  in   his   Opera,  III.,  also  in  B'lbl.  Max.  PP.  Lugd.  XII. 

833;  and  in  Gallandi,  XIII.;  also  scattered  through  vols.  X.  and 

XL  of  Mansi.    See  Migne's  ed.  of  Anastas.  in  "  Patrol.  Lat."  vols. 

127-129. 
Maximus  Confessor  :    Opera,  ed.  Combefis,  Par.  1675,  Tom.  II.  1-158, 

and  his  disputation  with  Pyrrhus,  ib.  159  sqq.     Also  in  Migne's 

reprint,  "  Patrol.  Gr."  vol.  91. 
Theopiianes:  Chronographia,  ed.  Bonn.  (1839),  p.  274  sqq. ;  ed,  Migne, 

in  vol.  108  of  his  "Patrol.  Graeca"  (1861). 
(II.)  Franc.  Combefisius  (Combefis,  a  learned  French  Dominican,  d. 

1679) :    Historia  hceresis  Monothelitarum  ac  vindicioi   actorum  Sexti 

Synodi,  in  his  Novum  Auduariwn  Patrum,  II.  3  sqq.     Par.  1648,  fol. 

1-198. 
Petavius  :  Bogm.  Theol.  Tom.  V.  1.  IX.  c.  6-10. 
Jos.    Sim.  Assemani,    in    the    fourth    vol.   of   his    Bibliotheca  Juris 

Orientalis.    Romae  1784. 
Ch.  W.  F.  Walch:  Ketzerhistorie,  vol.  IX.  1-666  (Leipzig  1780).    Very 

dry,  but  very  learned. 
Gibbon  (Ch.  47,  N.  Y.  ed.  IV.  682-686,  superficial).    Schrockh,  vol. 

XX.  386  sqq.     Neander,  III.  175-197  (Boston  ed.),  or  III.  353-398 

(Germ.  ed.).    Gieseler,  I.  537-544  (Am.  ed.). 
The  respective  sections  in  Baur  :    Gesch.  der  Lehre  v.  d.  Dreieinigkeit 

und  Menschwerdung  (Tiib.  1841-'43,  3  vols.),  vol.  II.  96-128 ;  Cor- 
ner:   Entwichlungsgesch.  der  Lehre  v.  d.  Person  Christi  (second  ed. 

1853),   II.   193-305;    Nitzsch:    Dogmengesch.    I.    325    sqq.;    and 

Hefele:    Conciliengeschichte  (revised  ed.  1877)  III.  121-313.     Also 

W.  MoLLER  in  Herzog^  X.  792-805. 

The  literature  on  the  case  of  Honorius  see  in  the  next  section. 
§  110.  The  Doctrine  of  Two   Wills  in  Christ. 

The  Monotheletic  or  one-will  controversy  is  a  continuation 
of  the  Christological  contests  of  the  post-Nicene  age,  and  closely 
connected  with  the  Monophysitic  controversy.^ 

1  The  name  Monotheletism  is  derived  from  ^dvov,  one,  and  -ds^T^fxa,  loill.  The 
heresy,  whether  expressive  of  the  teacher  or  the  doctrine,  always  gives  name 
to  the  controversy  and  the  sect  which  adopts  it.  The  champions  of  the  hereti- 
cal one-will  doctrine  arc  called  (first  by  John  of  Damascus)  Movo-&e7.r]Tai,  or 
Mowr?E?.v-a<,  Monolheletcs,  or  Monotkelites ;  the  orthodox  two-will  doctrine  is 
called  Dyotheletivn  (from  (5io  ^eh'//iaTa),  and  its  advocates  Avo^e?JjTai, 
DyotheUtes.  Tlie  corresponding  doctrines  as  to  one  nature  or  two  natures  of  the 
Redeemer  are  termed  Monophysitimi  and  Dyophysitism. 


2  110.  THE  DOCTEINE  OF  TWO  WILLS  IN  CHRIST.     491 

This  question  had  not  been  decided  by  the  ancient  fathers  and 
councils,  and  passages  from  their  writings  were  quoted  by  both 
parties.  But  in  tlie  inevitable  logic  of  theological  development 
it  had  to  be  agitated  sooner  or  later,  and  brought  to  a  couciliar 
termination. 

The  controversy  had  a  metaphysical  and  a  practical  aspect. 

The  metaphysical  and  psychological  aspect  was  the  relation  of 
will  to  nature  and  to  person.  Monotheletism  regards  the  will  as 
an  attribute  of  person,  Dyotheletism  as  an  attribute  of  nature. 
It  is  possible  to  conceive  of  an  abstract  nature  without  a  will ; 
it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  rational  human  natm-e  without 
impulse  and  will;  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  a  human  person 
without  a  will.  Reason  and  will  go  together,  and  constitute  the 
essence  of  personality.  Two  wills  cannot  coexist  in  an  ordinary 
human  being.  But  as  the  personality  of  Christ  is  complex  or 
divine-human,  it  may  be  conceived  of  as  including  two  con- 
sciousnesses and  two  wills.  The  Chalcedonian  Christology  at 
all  events  consistently  requires  two  wills  as  the  necessary  com- 
plement of  two  rational  natures  ;  in  other  words,  Dyotheletism 
is  inseparable  from  .  Dyophysitism,  while  Monotheletism  is 
equally  inseparable  from  Monophysitisra,  although  it  acknowl- 
edged the  Dyophysitism  of  Chalcedon.  The  orthodox  doctrine 
saved  the  integrity  and  completeness  of  Christ's  humanity  by 
asserting  his  human  will.^ 

The  practical  aspect  of  the  controversy  is  connected  with  the 
nature  of  the  Redeemer  and  of  redemption,  and  was  most 
prominent  with  the  leaders.     The  advocates  of  Monotheletism 

*  This  benefit,  however,  was  lost  by  the  idea  of  the  impersonality  (anhyposfasia) 
of  the  human  nature  of  Christ,  taught  by  John  of  Damascus  in  his  standard 
exposition  of  the  orthodox  Christology.  His  object  was  to  exclude  the  idea  of 
a  double  personality.  But  it  is  impossible  to  separate  reason  and  will  from 
personality,  or  to  assert  the  impersonality  of  Christ's  humanity  without  run- 
ning into  docetism.  The  most  which  can  be  admitted  is  the  Eiihypostasia,  i.  e. 
the  incorporation  or  inclusion  of  the  human  nature  of  Jesus  in  the  one  divine 
personality  of  the  Logos.  The  church  has  never  ofl5cially  committed  itself  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  impersonality. 


492  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

were  chiefly  concerned  to  guard  the  unity  of  Christ's  person 
and  work.  They  reasoned  that,  as  Christ  is  but  one  person,  he 
can  only  have  one  will ;  that  two  wills  would  necessarily  con- 
flict, as  in  man  the  will  of  the  flesh  rebels  against  the  Spirit ; 
and  that  the  sinlessness  of  Christ  is  best  secured  by  denying  to 
him  a  purely  human  will,  which  is  the  root  of  sin.  They  made 
the  pre-existing  divine  will  of  the  Logos  the  efficient  cause  of 
the  incarnation  and  redemption,  and  regarded  the  human  nature 
of  Christ  merely  as  the  instrument  through  which  he  works  and 
suffers,  as  the  rational  soul  works  through  the  organ  of  the 
body.  Some  of  them  held  also  that  in  the  perfect  state  the 
human  will  of  the  believer  will  be  entirely  absorbed  in  the 
divine  will,  which  amounts  almost  to  a  pantheistic  absorption 
of  the  human  personality  in  the  divine. 

The  advocates  of  Dyotheletism  on  the  other  hand  contended 
that  the  incarnation  must  be  complete  in  order  to  have  a  complete 
redemption  ;  that  a  complete  incarnation  implies  the  assumption 
of  the  human  will  into  union  with  the  pre-existing  divine  will 
of  the  Logos ;  that  the  human  will  is  the  originating  cause  of 
sin  and  guilt,  and  must  therefore  be  redeemed,  purified,  and 
sanctified;  that  Christ,  without  a  human  will,  could  not  have 
been  a  full  man,  could  not  have  been  tempted,  nor  have  chosen 
between  good  and  evil,  nor  performed  any  moral  and  responsi- 
ble act. 

The  Scripture  passages  quoted  by  Agatho  and  other  advocates 
of  the  two-will  doctrine,  are  Matt.  26  :  39  ("  Not  as  I  will,  but 
as  Thou  wilt ") ;  Luke  22 :  42  ("  Not  my  will,  but  thine  be 
done ") ;  John  6  :  38  ("  I  am  come  down  from  heaven,  not  to 
do  mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me ").  For 
the  human  will  were  quoted  Luke  2  :  51  ("  he  was  subject "  to 
his  parents) ;  Phil.  2:8  ("  obedient  unto  death "),  also  John 
1  :  43;  17  :  24;  19:  28  ;  Matt.  27:  34;  for  the  divine  will, 
Luke  13:  34;  John  5:  21. 

These  Scripture  passages,  which  must  in  the  end  decide  the 
controversy,  clearly  teach  the  human  will  of  Jesus,  but  the  other 


2  no.  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  TWO  WILLS  IN  CHRIST.      493 

Will  from  which  it  is  distinguished,  is  the  will  of  his  heavenly 
Father,  to  which  he  was  obedient  nnto  death.  The  orthodox 
Ita  i-plies  the  identity  of  the  divine  will  of  Chnst  w.th  the 
will  of  God  the  Father,  and  assumes  that  there  is  but  one  will 
in  the  divine  tripersonality.  It  teaches  two  natures  and  one 
person  in  Christ,  but  three  persons  and  one  nature  m  God 
Here  we  meet  the  metaphysical  and  psychological  difficulty  of 
conceiving  of  a  personality  without  a  distinct  will.  But  the 
term  personality  is  applied  to  the  Deity  in  a  unique  and  not 
easily  definable  sense.  The  three  Divine  persons  are^not  con- 
ceived as  three  individuals. 

The  weight  of  argument  and  the  logical  consistency  on  the 
basis  of  the  Chalcedonian  Dyophysitism,  which  was  ac- 
knowledged by  both  parties,  decided  in  favor  of  the  two-will 
doctrine  The  Catholic  church  East  and  West  condemned 
Monotheletism  as  a  heresy  akin  to  Monophysitism.  The  sixth 
oecumenical  Council  in  680  gave  the  final  decision  by  adopting 
the  following  addition  to  the  Chalcedonian  Christology  :  ^ 

"  4.nd  we  likewise  preach  two  natural  wills  in  him  [Jesus  Christ] ,  and 
two\ataral   operations  undivided,  inconvertible,  inseparable,  unmixed 
according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  holy  fathers  ;  and  the  ^o  "aturaW 
[are]  no?  contrary  (as  the  impious  heretics  assert  ,  far  from    t!  but  Ins 
human  will  follows  the  divine  will,  and  is  not  resisting  or  reluctant,  but 
rXr  subject  to  his  divine  and  omnipotent  will.^  For  it  was  proper 
hit  the  w  11  of  the  flesh  should  be  moved,  but  be  subjected  to  the  divine 
wi^    accord  ng  to  the  wise  Athanasius.     For  as  his  flesh  is  called  and  is 
^kXf  the  God  Logos,  so  is  also  the  natural  will  of  his  flesh  the 
proper  will  of  the  Logos,  as  he  says  himself:  '  I  came  from  heaven  not  to 
do  my  own  will  but  the  will  of  the  Father  who  sent  me    (John  6  .  38). 
.    Therefore  we  confess  two  natural  wills  and  operations,  harmoni- 
ously united  for  the  salvation  of  the  human  race."^ 

1  Actio  XVIIL.  in  Mansi,  XI.  637  ;  Gieseler,  I.  540  note  15 ;  Hefele,  IIL 

284  sQ  '      '  X       ' 

2  6ho<^vaiKa^  ^eX^aei.?  vroi  dt7.i,uara  h  avr^,  Kal  6vo  cpvamag  hepyuaQ  adtatpera,^, 
arp'ei^r^r,  a^epiaru,,  aavyxhro.,  ....  Knphrro/^^v  (dua.  naturales  voluntates  et 
duas  naturales  operationes  indivise,  inconvertibiUter,  inseparabiliter,  inconfuse  .  .  . 
praedicamus). 

acomp.the  following  passage  from  the  letter  of  Pope  A gatho  to  the  em- 
peror who  called  the  Council,  which  evidently  suggested  the  framing  of  the 


494  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  theological  contest  was  carried  on  chiefly  in  the  Eastern 
church  which  had  the  necessary  learning  and  speculative  talent ; 
but  the  final  decision  was  brought  about  by  the  weight  of 
Roman  authority,  and  Pope  Agatho  exerted  by  his  dogmatic 
epistle  the  same  controlling  influence  over  the  sixth  oecumenical 
Council,  as  Pope  Leo  I.  had  exercised  over  the  fourth.  In 
this  as  well  as  the  older  theological  controversies  the  Roman 
popes — with  the  significant  exception  of  Honorius — stood  firmly 
on  the  side  of  orthodoxy,  while  the  j)atriarchal  sees  of  the  East 
were  alternately  occupied  by  heretics  as  well  as  orthodox. 

The  Dyotheletic  decision  completes  the  Christology  of  the 
Greek  and  Roman  churches,  and  passed  from  them  into  the 
Protestant  churches ;  but  while  the  former  have  made  no  further 
progress  in  this  dogma,  the  latter  allows  a  revision  and  recon- 
struction, and  opened  new  avenues  of  thought  in  the  contem- 
plation of  the  central  fact  and  truth  of  the  divine-human 
personality  of  Christ. 

§  111.  History  of  Monothehtism  and  Dyotheletism. 

The  triumph  of  Dyotheletism  was  the  outcome  of  a  bitter 
conflict  of  nearly  fifty  years  (633  to  680).  The  first  act  reaches 
to  the  issue  of  the  Ekthesis  (638),  the  second  to  the  issue  of  the 
Type  (648),  the  third  and  last  to  the  sixth  cecumenical  Council 
(680).  The  theological  leaders  of  Monophysitism  were  Theo- 
dore, bishop  of  Phnran  in  Arabia  (known  to  us  only  from  a 
few   fragments   of    his   writings),  Sergius    and   his   successors 

decision  (Mansi,  XI.  239;  Gieseler,  I.  540;  Hefele,  III.  255):  "  Ckm  duos 
autem  naturas  duasque  naturales  voluntates,  et  duas  natwrales  operationes  confikmur 
in  uno  Domino  noslro  J.  Ch.,  non  contrarias  eas,  nee  adversas  ad  alterutrum 
didmus  (sicut  a  via  veritatis  errantes  apostolicam  traditionem  accusant,  absit  hcee 
impietas  a  fidelium  cordibus),  nee  tanquam  separatas  in  duahus  personis  vel  sub- 
sistenliis,  sed  duas  dicimus  unum  eundemque  Dominum  nostrum  J.  Ch.,  sicut 
naturas,  ita  et  naturales  in  se  voluntates  et  operationes  habere,  divinam  scilicet  et 
humnnam :  divinam  quidem  voluntatem  et  operationem  habere  ex  ceterno  cum  coes- 
sentiali  Patre  communem  ;  humanam  temporaliter  ex  nobis  cum  nostra  natura  sus- 
ceptam."  Agatho  quotes  Scripture  passages  and  testimonies  of  tlie  fathers,  but 
does  not  define  the  mode  in  which  the  two  wills  co-operate. 


§  111.  MONOTHELETISM  AND  DYOTHELETISM.   495 

Pyrrhus  and  Paul  in  the  j)atriarchal  see  of  Constantinople,  and 
Cyrus,  patriarch  of  Alexandria ;  the  political  leaders  were  the 
Emperors  Heraclius  and  Constans  II. 

The  champions  of  the  Dyotheletic  doctrine  were  Sophronius 
of  Palestine,  Maxiraus  of  Constantinople,  and  the  popes  Martin 
and  Agatho  of  Kome ;  the  political  supporter,  the  Emperor 
Constantine  Pogonatus  (668-685). 

1.  The  strife  began  in  a  political  motive,  but  soon  assumed  a 
theological  and  religious  aspect.  The  safety  of  the  Byzantine 
empire  was  seriously  threatened,  first  by  the  Persians,  and  then 
by  the  Arabs,  and  the  danger  was  increased  by  the  division 
among  Christians.  The  Emperor  Heraclius  (610-640)  after 
his  return  from  the  Persian  campaign  desired  to  conciliate  the 
Monophysites,  who  were  more  numerous  than  the  orthodox  in 
Armenia,  Syria,  and  Egypt.^  He  hoped,  by  a  union  of  the 
parties,  to  protect  these  countries  more  effectually  against  the 
Mohammedan  invaders.  The  Monophysites  took  offence  at  the 
catholic  inference  of  two  energies  {iuipyscac)  in  the  person  of 
Christ.  The  emperor  consulted  Sergius,  the  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople (since  610),  who  was  of  Syrian  (perhaps  Jacobite) 
descent.  They  agreed  upon  the  compromise-formula  of  "  one 
divine-human  energy"  {juca  ^eavdpr/rj  evipYZca)?  Sergius 
secured  the  consent  of  Pope  Honorius  (625-638),  who  was 
afterwards  condemned  for  heresy.  Cyrus,  the  orthodox  patri- 
arch of  Alexandria,  published  the  formula  (633),  and  converted 
thousands  of  Monophysites.^ 

But  Soplironius,  a  learned  and  venerable  monk  in  Palestine^ 

1  In  Egypt  the  Monophysitic  or  national  Coptic  church  numbered  between 
five  and  six  millions,  the  orthodox  and  imperial  party  only  three  hundred 
thousand  heads.  Eenaudot,  Hist.  Patriarch.  Alexandr.  lacob.  (Par.,  1713),  p. 
163  sq.,  as  quoted  by  Hefele,  III.  130. 

"^  The  phrase  was  borrowed  from  the  mystic  writings  of  Dionysius  Areopa- 
gita  {Epist.  IV.  ad  Cajum).  Maximus,  who  was  an  admirer  of  Pseudo-Diony- 
sius,  gave  this  passage  and  a  similar  one  from  Cyril  of  Alexandria  a  different 
meaning.     See  Hefele,  III.  129. 

2  See  the  nine  chapters  of  Cyrus  in  Mansi,  XI.  563,  and  Hefele,  III.  138. 


496  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

who  happened  to  be  in  Alexandria  at  that  time,  protested  against 
the  compromise-formula  as  a  cunning  device  of  the  Monophy- 
sites.  When  he  became  patriarch  of  Jerusalem  (in  633  or  634), 
he  openly  confessed,  in  a  synodical  letter  to  the  patriarchs,  the 
doctrine  of  Dyotheletism  as  a  necessary  part  of  the  Chalcedonian 
Christology.  It  is  one  of  the  most  important  documents  in  this 
controversy/ 

A  few  years  afterwards,  the  Saracens  besieged  and  conquered 
Jerusalem  (637) ;  Sophronius  died  and  was  succeeded  by  a 
Monotheletic  bishop. 

In  the  year  638  the  Emperor  issued,  as  an  answer  to  the 
manifesto  of  Sophronius,  an  edict  drawn  up  by  Sergius,  under 
the  title  Exposition  of  the  Faith  {txd-eac^  x7^z  TTcazsco^),  which 
commanded  silence  on  the  subject  in  dispute,  but  pretty  clearly 
decided  in  favor  of  Monotheletism.  It  first  professes  the  ortho- 
dox doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  incarnation  in  the  Chalcedonian 
sense,  and  then  forbids  the  use  of  the  terms  "one"  or  "two 
energies"  (fica  or  duo  Ivspyetai),  since  both  are  heretically  inter- 
preted, and  asserts  one  will  (d-iXyj/ia)  in  Christ.^ 

2.  Two  synods  of  Constantinople  (638  and  639)  adopted  the 
Ekthesis.  But  in  the  remote  provinces  it  met  with  powerful 
resistance.  Maximus  Confessor  became  the  champion  of  Dyo- 
theletism in  the  Orient  and  North  Africa,  and  Pope  Martinus  I. 
in  the  West.  They  thoroughly  understood  the  controversy,  and 
had  the  courage  of  martyrs  for  their  conviction. 

Maximus  was  born  about  580  of  a  distinguished  family  in 
Constantinople,  and  was  for  some  time  private  secretary  of  the 
Emperor  Heraclius,  but  left  this  post  of  honor  and  influence  in 
630,  and  entered  a  convent  in  Chrysopolis  (now  Scutari).  He 
was  a  profound  thinker  and  able  debater.  AVhen  the  Monothe- 
letic heresy  spread,  he  concluded  to  proceed  to  Rome,  and  pass- 
ing through  Africa  he  held  there,  in  the  presence  of  the  imperial 

^  It  is  preserved  in  the  acts  of  the  sixth  oecumenical  council.     See  Mansi, 
XV.  461-508 ;  and  Hefele,  III.  159-166. 
2  Mansi,  X.  991  sq.;  Hefele,  III.  179  sq. 


§  111.  MONOTHELETISM  AND  DYOTHELETISM.   497 

governor  and  many  bishops,  a  remarkable  disputation  with 
Pyrrhus,  who  had  succeeded  Sergius  in  the  see  of  Constantino- 
ple, but  was  deposed  and  expelled  for  political  reasons.  This 
disputation  took  place  in  July,  645,  but  we  do  not  know  in 
what  city  of  Africa.  It  sounded  all  the  depths  of  the  contro- 
versy, and  ended  with  the  tem]3orary  conversion  of  Pyrrhus  to 
Dyotheletism.^ 

About  the  same  time,  several  North-African  synods  declared 
in  favor  of  the  Dyotheletic  doctrine. 

In  the  year  648  the  Emperor  Constans  II.  (642-668)  tried 
in  vain  to  restore  peace  by  means  of  a  new  edict  called  Typos 
or  Type,  which  commanded  silence  on  the  subject  under  dispute 
without  giving  the  preference  to  either  view.^  It  set  aside  the 
Ekthesis,  and  declared  in  favor  of  neutrality.  The  aim  of  both 
edicts  was  to  arrest  the  controversy  and  to  prevent  a  christologi- 
cal  development  beyond  the  fourth  and  fifth  oecumenical  coun- 
cils. But  the  Type  was  more  consistent  in  forbidding  all  con- 
troversy not  only  about  one  energy  {pia  iuipyeca),  but  also  about 
one  will  (i'v  d-eXrjiJ.a).  Transgressors  of  the  Type  were  threat- 
ened with  deposition ;  if  clergymen,  with  excommunication ;  if 
monks,  with  the  loss  of  dignity  and  place,  of  military  or  civil 
officers. 

3.  An  irrepressible  conflict  cannot  be  silenced  by  imperial 
decrees.  Pope  Martin  I.,  formerly  Apocrisiarios  of  the  papal 
see  at  Constantinople,  and  distinguished  for  virtue,  knowledge 
and  personal  beauty,  soon  after  his  election  (July  5th,  649), 

1  The  disputation  is  printed  in  the  Opera  of  Maximus,  ed.  Combefis,  II.  159 
sqq.,  and  Migne,  I.  287  sqq.  Compare  Walch,  IX.  203  sqq.,  and  Hefele,  III. 
190-204.  The  report  in  Mansi,  X.  709-760,  is  full  of  typographical  errors  (as 
Hefele  says).  Maximus  dealt  in  nice  metaphysical  distinctions,  as  ^kXTjaiQt 
P'ov2,7]aLCj  evepyeia,  ^ovT^evriKov  •^eXrifza,  VTvoaTartKov,  i^ovaiacriKov,  ■KpoaipiriKov, 
yvb)/iiK6v,  mKovojiiKdv.  Pyrrhus  returned  afterwards  to  the  see  of  Constantinople 
and  adopted  the  absurd  theory  of  three  wills  in  Christ,  one  personal  and  two 
natural. 

'  Also  called  rvnoq  nepl  nicTEu^.  In  Mansi,  X.  1029;  Walch,  IX.  167;  Hefele, 
III.  210;  also  Gieseler,  I.  539,  note  9.     The   Tijpos  was  composed  by  Paul, 
the  second  successor  of  Sergius,  who  had  written  the  Ekthesis. 
32 


498  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1019. 

assembled  the  first  Lateran  Council  (Oct.,  649),  so  called  from 
being  held  in  the  Lateran  basilica  in  Eome.  It  was  attended 
by  one  hundred  and  five  bishops,  anathematized  the  one-will 
doctrine  and  the  t^vo  imperial  edicts,  and  solemnly  sanctioned 
the  two-will  doctrine.  It  anticipated  substantially  the  decision 
of  the  sixth  oecumenical  council,  and  comes  next  to  it  in  au- 
thority on  this  article  of  faith.^ 

The  acts  of  this  Roman  council,  together  with  an  encyclical 
of  the  pope  warning  against  the  Ekthesis  and  the  Type,  were 
sent  to  all  parts  of  the  Christian  world.  At  the  same  time,  the 
pope  sent  a  Greek  translation  of  the  acts  to  the  Emperor  Con- 
stans  II.,  and  politely  informed  him  that  the  Synod  had  con- 
firmed the  true  doctrine,  and  condemned  the  heresy.  Theodore 
of  Pharan,  Sergius,  Pyrrhus,  and  Paul  us  had  violated  the  full 
humanity  of  Christ,  and  deceived  the  emperors  by  the  Ekthesis 
and  the  Type. 

But  th-e  emperor,  through  his  representative,  Theodore  Cal- 
liopa,  the  exarch  of  Ravenna,  deposed  the  pope  as  a  rebel  and 
heretic,  and  removed  him  from  Rome  (June,  G53).  He  im- 
prisoned him  with  common  criminals  in  Constantinople,  exposed 
him  to  cold,  hunger,  and  all  sorts  of  injuries,  and  at  last  sent 
him  by  ship  to  a  cavern  in  Cherson  on  the  Black  Sea  (March, 
655).  Martin  bore  this  cruel  treatment  with  dignity,  and  died 
Sept,  16,  655,  in  exile,  a  martyr  to  his  faith  in  the  doctrine  of 
two  wnlls. 

Maximus  was  likewise  transported  to  Constantinople  (653), 
and  treated  with  even  greater  cruelty.  He  was  (Avith  two  of  his 
disciples)  confined  in  prison  for  several  years,  scourged,  deprived 
of  his  tongue  and  right  hand,  and  thus  mutilated  sent,  in  his 
old  age,  to  Lazica  in  Colchis  on  the  Pontus  Euxinus,  where  he 
died  of  these  injuries,  Aug.  13,  662.  His  two  companions  like- 
wise died  in  exile. 

The  persecution  of  these  martyrs  prepared  the  way  for  the 

^  See  the  acts  in  Mansi,  X.,  and  Hefele,  III.  212-230. 


I  112.  THE  SIXTH  CECUMENICAL  COUNCIL.  499 

triumph   of  their    doctrine.     In  the  meantime  province  after 
province  was  conquered  by  the  Saracens. 

§  112.   Hie  Sixth  (Ecumenical  Council.     A.D.  680. 

Constans  II.  was  murdered  in  a  bath  at  Syracuse  (668).  His 
son,  Constantine  IV.  Pogonatus  (Barbatus,  668-685),  changed 
the  policy  of  his  father,  and  wished  to  restore  harmony  between 
the  East  and  the  West.  He  stood  on  good  or  neutral  terms 
with  Pope  Vitalian  (657-672),  who  maintained  a  prudent  silence 
on  the  disputed  question,  and  with  his  successors,  Adeodatus 
(672-676),  Bonus  or  Domnus  (076-678),  and  Agatho  (678-681). 

After  sufficient  preparations,  he  called,  in  concert  with  Aga- 
tho, a  General  Council.  It  convened  in  the  imperial  palace  at 
Constantinople,  and  held  eighteen  sessions  from  Nov.  7, 680,  to 
Sept.  16,  681.  It  is  called  the  Sixth  (Ecumenical,  and  also  the 
First  Trullan  Synod,  from  the  name  of  the  hall  or  chapel  in  the 
palace.^  The  highest  number  of  members  in  attendance  was 
one  hundred  and  seventy-four,  including  three  papal  legates 
(two  priests  and  one  deacon).  The  emperor  presided  in  person, 
surrounded  by  civil  and  ecclesiastical  dignitaries.  The  acts  are 
preserved  in  the  Greek  original  and  in  two  old  Latin  versions.^ 

After  a  full  discussion  of  the  subject  on  both  sides,  the  coun- 
cil, in  the  eighteenth  and  last  session,  defined  and  sanctioned 
the  two-will  doctrine,  almost  in  the  very  language  of  the  letter 
of  Pope  Agatho  to  the  emperor.^  Macarius,  the  patriarch  of 
Alexandria,  who  adhered  to  Monotheletism,  was  deposed. 

The  epistle  of  Agatho  is  a  worthy  sequel  of  Leo's  Epistle 
to  the  Chalcedonian  Council,  and  equally  clear  and  precise 
in  stating  the  orthodox  view.     It  is  also  remarkable  for  the 

1  Tpoi/.Aov  or  Ipovlliov,  Trullum,  Trulla,  Trullus,  a  technical  terra  for  build- 
ings with  a  cupola.  The  Acts  say  that  the  sessions  were  held  h  tC,  cEKpert^ 
Tov  ^emv  iTa2ariov,.TO)  ovru  leyoiievu  TpovAAw,  and  Anastasius:  "in  basilica, 
qiUB  Trullus  appellatur,  intra  palatium." 

2  Mansi,  XI.  195-922.     See  a  full  account  in  Hefele,  III.  252-313. 
»  See  above,  ?  110,  p.  493  sq. 


500  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

confidence  with  which  it  claims  infallibility  for  the  Roman 
church,  in  spite  of  the  monotheletic  heresy  of  Pope  Houorius 
(who  is  prudently  ignored).  Agatho  quotes  the  Avords  of 
Christ  to  Peter,  Luke  22:  31,  32,  in  favor  of  papal  infallibility, 
anticipating,  as  it  were,  the  Vatican  decision  of  1870.^ 

But  while  the  council  fully  endorsed  the  dyotheletic  view  of 
Agatho,  and  clothed  it  with  oecumenical  authority,  it  had  no 
idea  of  endorsing  his  claim  to  papal  infallibility;  on  the  con- 
trary, it  expressly  condemned  Pope  Honorius  I.  as  a  Monothe- 
letic heretic,  together  with  Sergius,  Cyrus,  Pyrrhus,  Paulus, 
Petrus,  and  Theodore  of  Pharan. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  council,  the  emperor  pub- 
lished the  decision,  with  an  edict  enforcing  it  and  anathemati- 
zing all  heretics  from  Simon  Magus  down  to  Theodore  of  Pha- 
ran, Sergius,  Pope  Honorius,  who  in  all  was  their  follower  and 
associate,  and  confirmed  the  heresy.^  The  edict  forbids  any  one 
hereafter  to  teach  the  doctrine  of  one  will  and  one  energy  under 
penalty  of  deposition,  confiscation,  and  exile. 

Pope  Agatho  died  Jan.  10,  682;  but  his  successor,  Leo  II., 
who  was  consecrated  Aug.  17  of  the  same  year,  confirmed  the 
sixth  council,  and  anathematized  all  heretics,  including  his  pre- 
decessor, Honorius,  who,  instead  of  adorning  the  apostolic  see, 
dared  to  prostitute  its  immaculate  faith  by  profane  treason,  and 
all  who  died  in  the  same  error.' 

§  113.  The  Heresy  of  Honorius. 

J.  VON  DOLLINGER  (Old  Oath.) :  Papstfaheln  des  Miftelalters.  Miinchen, 
1863.  The  same  translated  by  A.  Plummer:  Fables  respecting  the 
Popes  in  the  Middle  Ages;  Am  ed.  enlarged  by  Henry  B.  Smith,  N. 
York,  1872.  (The  case  of  Honorius  is  discussed  on  pp.  223-248 
Am.  ed. ;  see  German  ed.  p.  131  sqq.). 

*  Comp.  Creeds  of  Christendom,  I.  163  and  187. 

*  Tov  Kara  navra  rnvroig  avvaiptr7]v  kol  ci'i'6po/iov  /cat  (if^aiurtp  rijg  a'lpcdEu^. 

'  "  Honorium  \^anathematizamus'\  qui  hanc  apostolicam  sedem  nan  apostolicce  tra- 
ditionis  doctrina  lustravit,  sed  pro/ana  proditione  immacvlatam  fidem  subverfere 
eonntus  est,  et  omne^  qui  in  suo  errore  defuncti  sunt."  Mansi,  XI.  731 ;  Hefele, 
III.  289.     See  2  113. 


§  113.  THE  HERESY  OF  HONOEIUS.  501 

SCHNEEMANN  ( Jesuit) :  Studien  iiber  die  Honoriusfraye.  Freiburg  i.  B. 
1864. 

Paul  Bottala  (S.  J.):  Pope  Honorius  before  the  Tribunal  of  Reason 
and  History.    London,  1868. 

P.  Le  Page  Rekouf  :  The  Condemnation  of  Pope  Honorius.    Lond.,  1868. 

The  Case  of  Honorius  reconsidered.     Lond.  1870. 

Maret  (E,.  C.)  :  Du  Condi  et  de  lapaixrelir/.     Par.  1869. 

A.  Gratry  (R.  C):  Four  Letters  to  the  Bishop  of  Orleans  (Dupanloup) 
and  the  Archbishop  of  Malines  (Dechanips),  1870.  Several  editions 
in  French,  German,  English.  He  wrote  against  papal  infallibility, 
but  recanted  on  his  death-bed. 

A.  DE  Margerie  :  Lettre  au  B.  P.  Gratry  sur  le  Pape  Honorius  et  le 
Breviaire  Romain.     Nancy,  1870. 

Jos.  VON  Hefele  (Bishop  of  Eottenburg  and  Member  of  tlie  Vatican 
Council):  Causa  Honorii  Papce.  Neap.,  1870.  Honorius  und  das 
sechste  allgemeine  Condi.  Tubingen,  1870.  (The  same  translated 
by  Henry  B.  Smith  in  the  "  Presbyt.  Quarterly  and  Princeton 
Review,"  N.  York,  April,  1872,  p.  273  sqq.).  Condliengeschichte,  Bd. 
III.  (revised  ed.,  1877),  pp.  145  sqq.,  167  sqq.,  290  sqq. 

Jos.  Pennachi  (Prof,  of  Church  Hist,  in  the  University  of  Rome) :  De 
Honorii  I.  Romani  Pontificis  causa  in  Coneilio  VI.  ad  Patres  Concilii 
Vaticani.  Romae,  1870.  287  pp.  Hefele  calls  this  the  most  impor- 
tant vindication  of  Honorius  from  the  infallibilist  standpoint.  It 
was  distributed  among  all  the  members  of  the  Vatican  Council ; 
while  books  in  opposition  to  papal  infallibility  by  Bishop  Hefele, 
Archbishop  Kenrick,  and  others,  had  to  be  printed  outside  of  Roma 
A.  RucKGABER :  Die  Irrlehre  des  Honorius  und  das  Vatic.  Condi.  Stutt- 
gart, 1871. 
Comp.  the  literature  in  Hergenrothee  ;  Kirchengesch.,  III.  137  sqq. 

The  connection  of  Pope  Honorius  I.  (Oct,  27,  625,  to  Oct. 
12,  638)  with  the  Monotheletic  heresy  has  a  special  interest  in 
its  bearing  upon  the  dogma  of  papal  infallibility,  which  stands 
or  falls  with  a  single  official  error,  according  to  the  principle : 
Si  falsus  in  uno,  falsus  in  omnibus.  It  was  fully  discussed  by 
Catholic  scholars  on  both  sides  before  and  during  the  Vatican 
Council  of  1870,  which  proclaimed  that  dogma,  but  could  not 
alter  the  lacts  of  history.  The  following  points  are  established 
by  the  best  documentary  evidence : 

1.  Honorius  taught  and  favored  in  several  official  letters  (to 
Sergius,  Cyrus,  and  Sophronius),  therefore  ex  cathedra,  the  one- 
will  heresy.     He  fully  agreed  with  Sergius,  the  Monotheletic 


502  FOURTH  PEEIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

patriarch  of  Cuustantinople.  In  answer  to  his  first  letter  (G34), 
he  says:  "Therefore  we  confess  one  will  (SiX'/^fia,  voluntas)  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." '  He  viewed  the  will  as  an  attribute 
of  person,  not  of  nature,  and  reasoned:  One  wilier,  therefore 
only  one  will.  In  a  second  letter  to  Sergius,  he  rejects  both  the 
orthodox  phrase :  "  two  energies,"  and  the  heterodox  phrase : 
"one  energy"  (kvipyzca,  ojjeratlo),  and  affirms  that  the  Bible 
clearly  teaches  two  natures,  but  that  it  is  quite  vain  to  ascribe 
to  the  Mediator  between  God  and  man  one  or  two  energies ;  for 
Clirist  by  virtue  of  his  one  theandric  will  showed  many  modes 
of  operation  and  activity."  The  first  letter  was  decidedly  here- 
tical, the  second  was  certainly  not  orthodox,  and  both  occasioned 
and  favored  the  imjjerial  Ektliesis  (638)  and  Type  (648),  in  their 
vain  attempt  to  reconcile  the  Monophysites  by  suppressing  the 
Dyotheletic  doctrine.^ 

1  8i?£v  KoX  iv  ^eXrf/xa  ofioTioyovfiev  tov  Kvplov  'I^o.  Xp. — unde  et  unam  volunia- 
tatem  faiemur  Domini  nostri  lesu  Christi.  Mansi,  XI.  538  sqq. ;  Hefele,  III. 
146  sq. 

"  Mansi,  p.  579 ;   Hefele,  p.  166  sq. 

3  The  same  view  is  taken  by  Neander,  the  fairest  among  Protestant,  and  by 
Dollinger,  the  most  learned  of  modern  Catholic,  historians.  Neander  (III. 
179,  E.  ed. ;  III.  3G0,  Germ,  ed.)  says:  "Honorius,  in  two  letters,  declared 
his  entire  concurrence  [erkldrte  sieh  gam  iibereinstimmend)  with  the  views  of 
Sergius,  and  wrote  also  in  the  same  terms  to  Cyrus  and  Sophronius.  He  too 
was  afraid  of  logical  determinations  on  such  matters.  It  seemed  to  him  alto- 
gether necessary  to  suppose  but  one  will  in  Christ,  as  it  was  impossible  to  con- 
ceive, in  him,  any  strife  between  the  human  and  divine  will  such  as  by  reason 
of  sin  exists  in  men."  ["It  seemed  to  him,  as  well  as  to  Sergius,  that  a  du- 
plicity of  will  in  one  and  the  same  subject  could  not  subsist  without  opposition." 
From  the  foot-note.]  "He  approved,  indeed,  of  the  accommodation  (oluovouia), 
whereby  the  patriarcli  Cyru.s  had  brought  about  the  re-union  of  the  Monophy- 
sites witli  the  Catholic  Church.  But  as  hitherto  no  public  decision  of  the 
church  had  spoken  of 'one  mode  of  working,'  or  of  'two  modes  of  working'  of 
Christ,  it  seemed  to  him  the  safest  cour.se,  that  in  future  such  expressions 
should  be  avoided,  as  the  one  might  lead  to  Eutychianism,  the  other  to  Nes- 
torianisra.  He  reckoned  this  whole  question  among  the  unprofitable  subtilties 
which  endanger  the  interests  of  piety.  Men  should  be  content  to  hold  fast  to 
this,  in  -accordance  with  the  hitherto  established  doctrine  of  the  church,  that 
the  self-same  Christ  works  that  which  is  divine  and  human  in  both  his  na- 
tures. Those  other  quc^slions  sliniild  be  left  to  the  grnmmarians  in  the  schools. 
If  the  Holy  Spirit  operates  in  t!ie  faithful,  as  St.  Paul  says,  in  manifold  ways, 


§  113.  THE  HERESY  OF  HONOEIUS.  503 

The  only  tliiiig  which  may  and  must  be  said  in  his  excuse  is 
that  the  question  was  then  new  and  not  yet  properly  understood. 
He  was,  so  to  say,  an  innocent  heretic  before  the  chm^ch  liad 
pronounced  a  decision.  As  soon  as  it  appeared  that  the  ortho- 
dox dogma  of  two  natures  required  the  doctrme  of  two  wills, 
and  that  Christ  could  not  be  a  full  man  without  a  human  will, 
the  popes  changed  the  position,  and  Honorius  would  probably 
have  done  the  same  had  he  lived  a  few  years  longer. 

Various  attempts  have  been  made  by  papal  historians  and 
controversialists  to  save  the  orthodoxy  of  Honorius  in  order  to 
save  the  dogma  of  papal  infallibility.  Some  pronounce  his 
letters  to  be  a  later  Greek  forgery.^  Others  admit  their  genu- 
ineness, but  distort  them  into  an  orthodox  sense  by  a  non- 
natural  exegesis.^  Still  others  maintain,  at  the  expense  of  his 
knowledge  and  logic,  that  Honorius  was  orthodox  at  heart,  but 
heretical,  or  at  least  very  unguarded  in  his  expressions.^  But 
we  have  no  means  to  judge  of  his  real  sentiment  except  his  own 
language,  w^hich  is  unmistakably  Mouotheletic.      And  this  is 

how  much  more  must  this  hold  good  of  the  Head  himself!"  Neander  adds  in 
a  note:  "Although  the  theory  of  two  modes  of  working"  [which  is  the  ortho- 
dox doctrine]  "lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  very  thing  he  here  asserts,  yet  he 
carefully  avoided  expressing  this."  In  the  same  sense,  Dr.  Bollinger,  when 
still  in  communion  with  Rome,  stated  the  doctrine  of  Honorius,  and  said 
(Fabks  of  the  Popes,  p.  226,  Am.  ed.) :  "  This  doctrine  of  Honorius,  so  welcome 
to  Sergius  and  the  other  favorers  and  supporters  of  Monotheletism,  led  to  the 
two  imperial  edicts,  the  Ekihesis  and  the  Typus.'' 

1  Bellarmin,  and  Bishop  Bartholus  (Bartoli)  of  Feltre,  who  questioned  also 
the  integrity  of  the  letters  of  Sergius  to  Honorius  (in  his  Apol.  pro  Honorio  L, 
1750,  as* quoted  by  Bollinger,  p.  253,  and  Hefele,  III.  142).  Bellinger  de- 
clares this  to  be  "  a  lamentable  expedient." 

2  So  Perrone,  Pennachi,  Manning.  These  divines  presume  to  know  better 
than  the  infallilale  Pope  Leo  II.,  who  ex  cathedra  denounced  Honorius  as  a 
heretic. 

3  So  Pope  John  IV.  (640-642),  who  apologized  for  his  predecessor  that  he 
merely  meant  to  reject  the  notion  of  two  mutually  opposing  wills,  as  if  Christ 
had  a  will  tainted  with  sin  (Mansi,  X.  683).  But  nobody  dreamed  of  ascribing 
a  sinful  will  to  Christ.  Bishop  Hefele  and  Cardinal  Hergenrother  resort 
6ubstantially  to  the  same  apology ;  see  notes  at  the  end  of  this  section. 


504  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

the  verdict  not  only  of  Protestants/  but  also  of  Gallican  and 
other  liberal  Catholic  historians.^ 

2.  Honorius  was  condemned  by  the  sixth  cecumenical  Council 
as  "  the  former  pope  of  Old  Rome,"  who  with  the  help  of  the 
<Dld  serpent  had  scattered  deadly  error.^  This  anathema  was 
repeated  by  the  seventh  oecumenical  Council,  787,  and  by  the 
eighth,  869.  The  Greeks,  who  were  used  to  heretical  patriarchs 
of  New  Rome,  Antioch,  and  Alexandria,  felt  no  surprise,  and 
perhaps  some  secret  satisfaction  at  the  heresy  of  a  pope  of  Old 
Rome. 

Here  again  ultramontane  historians  have  resorted  to  the  im- 
possible denial  either  of  the  genuineness  of  the  act  of  condemna- 
tion in  the  sixth  oecumenical  Council,^  or  of  the  true  meaning  of 
■that  act.^  The  only  consistent  way  for  papal  infallibilists  is  to 
deny  the  infallibility  of  the  oecumenical  Council  as  regards  the 
dogmatic  fact.*"  In  this  case  it  would  involve  at  the  same  time 
a  charge  of  gross  injustice  to  Honorius. 

3.  But  this  last  theory  is  refuted  by  the  popes  themselves, 
who  condemned  Honorius  as  a  heretic,  and  thus  bore  testi- 
mony for  papal  fallibility.  His  first  successor,  Severinus,  had 
a  brief  pontificate  of  only  three  months.  His  second  suc- 
cessor, John  IV.,  apologized  for  him  by  putting  a  forced  con- 

*  Walch,  Neander,  Gieseler,  Baur,  Dorner,  Kurtz,  etc.     See  note  on  p.  502. 
2  Richer,  Dupin,  Bossuet,  Dollinger. 

8  Mansi,  XI.  622,  635,  655,  666. 

*  Baronius  (Ad  ann.  633  and  681),  and  Pighius  {Diatribe  de  Actis  VL  et 
VIL  Concil). 

^  As  a  condemnation,  not  of  the  heresy  of  Honorius,  but  of  his  negligence 
in  suppressing  heresy  by  his  counsel  of  silence  {oh  imprudentem  silentii  cecono- 
miam).  So  the  Jesuit  Gamier,  De  Honorii  et  concilii  VI.  caiisa,  in  an  appendix 
to  his  edition  of  the  Liber  diurnus  Romanorum  pontificum,  quoted  by  Ilefele 
(III.  175),  who  takes  the  trouble  of  refuting  tliis  view  by  three  arguments. 

®  An  error  not  in  the  dogmatic  definition,  but  in  facto  dogmatico-  It  is  argued 
tliat  an  ecumenical  council  as  well  as  a  pope  may  err  in  matters  de  facto, 
though  not  de  fide  and  dejure.  This  view  was  taken  by  Anastasius,  the  papal 
librarian.  Cardinal  Turrecremata,  Bellarmin,  Pallavicino,  Melchior  Canus, 
Jos.  Sim.  Assemani,  and  recently  by  Professor  Pennachi.  See  Hefele,  III. 
174,  note  4. 


§  113.  THE  HERESY  OF  HONOEIUS.  505 

struction  on  his  language.  Agatlio  prudently  ignored  hini.^ 
But  his  successor,  Leo  II.,  who  translated  the  acts  of  the  sixth 
Council  from  Greek  into  Latin,  saw  that  he  could  not  save  the 
honor  of  Honorius  without  contradicting  the  verdict  of  the 
council  in  which  the  papal  delegates  had  taken  part ;  and  there- 
fore he  expressly  condemned  him  in  the  strongest  language, 
both  in  a  letter  to  the  Greek  emperor  and  in  a  letter  to  the 
bishops  of  Spain,  as  a  traitor  to  the  Roman  church  for  trying 
to  subvert  her  immaculate  fate.  Not  only  so,  but  the  condem- 
nation of  the  unfortunate  Honorius  was  inserted  in  the  confes- 
sion of  faith  which  every  newly-elected  pope  had  to 'sign  down 
to  the  eleventh  century,  and  which  is  embodied  in  the  Liber 
Diurnus,  i.  e.  the  official  book  of  formulas  of  the  Roman  church 
for  the  use  of  the  papal  curia.^  In  the  editions  of  the  Roman 
Breviary  down  to  the  sixteenth  century  his  name  appears,  yet 
without  title  and  without  explanation,  along  with  the  rest  wdio 
had  been  condemned  by  the  sixth  Council.  But  the  precise 
facts  were  gradually  forgotten,  and  the  mediseval  chroniclers 
and  lists  of  popes  ignore  them.  After  the  middle  of  the  six- 
teenth century  the  case  of  Honorius  again  attracted  attention, 
and  was  urged  as  an  irrefutable  argument  against  the  ultramon- 
tane theory.  At  first  the  letter  of  Leo  II.  was  boldly  rejected 
as  a  forgery  as  well  as  those  of  Honorius ;  ^  but  this  was  made 
impossible  when  the  Liber  Diurnus  came  to  light. 

The  verdict  of  history,  after  the  most  thorough  investigation 
from  all  sides  and  by  all  parties  remains  unshaken.  The  whole 
church,  East  and  West,  as   represented  by  the  official  acts  of 

^  Or  rather  lie  told  an  untruth  when  he  declared  that  all  popes  had  done 
their  duty  with  regard  to  false  doctrine. 

■•'  In  this  Confession  the  popes  are  required  to  anathematize  "  Sergium  .... 
una  cum  Honor  io,  qui  pravis  eorum  assertionibus  f omentum  impendit"  Lib.  Diurn. 
cap.  II.  tit.  9,  profepsio  2.  The  oath  was  probably  pre^^cribed  by  Gregory  II. 
at  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century. 

*  Baronius  rejects  the  letter  of  Leo  II.  as  spurious,  Bellarmin  as  corrupted. 
Bower  {History  of  th<'.  Popes)  remarks:  "Nothing  but  the  utmost  despair 
could  have  suggested  to  the  annalist  (Baronius)  so  desperate  a  shift." 


506  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

oecumenical  Councils  and  Popes,  for  several  hundred  years  be- 
lieved that  a  Roman  bishop  may  err  ex  cathedra  in  a  question 
of  faith,  and  that  one  of  them  at  least  had  so  erred  in  fact. 
The  Vatican  Council  of  1870  decreed  papal  infallibility  in  the 
face  of  this  fact,  thus  overruling  history  by  dogmatic  authority. 
The  Protestant  historian  can  in  conscience  only  follow  the  op- 
posite principle :  If  dogma  contradicts  facts,  all  the  worse  for 
the  dogma. 

NOTES. 

Bishop  Hefele,  one  of  the  most  learned  and  impartial  Roman  Catholic  his- 
torians, thus  states,  after  a  lengthy  discussion,  his  present  view  on  the  case  of 
Honorius  (Conciliengesch.,  vol.  III.  175,  revised  ed.  1877),  which  differs  con- 
siderably from  the  one  he  had  published  before  the  Vatican  decree  of  papal 
infallibility  (in  the  first  ed.  of  his  Conciliengesch.,  vol.  III.  1858,  p.  14.5  sqq., 
and  in  his  pamphlet  on  Honorius,  1870).  It  should  be  remembered  that 
Bishop  Hefele,  like  all  his  anti-infallibilist  colleagues,  submitted  to  the  de- 
cree of  the  Vatican  Council  for  the  sake  of  unity  and  peace. 

"  Die  beiden  Brieje  des  Papstes  Honorius,  wie  wir  sie  jetzt  haben,  sind 
unverfalscht  und  zeigen,  doss  Honorius  von  den  beiden  monotheleiischen  Terminis 
iv  ■&i?i,7}fxa  und  f^ia  ivepyeia  den  erstern  {im  ersten  Brief)  selbst  gebrauchte,  den 
anderen  dagegen,  ebenso  auch  den  orthodoxen  Ausdruck  (^vo  kvspysiai  nicht 
angewendet  wissen  wollte.  Hat  er  auch  Letzteres  {die  Missbilligung  des  Ansdruckes 
6vo  evepy.)  im  zweiten  Brief  wiederhoU,  so  hat  er  doch  in  dcmselben  sclhst  zwEi 
naturliche  Energien  in  Christus  ayierkannt  und  in  beiden  Briefcn  sich  so 
ausgedrilckt,  dass  man  annehmen  muss,  er  habe  nicht  den  menschlichen  Willen 
uberhaupt,  sondern  nur  den  verdorbenen  menschlichen  Willen  in  Christus 
gelaugnct,  aber  obgleich  orthodox  denkend,  die  monotheletische  Tendenz  des  Sergius 
nicht  gehorig  durchschaut  und  sich  missverstdndlich  ausgedrilckt,  so  dass  seine 
Brief e,  besondcrs  der  erste,  den  Monolheletismus  zu  bestiitigen  fchienen  und  damit 
der  Hdresie  FACTiscn  Vorschub  leisteten.  In  dieser  Weise  erledigt  sich  uns  die 
Frage  nach  der  Orlhodoxie  des  Papstes  Honorius,  und  wir  halten  sonach  den 
Mittelweg  zwischen  denen  welche  ihn  auf  die  gleiche  Stufe  mit  Sergius  von  Con- 
stantinopel  unci  Cyrus  von  Alexandrien  stellen  und  den  Monotheleten  bdzdhlen 
wollten,  und  denen,  welche  durchaus  keine  Makel  an  ihm  duldend  in  das  Schicksal 
der  nimium  probantes  verfallen  sind,  so  dass  sie  lieber  die  Aeclitheit  der  Aden 
des  sechsten  allgemeinen  Concils  und  mehrerer  anderer  Urkunden  Idugnen,  oder 
auch  dem  sechsten  Condi  einen  error  in  facto  dogmatico  zuschreiben  wollten.'' 
Comp.  his  remarks  on  p.  152  :  "  Diesen  Hauptgedanken  muss  ich  auch  jetzt  noch 
festhalten,  dass  Honorius  im  Herzen  richtig  dachte,  sich  aber  ungliicklich  ausdriickte, 
wenn  ich  auch  in  Folge  wiederholter  neuer  Beschaftigung  mit  diesem  Gegem^tand 


§  114.  CONCILIUM  QUINISEXTUM,  A.  D.  692.  507 

und  unter  Serucksichtigung  dessen,  was  Andere  in  neuer  Zeit  zur  Vertheidigung 
des  Honorius  geschrieben  haben,  nianches  Einzelne  meiner  fruhercn  Aufstellungen 
nunmehr  modijiclre  oder  voUig  aufgebe,  und  insbesondere  iiber  den  ersten  Brief  des 
Honorius  jetzt  milder  urtheile  alsj'rdher." 

Cardinal  Hergenrother  {Kirchengeschichte,  vol.  I.  358,  second  ed.  Frei- 
burg i.  B.  1879)  admits  the  ignorance  rather  than  the  heresy  of  the  pope. 
"  Honorius,"  he  says,  "  zeigt  wohl  Unbekanntschafl  mil  dem  Kern  der  Frage,  aber 
heinerlei  hdretische  oder  irrige  Auffassung.  Er  untei'scheidet  die  zwei  unvermischt 
gebliebenen  Naturen  sehr  genau  und  verstosst  gegen  kein  einziges  Dogma  der 
Kuche." 

§  114.   Concilium   Quinisextum.     ^.  Z).  692. 

Mansi,  XI.  930-1006.    Hefele,  III.  328-348.    Gieseler,  I.  541  sq. 
Wm.  Bevebidge   (Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  1704-1708) :    Synodicon,  sive 

Pandeetce  eanonum.     Oxon.  1672-82.     Tom.  I.  152-283.     Beveridge 

gives  the  comments  of  Theod.  Balsamon,  Joh.  Zonaras,.  etc.,  on  the 

Apostolical  Canons. 
ASSEMANI  (R,  C.)  :    Bibliotheca  juris  orientalis.     Eom    1766,  Tom.  V. 

55-348,  and  Tom.  I.  120  and  408  sqq.     An  extensive  discussion  of 

this  Synod,  and  its  canons. 

The  pope  of  Old  Rome  had  achieved  a  great  dogmatic 
triumph  in  the  sixth  oecumenical  council,  but  the  Greek  church 
had  the  satisfaction  of  branding  at  least  one  pope  as  a  heretic, 
and  soon  found  an  opportunity  to  remind  her  rival  of  the  limits 
of  her  authority. 

The  fifth  and  sixth  oecumenical  councils  passed  doctrinal 
decrees,  but  no  disciplinary  canons.  This  defect  was  supplied 
by  a  new  council  at  Constantinople  in  692,  called  the  Concilium 
Quinisextum,^  also  the  Second  Trullan  Council,  from  the  ban- 
queting hall  with  a  domed  roof  in  the  iinperial  palace  where  it 
was  held.^ 

It  was  convened  by  the  Emperor  Justinian  II.  surnamed 

1  HvvoSoQ  r<:Ev&EKTTi.  The  Greeks  consider  it  simply  as  the  continuation  of 
the  sixth  oecumenical  council,  and  caJl  its  canons  Kavoveq  TTJg  skttjq  avv6(^ov. 
For  this  reason  it  was  held  in  the  same  locality.  The  Latins  opposed  it  from 
the  start  as  a  "  Synodus  erratica,''  or  "  Conciliabulum  pseudosexlum."  But  they 
sometimes  erroneously  ascribed  its  canons  to  the  sixth  council. 

2  Concilium  Trullanum  in  an  emphatic  sense.  The  sixth  council  was  held  in 
the  same  locality. 


508  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

Rinotmetos/  one  of  the  most  heartless  tyrants  that  ever  dis- 
graced a  Christian  throne.  He  ruled  from  685-695,  was 
deposed  by  a  revolution  and  sent  to  exile  with  a  mutilated 
nose    but  regained  the  throne  in   705  and  was  assassinated  in 

711.=^ 

The  supplementary  council  was  purely  oriental  in  irs  com- 
position and  spirit.  It  adopted  102  canons,  most  of  them  old, 
but  not  yet  legally  or  oecumenically  sanctioned.  They  cover 
the  whole  range  of  clerical  and  ecclesiastical  life  and  discipline, 
and  are  valid  to  this  day  in  the  Eastern  church.  They  include 
eighty-five  apostolic  canons  so  called  (thirty-five  more  than 
were  acknowledged  by  the  Roman  church),  the  canons  of  the 
first  four  oecumenical  councils,  and  of  several  minor  councils,  as 
Ancyra,  Neo-Csesarea,  Gangra,  Antioch,  Laodicea,  etc. ;  also  the 
canons  of  Dionysius  the  Great  of  Alexandria,  Peter  of  Alex- 
andria, Gregory  Thauraaturgus,  Athanasius,  Basil,  Gregory  of 
Nvssa  and  Gregory  of  Nazianzum,  Amphilochius  of  Iconium, 
Timothy  of  Alexandria,  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  Gennadius  of 
Constantinople,  and  an  anti-Roman  canon  of  Cyprian  of 
Carthao-e.     The  decretals  of  the  Roman  bishops  are  ignored. 

The  canons  were  signed  first  by  the  emperor;  the  second 

1  'FivoTfiTiToi:,  from  />tf,  nose,  in  allusion  to  his  mutilation. 

2  Gibbon  (ch.  48)  gives  the  following  description  of  his  character :  "  After 
the  decease  of  his  father  the  inheritance  of  the  Roman  world  devolved  to 
Justinian  11- ;  and  the  name  of  a  triumphant  law-giver  was  dishonored  by 
the  vices  of  a  boy,  who  imitated  his  namesake  only  in  the  expensive  luxury 
of  building.  His  passions  were  strong;  his  understanding  was  feeble;  and  he 
was  intoxicated  with  a  foolish  pride  that  his  birth  had  given  him  the  com- 
mand of  millions,  of  whom  the  smallest  community  would  not  have  chosen 
him  for  their  local  magistrate.  His  favorite  ministers  were  two  beings  the 
least  susceptible  of  human  sympathy,  a  eunuch  and  a  monk :  to  the  one  he 
abandoned  the  palace,  to  tlie  other  the  finances ;  the  former  corrected  the 
emperor's  mother  with  a  scourge,  the  latter  suspended  tlie  insolvent  tributaries, 
with  their  heads  downward,  over  a  slow  and  smoky  fire.  Since  the  days  of 
Com  modus  and  Caracalla  the  cruelty  of  the  Roman  princes  had  most  com- 
monly been  the  efiect  of  their  fear ;  but  Justinian,  who  possessed  some  vigor 
of  character,  enjoyed  the  sufferings,  and  braved  the  revenge  of  his  subjects 
about  ten  years,  till  the  measure  was  full  of  his  crimes  and  of  their  patience," 


§  114.  CONCILIUM  QUiNISEXTUM,  A.  D.  692.  509 

place  was  left  blank  for  the  pope,  but  was  never  filled ;  then 
follow  the  names  of  Paul  of  Constantinople,  Peter  of  Alexan- 
dria, Anastasius  of  Jerusalem,  George  of  Antioch  (strangely 
after  that  of  the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem),  and  others,  in  all  211 
bishops  and  episcopal  representatives,  all  Greeks  and  Orientals, 
of  whom  43  had  been  present  at  the  sixth  oecumenical  council. 

The  emperor  sent  the  acts  of  the  Trullan  Council  to  Sergius 
of  Rome,  and  requested  him  to  sign  them.  The  pope  refused 
because  they  contained  some  chapters  contrary  to  ecclesiastical 
usage  in  Rome.  The  emperor  dispatched  the  chief  officer  of 
his  body  guard  with  orders  to  bring  the  pope  to  Constantinople. 
But  the  armies  of  the  exarch  of  Ravenna  and  of  the  Pentapolis 
rushed  to  the  protection  of  the  pope,  who  quieted  the  soldiers ; 
the  imperial  officer  had  to  hide  himself  in  the  pope's  bed,  and 
then  left  Rome  in  disgrace.^  Soon  afterwards  Justinian  II. 
was  dethroned  and  sent  into  exile.  When  he  regained  the 
crown,  with  the  aid  of  a  barbarian  army  (705),  he  sent  two 
metropolitans  to  Pope  John  VII.  with  the  request  to  call  a 
council  of  the  Roman  church,  which  should  sanction  as  many 
of  the  canons  as  were  acceptable.  The  pope,  a  timid  man, 
simply  returned  the  copy.  Subsequent  negotiations  led  to  no 
decisive  result. 

The  seventh  oecumenical  Council  (787)  readopted  the  102 
canons,  and  erroneously  ascribed  them  to  the  sixth  oecumenical 
Council. 

The  Roman  church  never  committed  herself  to  these  canons 
except  as  far  as  they  agreed  with  ancient  Latin  usage.  Some 
of  them  were  inspired  by  an  anti-Roman  tendency.  The  first 
canon  repeats  the  anathema  on  Pope  Honorius.  The  thirty- 
sixth  canon,  in  accordance  with  the  second  and  fourth 
oecumenical  Councils,  puts  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople  on 
an  equality  of  rights  with  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  concedes 
to  the   latter   only  a   primacy  of  honor,  not  a  supremacy  of 

1  This  is  related  by  Anastasius,  Bede,  and  Paulus  Diaconus.  See  Mansi, 
XII.  3,  Baronius  ad  a.  692,  and  Hefele,  III.  346. 


510  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

jurisdiction.  Clerical  marriage  of  the  lower  orders  is  sanctioned 
in  canons  3  and  13,  and  it  is  clearly  hinted  that  the  Roman 
church,  by  her  law  of  clerical  celibacy,  dishonors  wedlock, 
which  was  instituted  by  God  and  sanctioned  by  the  presence 
of  Christ  at  Cana.  But  second  marriage  is  forbidden  to 
the  clergy,  also  marriage  with  a  widow  (canon  3),  and  mar- 
riage after  ordination  (canon  6).  Bishops  are  required  to  dis- 
continue their  marriage  relation  (canon  12).  Justinian  had 
previously  forbidden  the  marriage  of  bishops  by  a  civil  law. 
Fasting  on  the  Sabbath  in  Lent  is  forbidden  (canon  55)  in 
express  opposition  to  the  custom  in  Rome.  The  second  canon 
fixes  the  number  of  valid  apostolical  canons  at  eighty-five 
against  fifty  of  the  Latin  church.  The  decree  of  the  Council 
of  Jerusalem  against  eating  blood  and  things  strangled  (Acts, 
ch.  15)  is  declared  to  be  of  perpetual  force,  while  in  the  West 
it  was  considered  merely  as  a  temporary  provision  for  the  apos- 
tolic age,  and  for  congregations  composed  of  Jewish  and  Gentile 
converts.  The  symbolical  representation  of  Christ  under  the 
figure  of  the  lamb  in  allusion  to  the  words  of  John  the  Baptist 
is  forbidden  as  belonging  to  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  repre- 
sentation in  human  form  is  commanded  (canon  82). 

These  diiferences  laid  the  foundation  for  the  great  schism 
between  the  East  and  the  West.  The  supplementary  council 
of  692  anticipated  the  action  of  Photius,  and  clothed  it  with  a 
quasi-oecumenical  authority. 

§  115.  Reaction  of  Monothdetism.     The  Maronites. 

The  great  oecumenical  councils,  notably  that  of  Chalcedon, 
gave  rise  to  schismatic  sects  which  have  perpetuated  themselves 
for  a  long  time,  some  of  them  to  the  present  day. 

For  a  brief  period  Monotheletisra  was  restored  by  Bardanes 
or  Philippicus,  who  wrested  the  throne  from  Justinian  II.  and 
ruled  from  711  to  713.  He  annulled  the  creed  of  the  sixtli 
oecumenical  Council,  caused  the  names  of  Sergius  and  Honorius 
to  be  reinserted  in  the  diptycha  among  the  orthodox  patriarchs, 


§  116.  THE  ADOPTIONIST  CONTEOVERSY.  511 

and  tlieir  images  to  be  again  set  up  in  public  places.  He 
deposed  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople  and  elected  in  his  place 
a  Monotheletic  deacon,  John.  He  convened  a  council  at  Con- 
stantinople, which  set  aside  the  decree  of  the  sixth  council  and 
adopted  a  Monotheletic  creed  m  its  place.  The  clergy  who 
refused  to  sign  it,  were  deposed.  But  in  Italy  he  had  no  force 
to  introduce  it,  and  an  attempt  to  do  so  provoked  an  insur- 
rection. 

The  Emperor  Anastasius  II.  dethroned  the  usurper,  and 
made  an  end  to  this  Monotheletic  episode.  The  patriarch  John 
accommodated  himself  to  the  new  situation,  and- wrote  an 
abject  letter  to  the  Pope  Constantine,  in  which  he  even  ad- 
dressed him  as  the  head  of  the  church,  and  begged  his  pardon 
for  his  former  advocacy  of  heresy. 

Since  that  time  Dyotheletism  was  no  more  disturbed  in  the 
orthodox  church. 

But  outside  of  the  orthodox  church  and  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Byzantine  rulers,  Monotheletism  propagated  itself  among 
the  inhabitants  of  Mount  Lebanon  and  Anti-Lebanon  under  the 
lead  of  abbot  John  Marun  {Mapcbv),  their  first  patriarch  (d. 
701).  The  Maeonites,^  as  they  were  called  after  him,  main- 
tained their  independence  of  the  Greek  empire  and  the  Saracens, 
and  adhered  to  the  Monotheletic  doctrine  till  the  time  of  the 
crusades,  when  they  united  themselves  with  the  Roman  church 
(1182),  retaining,  however,  the  celebration  of  the  communion 
under  both  kinds,  the  Syrian  liturgy,  the  marriage  of  the  lower 
clero-y,  their  own  fast-days,  and  their  own  saints. 

§  116.  The  Adoptionist  Controversy.     Literature. 

I.   SOURCES. 

The  sources  are  printed  in  Hardtjin,  Vol.  IV.,  Manst,  XIII.,  and  in 
Alcuin's  Opera,  ed.  Frobenins  (1777),  reprinted  by  3Iigne  (in  his 
"Patrol.  Lat.,'"'  vols.  100  and  101),  with  historical  and  dogmatical 
dissertations.  ,  17  ■, 

(1.)  The  writings  of  the  Adoptionists :  a  letter  of  Elipandus  Ad  Fide- 

»  Mapuvelrai. 


512  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

lem,  Abbatem,  A.  D.  785,  and  one  to  Alcuin.  Two  letters  of  the 
Spanish  bishops — one  to  Charlemagne,  the  other  to  the  Galilean 
bisliops.  Felicis  Libellus  contra  Alcuinum;  the  Confessio  Fidei 
Ff-LICIS  ;  fragments  of  a  posthumous  book  of  Felix  addressed  Ad 
Ludovicum  Fium,  Imperat. 
(2.)  The  orthodox  view  is  represented  in  Beatus  et  Etheeius:  Adv. 
Elipandum  libri  II.  Alcuin  :  Seven  Books  against  Felix,  Four 
Books  against  Elipandus,  and  several  letters,  which  are  best  edited 
by  Jaffc  in  Biblioth.  rer.  Germ.  VI.  Paulinus  (Bishop  of  Aquileja) : 
Contra  Felicem  Urgellilanum  libri  trcs.  In  Migne's  "  Patrol.  Lat.," 
vol.  99,  col.  343-468.  Agobard  of  Lyons:  Adv.  Dogma  Felicis 
Episc.  Urgellensis,  addressed  to  Louis  the  Pious,  in  Migne's  "  Patrol. 
Lat.,"  vol.  104,  col.  29-70.  A  letter  of  Charlemagne  (792)  to  Elipan- 
dus and  the  bishops  of  Spain.  The  acts  of  the  Synods  of  Narbonne 
(788),  Ratisbon  (792),  Francfort  (794),  and  Aix-la-Chapelle  (799). 

II.   WOEKS. 

(1.)  By  Eom.  Cath.  Madmsi  (Congreg.  Orat.) :  Dissertationes  de  Felicis 
et  Flipandi  hceresi,  in  his  ed.  of  the  Opera  Paulini  Aquil.,  reprinted 
in  Migne's  "Patrol.  Lat.,"  vol.  99  (col.  545-598).  Against  Basnage. 
Enhueber  (Prior  in  Regensburg) :  Dissert,  dogm.  hist,  contra  Christ. 
Walchium,  in  Alcuin's  Opera,  ed.  Frobenius,  reprinted  by  Migne 
(vol.  101,  col.  337-438).  Against  Walch's  Hist.  Adopt.,  to  prove  the 
Nestorianism  of  the  Adoptionists.  Frobenius  :  Diss.  hist,  de  hmr. 
Blip,  et  Felicis,  in  Migne's  ed.,  vol.  101,  col.  303-336.  Werner: 
Gesch.  der  apol.  und  polem.  Lit.  II.  433  sqq.  Gams:  Kirchengesch. 
Spaniens  (Regensb.,  1874),  Bd.  II.  2.  (Very  prolix.)  Hefele: 
Conciliengesch.,  Bd.  III.  642-693  (revised  ed.  of  1877).  Heegenro- 
ther:  Kirchengesch.,  2nd  ed.,  1879,  Bd.  I.  558  sqq.  Bach:  Dog- 
mengesch.  des  Mittelalters  (Wi en,  1873),  I.  103-155. 

(2.)  By  Protestants.  Jac.  Basnage  :  Observationes  historicce  circa  Fell- 
cianam  hceresin,  in  his  Thesaurus  monum.  Tom.  II.  284  sqq.  Chr. 
G.  F.  Walch  :  Historia  Adoptianorum,  Gottingen,  1755 ;  and  his 
Ketzergeschichte,  vol.  IX.  667  sqq.  (1780).  A  minute  and  accurate 
account.     See  also  the  lit.  quoted  by  Walch. 

Neander,  Kirchengeschichte,  vol.  III.,  pp.  313-339,  Engl,  transl.  III.  156- 
168.  GiESELER,  vol.  II.,  p.  L,  p.  Ill  sqq.;  Eng.  transl.  IT.  75-78. 
Baur:  Die  christliche  Lehre  von  der  Dreieinigkeit  und  Menschwerdung 
Gottes,  Tubingen,  1842,  vol.  IL,  pp.  129-159.  Dorner:  Entwick- 
lungs- Gesehichte  der  Lehre  von  der  Person  Christi,  second  ed.,  Berlin, 
1853,  vol.  II.,  pp.  306-330.  Helfferich  :  Der  Westgothische  Arian- 
ismus  und  die  spanische  Ketzergeschichte,  Berlin,  1880.  Niedner: 
Lehrbnch  der  christi.  K.  G.,  Berlin,  18G6,  pp.  424-427.  J.  C.  Robert- 
son:  History  of  the  Christian  Church  from  590  to  1122  (Lond.,  1856), 


§  117.  HISTORY  OF  ADOPTIONISM.  51 0 

p.  154  sqq.  MiLMAN :  Lat.  Christ.  II.  498-500 ;  Baudissin  :  Eulo- 
gius  und  Alvar,  Leipz.,  1872.  Schaff,  in  Smith  and  Wace,  I.  (1877), 
pp.  44-47.     W.  MOLLER,  in  Herzog''  I.  151-159. 

§  117.  History  of  Adoptionism. 

The  Adoptionist  controversy  is  a  revival  of  the  Nestorian 
controversy  in  a  modified  form,  and  turns  on  the  question  whe- 
ther Christ,  as  to  his  human  nature,  was  the  Son  of  God  in 
essence,  or  only  by  adoption.  Those  who  took  the  latter  view 
were  called  Adoptionists}  They  taught  that  Christ  as  to  his 
divinity  is  the  true  Son^  of  God,  the  Only-Begotten  of  the 
Father ;  but  as  man  he  is  his  adopted  Son,^  the  First-Born  of 
Mary.  They  accepted  the  Chalcedonian  Christology  of  one 
person  and  two  natures,  but  by  distinguishing  a  natural  Son  of 
God  and  an  adopted  Son  of  God,  they  seemed  to  teach  two  per- 
sons or  a  double  Christ,  and  thus  to  run  into  the  Nestorian 
heresy. 

The  orthodox  opponents  held  that  Christ  was  the  one  undi- 
vided and  indivisible  Son  of  God ;  that  the  Virgin  Mary  gave 
birth  to  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  and  is  for  this  reason  called 
"  the  mother  of  God ; "  that  sonship  is  founded  on  the  person, 
not  on  the  nature ;  and  that  Adoptionism  leads  to  two  Christa 
and  to  four  persons  in  the  Trinity. 

Both  parties  displayed  a  degree  of  patristic  learning  which 
one  would  hardly  expect  in  this  period  of  the  middle  ages. 

The  history  of  this  movement  is  confined  to  the  West  (Spain 
and  Gaul) ;  while  all  the  older  Christological  controversies  ori- 
ginated and  were  mainly  carried  on  and  settled  in  the  East. 
It  arose  in  the  Saracen  dominion  of  Spain,  where  the  Catholics 
had  to  defend  the  eternal  and  essential  Sonship  of  Christ  against 
the  objections  both  of  the  Arians  and  the  Mohammedans. 

The  Council  of  Toledo,  held  in  675,  declared  in  the  preface 
to  the  Confession  of  Faith,  that  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God  by 

1  Adnptiani,  Adoptivi;  in  English  Adoptianists  or  Adoptionists  (from  adopiio). 
*  Filius  proprius  or  verus. 
'  Filius  adoptivus  or  nuncupativus. 
33 


514  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

nature,  not  by  adoption}  But  about  a  century  afterwards 
Elipandus,  the  aged  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  and  primate  of 
that  part  of  Spain  which  was  under  Mohammedan  rule,  endea- 
vored to  modify  the  orthodox  doctrine  by  drawing  a  distinction 
between  a  natural  and  an  adopted  sonship  of  Christ,  and  by 
ascribing  the  former  to  his  divine,  the  latter  to  his  human  na- 
ture. He  wished  to  save  the  full  humanity  of  Christ,  without, 
however,  denying  his  eternal  divinity.  Some  historians  assert 
that  he  was  influenced  by  a  desire  to  avoid  the  Mohammedan 
objection  to  the  divinity  of  Christ;^  but  the  conflict  of  the  two 
religions  was  too  strong  to  admit  of  any  compromise.  He  may 
have  read  Nestorian  writings.^  At  all  events,  he  came  to  simi- 
lar conclusions. 

Having  little  confidence  in  his  own  opinions,  Elipandus  con- 
sulted Felix,  bishop  of  Urgel*  in  Catalonia,  in  that  part  of 
Spain  which,  since  778,  was  incorporated  with  the  dominion  of 
Charlemagne.     Felix  was  more  learned  and  clear-headed  than 

1  "Hie  etiam  Filius  Dei  natura  est  Filius,  non  adoplione." 

'  So  Baronius,  Gfrorer,  Baudissin;  but  Hefele  (III.  649)  objects  to  this  for 
the  reason  that  the  Adoptionists  very  strongly  asserted  the  Trinity  and  the 
divinity  of  Christ,  which  were  so  offensive  to  the  Mohammedans. 

'  So  Neander  and  Jacobi ;  see  his  ed.  of  Neander's  Dogmengesch.  II.  26  sqq. 
Jacobi  tries  to  show  a  connection  of  Adoptionism  with  the  writings  of  Theodor 
of  Mopsueste.  Gams  {Kirchengesch.  Spaniens,  II.  2,  p.  261  sqq.)  conjectures 
that  some  Eastern  Nestorians  settled  in  Spain  under  Mo.'^lem  rule,  and  sug- 
gested the  Adoptionist  theory.  Hefele  (III.  646)  and  Moller  (Herzog^  1. 159) 
are  inclined  to  the  same  view.  Enhueber,  Walch,  and  Bach  hold  that  Eli- 
pandus was  led  to  his  view  by  opposition  to  Migetius,  who  made  no  distinc- 
tion between  the  Logos  and  Christ,  as  if  the  second  person  of  the  Trinity  had 
not  existed  before  the  incarnation.  —  The  reports  on  Migetius  are  vague. 
Elipandus  charged  him  with  teaching  three  corporeal  persons  in  the  Trinity 
who  became  incarnate  in  David  (the  Father),  in  Jesus  (the  Son),  and  in  Paul 
(the  Holy  Spirit).  He  probably  fell  into  the  error  of  the  Priscillianists,  which 
was  confounded  with  Sabellianism  (hence  his  name  magister  Salibanorum,  which 
is  a  corruption  for  Sabfllianorum).  See  on  this  mysterious  phenomenon  Hen- 
rique Florez,  Espafia  sagrada,  T.  V.  543  sq.,  and  Hefele,  i  c.  III.  629-635  and 
657. 

*  Urgelis,  Urgela,  Orgellis*,  in  the  Marca  Hispanica.  It  formerly  belonged 
to  the  metropolis  of  Tarracona,  but  since  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century,  to 
the  province  of  Narbonne.  ^ 


g  117.  HISTORY  OF  ADOPTIONISM.  515 

Elipandus,  and  esteemed,  even  by  his  antagonist  Alcuin,  for  his 
ability  and  piety.  Neander  regards  him  as  the  originator  of 
Adoptiouism ;  at  all  events,  he  reduced  it  to  a  formulated 
statement. 

Confirmed  by  his  friend,  Elipandus  taught  the  new  doctrine 
with  all  the  zeal  of  a  young  convert,  although  he  was  already 
eighty  years  of  age;  and,  taking  advantage  of  his  influential 
position,  he  attacked  the  orthodox  opponents  with  overbearing 
violence.  Etherius,  Bishop  of  Osma  or  Othma  (formerly  his 
pupil),  and  Beatus,  a  presbyter,  and  after  Alcuin  abbot  at 
Libana  in  Asturia,^  took  the  lead  in  the  defence  of  the  old  and 
the  exposure  of  the  new  Christology.  Elipandus  charged  them 
with  confounding  the  natures  of  Christ,  like  wine  and  water, 
and  with  scandalous  immorality,  and  pronounced  the  anathema 
on  them. 

Pope  Hadrian,  being  informed  of  these  troubles,  issued  a  letter 
in  785  to  the  orthodox  bishops  of  Spain,  warning  them  against 
the  new  doctrine  as  rank  Nestor ianism.''  But  the  letter  had  no 
effect;  the  papal  authority  plays  a  subordinate  role  in  this 
whole  controversy.  The  Saracen  government,  indifferent  to  the 
theological  disputes  of  its  Christian  subjects,  did  not  interfere. 

But  when  the  Adoptionist  heresy,  through  the  influence  of 
Felix,  spread  in  the  French  portion  of  Spain,  and  even  beyond 
the  Pyrenees  into  Septimania,  creating  a  considerable  commotion 
among  the  clergy,  the  Emperor  Charlemagne  called  a  synod  to 
Regensburg  (Ratisbou)  in  Bavaria,  in  792,  and  invited  the 
Bishop  of  Urgel  to  appear,  that  his  case  might  be  properly  in- 
vestigated. The  Synod  condemned  Adoptionism  as  a  renewal 
of  the  Nestorian  heresy. 

^  He  is  still  honored  in  Spain  as  San  Biego,  but  Elipandus  called  him  a 
"disciple  of  Antichrist,"  heretical,  schismatical,  ignorant,  and  devoted  to  car- 
nal lusts,  and  the  very  opposite  of  what  his  name  Beatus  (Blessed)  would 
suggest. 

^  Hadrian  is  also  reported  to  have  written  to  Charlemagne,  and  called  the 
Synod  of  Narbonne,  788;  but  the  acts  of  this  Synod  (first  published  by  Cattell, 
1633)  are  rejected  as  spurious  by  Pagi,  Walch,  and  Hefele  (III.  662  sq.). 


516  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Felix  publicly  and  solemnly  recanted  before  the  Synod,  and 
also  before  Pope  Hadrian,  to  whom  he  was  sent.  But  on  his 
return  to  Spain  he  was  so  much  reproached  for  his  weakness, 
that,  regardless  of  his  solemn  oath,  he  yielded  to  the  entreaties 
of  his  friends,  and  re-affirmed  his  former  opinions. 

Charlemagne,  who  did  not  wish  to  alienate  the  Spanish  por- 
tion of  his  kingdom,  and  to  drive  it  into  the  protection  of  the 
neio-hboring  Saracens,  directed  Alcuin,  who  in  the  mean  time 
had  come  to  France  from  England,  to  send  a  mild  warning  and 
refutation  of  Adoptionism  to  Felix.  When  this  proved  fruit- 
less, and  when  the  Spanish  bishops,  under  the  lead  of  Elipandus, 
appealed  to  the  justice  of  the  emperor,  and  demanded  the  resto- 
ration of  Felix  to  his  bishopric,  he  called  a  new  council  at 
Frankfort  on  the  Main  in  794,  which  was  attended  by  about 
three  hundred  (?)  bishops,  and  maybe  called  "universal,"  as 
far  as  the  West  is  concerned.^  As  neither  Felix  nor  any  of  the 
Adoptionist  bishops  appeared  in  person,  the  council,  under  the 
lead  of  Alcuin,  confirmed  the  decree  of  condemnation  passed  at 
Ratisbon. 

Subsequently  Felix  wrote  an  apology,  which  was  answered 
and  refuted  by  Alcuin.  Elipandus  reproached  Alcuin  for 
having  twenty  thousand  slaves  (probably  belonging  to  the  con- 
vent of  Tours),  and  for  being  proud  of  wealth.  Charles  sent 
Archbishop  Leidrad  of  Lyons  and  other  bishops  to  the  Spanish 
portion  of  his  kingdom,  who  succeeded,  in  two  visits,  in  con- 
verting the  heretics  (according  to  Alcuin,  twenty  thousand). 

About  that  time  a  council  at  Rome,  under  Leo  III.,  pro- 
nounced, on  very  imperfect  information,  a  fresh  anathema,  erro- 
neously charging  that  the  Adoptionists  denied  to  the  Saviour 
any  other  than  a  nuncupative  Godhead. 

'  See  a  full  account  in  Hefele  III.  678  sqq.  He  calls  it  the  most  splendid  of 
all  the  synods  of  Charlemagne.  It  was  held  apoatoUra  audoritnfe,  two  delegates 
of  Pope  Hadrian  being  present.  But  Charlemagne  himself  presided.  The 
number  of  members  is  not  given  in  the  sources,  but  Baronius  and  many  others 
after  him  say  300. 


2  118.  DOCTEINE  OF  ADOPTIONISM.  517 

Felix  himself  appeared,  799,  at  a  Synod  in  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
and  after  a  debate  of  six  days  with  Alcuin,  he  recanted  his 
Adoptionism  a  second  time.  He  confessed  to  be  convinced  by 
some  passages,  not  of  the  Scriptures,  but  of  the  fathers  (espe- 
cially Cyril  of  Alexandria,  Leo  I.,  and  Gregory  I.),  which  he 
had  not  known  before,  condemned  Nestorius,  and  exhorted  his 
clergy  and  people  to  follow  the  true  faith.^  He  spent  the  rest 
of  his  life  under  the  supervision  of  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons, 
and  died  in  818.  He  left,  however,  a  paper  in  which  the  doc- 
trine of  Adoptionism  is  clearly  stated  in  the  form  of  question 
and  answer ;  and  Agobard,  the  successor  of  Leidrad,'  felt  it  his 
duty  to  refute  it. 

Elipandus,  under  the  protection  of  the  government  of  the 
Moors,  continued  openly  true  to  his  heretical  conviction.  But 
Adoptionism  lost  its  vitality  with  its  champions,  and  passed 
away  during  the  ninth  century.  Slight  traces  of  it  are  found 
occasionally  during  the  middle  ages.  Duns  Scotus  (1300)  and 
Durandus  a  S.  Porciano  (1320)  admit  the  term  Filius  adoptivus 
in  a  qualified  sense.^  The  defeat  of  Adoptionism  was  a  check 
upon  the  dyophysitic  and  dyotheletic  feature  in  the  Chalcedon 
Christology,  and  put  off  indefinitely  the  development  of  the 
human  side  in  Christ's  Person.  In  more  recent  times  the  Jesuit 
Vasquez,  and  the  Lutheran  divines  G.  Calixtus  and  Walch,  have 
defended  the  Adoptionists  as  essentially  orthodox. 

§  118.  Doctrine  of  Adoptionism. 

The  doctrine  of  Adoptionism  is  closely  allied  in  spirit  to  the 
Nestorian  Christology;  but  it  concerns  not  so  much  the  consti- 
tution of  Christ's  person,  as  simply  the  relation  of  his  humanity 
to  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  The  Adoptionists  were  no  doubt 
sincere  in  admitting  at  the  outset  the  unity  of  Christ's  person, 
the  communication  of  properties  between  the  two  natures,  and 

1  Hard.  IV.  929-934;  Alcuin,  Epp.  92,  176;  and  the  Confessio  Fidei  Felids 
in  Mansi,  XIII.  1035  sq. 

2  See  Walcli,  Hist.  Adopt.,  p.  253;  Gieseler,  Church  History,  4th  Germ,  ed., 
vol.  II.,  part  I.,  p.  117,  note  13  (E.  tr.  II.  78). 


518  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

the  term  TJieotokos  (though  in  a  qualified  sense)  as  applied  to 
the  Virgin  ]\Iary.  Yet  their  view  implies  an  abstract  separation 
of  the  eternal  Sou  of  God  and  the  man  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and 
results  in  the  assertion  of  two  distinct  Sons  of  God.  It  empha- 
sized the  dyojDhysitisra  and  dyotheletism  of  the  orthodox  Christ- 
ology,  and  ran  them  out  into  a  personal  dualism,  inasmuch  as 
sonship  is  an  attribute  of  personality,  not  of  nature.  The 
Adoptionists  spoke  of  an  adoptatus  homo  instead  of  an  adoptata 
naiura  humana,  and  called  the  adopted  manhood  an  adopted 
Son.  They  appealed  to  Ambrose,  Hilary,  Jerome,  Augustin, 
and  Isidore  of  Seville,  and  the  Mozarabic  Liturgy,  which  was 
used  in  Spain.'  Sometimes  the  term  adoptio  is  indeed  applied 
to  the  Incarnation  by  earlier  writers,  and  in  the  Spanish  liturgy, 
but  rather  in  the  sense  of  assumptio  or  dvakq  ([>[<::,  i.  e.  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  human  nature,  through  Christ,  to  union  with  the 
Godhead.^  They  might,  with  better  reason,  have  quoted  Theo- 
dore of  Mopsuestia  as  their  predecessor;  for  his  doctrine  of  the 
uloQ  dero^  is  pretty  much  the  same  as  their  Filius  Dei  adop- 
tivus.^ 

The  fundamental  point  in  Adoptionism  is  the  distinction  of 
a  double  Sonship  in  Christ — one  by  nature  and  one  by  grace, 
one  by  generation  and  one  by  adoption,  one  by  essence  and  one 
by  title,  one  which  is  metaphysical  and  another  which  is  brought 
about  by  an  act  of  the  divine  will  and  choice.  The  idea  of  son- 
ship  is  made  to  depend  on  the  nature,  not  on  the  person ;  and 

*  A  strong  passage  was  quoted  in  the  letter  of  the  Spanish  bishops  to  Char- 
lemagne from  Isidore  of  Seville,  who  says  {Etymolog.,  lib.  II.,  c.  2;  see  Migne's 
ed.  of  Alcuin  II.  1324):  "  Unigenitus  vacatur  secundum  Divinitatis  excellentiam, 
quia  sine  fratribus :  primogenitus  secundum  susceptionem  hominis,  in  qua  per  adop- 
tionem  gratice  fratres  habere  dignatus  est,  de  quibus  esset  primogenitus."  From  ihe 
Mozarabic  liturgy  they  quoted  seven  passages.     See  Hefele  III.  650  sqq. 

'^  In  a  passage  of  Hilary  (De  Trinit.  II.  29),  there  is  a  dispute  between  two 
readings — ''carnis  humilitas  adoptatur,"  and  "adoratur"  (Alcuin) — although 
the  former  alone  is  consistent  with  the  context,  and  ''adoptatur''  is  used  in  a 
more  general  sense  for  assumitur  (so  Agobard).  See  Walch,  Hist.  Adopt.,  p. 
22  sqq.,  and  Gieseler,  II.  76,  note  2. 

'  See  Neander,  Kirchengeschichte,  III.  p.  318  sqq.;  E.  ed.  III.  159  sqq. 


§  118.  DOCTRINE  OF  ADOPTIONISM.  519 

as  Christ  has  two  natures,  there  must  be  in  him  two  correspond- 
ing Sonships.  According  to  his  divine  nature,  Christ  is  really 
and  essentially  (secundum  naturam  or  genere)  the  Son  of  God, 
begotten  from  eternity ;  but  according  to  his  human  nature,  he 
is  the  Son  of  God  only  nominally  (nuncupative)  by  adoj)tion,  or 
by  divine  grace.  By  nature  he  is  the  Only-Begotten  Son  of  God  ;^ 
by  adoption  and  grace  he  is  the  First-Begotten  Son  of  God.^ 

The  Adoptionists  quoted  in  their  favor  mainly  John  14:  28 ; 
Luke  1:  80;  18:  19;  Mark  13:  32;  John  1:  14;  10:  35; 
Kom.  8:  29;  1  Cor.  11:  3;  1  John  3:  2;  Deut.  18:  15;  Ps. 
2 :  8 ;  22 :  23,  and  other  passages  from  the  Old  'Testament, 
which  they  referred  to  the  Filius  primogenitus  et  adoptivus; 
while  Ps.  60:  4  (ex  utero  ante  Luciferum  genui  te);  44:  2;  Is. 
45 :  23 ;  Prov.  8 :  25,  were  understood  to  apply  to  the  Filius 
unigenitus.  None  of  these  passages,  which  might  as  well  be 
quoted  in  favor  of  Arianism,  bear  them  out  in  the  point  of  dis- 
pute. Christ  is  nowhere  called  the  "adopted"  Son  of  God. 
Felix  inferred  from  the  adoption  of  the  children  of  God,  that 
they  must  have  an  adoptive  head.  He  made  use  of  the  illus- 
tration, that  as  a  son  cannot  have  literally  two  fathers,  but  may 
have  one  by  birth  and  the  other  by  adoption,  so  Christ,  accord- 
ing to  his  humanity,  cannot  be  the  Son  of  David  and  the  Son 
of  God  in  one  and  the  same  sense ;  but  he  may  be  the  one  by 
nature  and  the  other  by  adoption.^ 

It  is  not  clear  whether  he  dated  the  adopted  Sonship  of  Christ 
from  his  exaltation,*  or  from  his  baptism,^  or  already  from  his  • 
birth.^  He  speaks  of  a  double  birth  of  Christ,  compares  the 
baptism  of  Christ  with  the  baptism  or  regeneration  of  believers, 
and  connects  both  with  the  spiritualis  generatio  per  adoptionem ;^ 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  seems  to  trace  the  union  of  the  human 
nature  with  the  divine  to  the  womb  of  the  Virgin.* 

1  Unigenitus,  fiovoyev^c,  John  1 :  14,  18. 

*  Primogenitus,  TrpurdroKog  kv  ttoTiXoIq  aSsXcpoig,  Rom.  8 :  29 ;  comp.  Col.  1 :  15. 
3  Alcuin,  Contra  Felicem,  I-  12,  and  III.  1.  *  Corner,  II.  319. 

6  Walch.  6  Neander.  ^  I.  c.  II.  15.  »  /.  c.  V.  1. 


520  FOUETH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  Adoptionists,  as  already  remarked,  thought  themselves 
in  harmony  with  the  Christology  of  Chalcedon,  and  professed 
faith  in  one  divine  person  in  two  full  and  perfect  natures ;  ^  they 
only  wished  to  bring  out  their  views  of  a  double  Sonship,  as  a 
legitimate  consequence  of  the  doctrine  of  two  natures. 

The  champions  of  orthodoxy,  among  whom  Alcuin,  the  teacher 
and  friend  of  Charlemagne,  was  the  most  learned  and  able, 
next  to  him  Paulinus  of  Aquileja,  and  Agobard  of  Lyons, 
unanimously  viewed  Adoptionism  as  a  revival  or  modification 
of  the  Nestorian  heresy,  which  was  condemned  by  the  third 
Qj^cumenical  Council  (431).^ 

Starting  from  the  fact  of  a  real  incarnation,  the  orthodox 
party  insisted  that  it  was  the  eternal,  only  begotten  Son  of  God, 
who  assumed  human  nature  from  the  womb  of  the  Virgin,  and 
united  it  with  his  divine  person,  remaining  the  proper  Son  of 
God,  notwithstanding  this  change.^  They  quoted  in  their  favor 
such  passages  as  John  3:  16;  Rom.  8:  32;  Eph.  5:2;  Acts  3: 
13-15. 

The  radical  fault  of  this  heresy  is,  that  it  shifts  the  whole 
idea  of  Sonship  from  the  person  to  the  nature.  Christ  is  the 
Son  of  God  as  to  his  person,  not  as  to  nature.  The  two  natures 
do  not  form  two  Sons,  since  they  are  inseparably  united  in  the 
one  Christ.    The  eternal  Son  of  God  did  not  in  the  act  of  incar- 

1  "In  una  'persona,  duabus  quoque  naturis  plenis  atque  perfectis."  Alcuin,  0pp. 
II,  567. 

'  Alcuin,  Contra  Felicem,  lib.  I.,  c.  11 :  "  Sicut  Nestoriana  impietas  in  duos 
Christum  dividit  personas  propter  duas  naturas;  ita  et  vestra  indocta  temcritas  in 
duos  eum  dividit  filios,  unum  proprium,  alterum  adoptivum.  Si  vera  Christus  est 
proprius  Filius  Dei  Patris  et  adoptivus,  ergo  est  alter  et  alter,"  etc.  Lib.  IV.  c.  5 ; 
"Nonne  duo  sunt,  qui  verus  est  Deus,  et  qui  nuncupativus  Deus?  Nonne  eliam  et 
duo  sunt,  qui  adoptivus  est  Filius,  et  ille,  qui  verus  est  Filius  f 

^  Ibid.  II.  12:  "Nee  in  ilia  assumptione  alius  est  Deus,  alius  homo,  vel  aliu8 
Filius  Dei,  et  alius  Filius  Virginia ;  sed  idem  est  Filius  Dei,  qui  et  Filius  Vir- 
ginis;  ut  sit  unus  Filius  etiam  proprius  et  perfedus  in  duabus  naturis  Dei  et  homi- 
ms."  In  the  Confession  wliich  Felix  had  to  sign  in  799  when  he  abjured  his 
error,  it  is  said  that  tlie  Son  of  God  and  the  Son  of  man  are  one  and  the  same 
true  and  proper  Son  of  the  Fatlier,  "  oion  adopdone,  non  appellatione  seu  nuncupa- 
tione,  sed  in  utraque  nalura  unus  Dei  Patris  verus  et  proprius  Dei  Dei  Filius." 


3  118.  DOCTEINE  OF  ADOPTIONISM.  521 

nation  assume  a  human  personality,  but  human  nature.  There 
is  therefore  no  room  at  all  for  an  adoptive  Sonship.  The  Bible 
nowhere  calls  Christ  the  adopted  Sou  of  God.  Christ  is,  in  his 
person,  from  eternity  or  by  nature  what  Christians  become  by 
grace  and  regeneration. 

In  condemning  Monotheletism,  the  Church  emphasized  the 
duality  of  natures  in  Christ ;  in  condemning  Adoptionisrn,  she 
emphasized  the  unity  of  person.  Thus  she  guarded  the  catholic 
Christology  both  against  Eutychian  and  Nestorian  departures, 
but  left  the  problem  of  the  full  and  genuine  humanity  of  Christ 
unsolved.  While  he  is  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  he  is  at  the 
same  time  truly  and  fully  the  Son  of  man.  The  mediaeval 
Church  dwelt  chiefly  on  the  divine  majesty  of  Christ,  and  re- 
moved him  at  an  infinite  distance  from  man,  so  that  he  could 
only  be  reached  through  intervening  mediators;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  she  kept  a  lively,  though  grossly  realistic,  remem- 
brance of  his  passion  in  the  daily  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  and 
found  in  the  worship  of  the  tender  Virgin-Mother  with  the 
Infant-Saviour  on  her  protecting  arm  a  substitute  for  the  con- 
templation and  comfort  of  his  perfect  manhood.  The  triumph 
of  the  theory  of  transubstantiation  soon  followed  the  defeat  of 
Adoptionisrn,  and  strengthened  the  tendency  towards  an  exces- 
sive and  magical  supernaturalism  which  annihilates  the  natural, 
instead  of  transforming  it. 

NOTE. 

The  learned  Walch  defends  the  orthodoxy  of  the  Adoptionists,  since 
they  did  not  say  that  Christ,  in  his  two-fold  Sonship,  was  alius  ei  alius, 
iUog  Kal  a7.7.og  (which  is  the  Nestorian  view),  hut  that  he  was  Son  aliter 
et  aliter,  aUug  kuI  a'AAug.  Ketzerhistorie,  vol.  IX.,  pp.  881,  904.  Baur  (II., 
p.  152)  likewise  justifies  Adoptionisrn,  as  a  legitimate  inference  from  the 
Chalcedonian  dogma,  but  on  the  assumption  that  this  dogma  itself  in- 
cludes a  contradiction.  Neander,  Corner,  Niedner,  Hefele,  and  Sloller 
concede  the  affinity  of  Adoptionisrn  with  Nestorianism,  hut  affirm,  at  the 
same  time,  the  difference  and  the  new  features  in  Adoptionisrn  (see 
especially  Dorner  II.,  p.  309  sq.). 


522  FOUKTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

§  119.   The  Predestinarian  Controversy. 

Comp.  vol.  III.,  II  158-160,  pp.  851  sqq. 

LITERATURE. 

I.  The  sources  are  (1)  The  remains  of  the  writings  of  Gottschalk,  viz., 
three  Confessions  (one  before  the  Synod  of  Mainz,  two  composed  in 
prison),  a  poetic  Epistle  to  Eatramnus,  and  fragments  of  a  book 
against  Kabanus  Maurus.  Collected  in  the  first  volume  of  Mauguin 
(see  below),  and  in  Migne's  "Patrol.  Lat.,"  Tom.  121,  col.  348-372. 

(2)  The  writings  of  Gottschalk's  friends :  Prudentius  :  Epist.  ad  Hinc- 
marum,  and  Contra  Jo.  Scotum;  Eatramnus :  De  Prcedest,  850; 
Servatus  Lupus:  De  tribus  Questionibus  [i.  e.,  free  will,  predesti- 
nation, and  the  extent  of  the  atonement),  850;  Florus  Magister: 
De  Freed,  contra  J.  Scot. ;  Eemigius  :  Lib.  de  tribus  Epistolis,  and 
Libellus  de  tenenda  immobiliter  Scripturce  veritate.  Collected  in  the 
first  vol.  of  Mauguin,  and  in  Migne's  "Patrol.  Lat,"  vols.  115,  119 
and  121.  A  poem  of  Walafrid  Strabo  on  Gottschalk,  in  Migne, 
Tom.  114,  col.  1115  sqq. 

(3)  The  writings  of  Gottschalk's  opponents:   Eabantjs  Maurus  (in 

Migne,  Tom.  112) ;  Hincmar  of  Eheims :  De  Frcedestinatione  et  Libera 
Arbitrio,  etc.  (in  Migne,  Tom.  125  and  126);  SCOTUS  Erig^ka:  De 
Prcedest.  Dei  contra  Gottescalcum,  851  (first  ed.  by  Mauguin,  1650, 
and  in  1853  by  Floss  in  Migne,  Tom.  122).  See  also  the  Acts  of 
Councils  in  Mansi,  Tom.  XIV.  and  XV. 

II.  Works  of  historians:  Jac  Ussher  (Anglican  and  Calvinist) :  Gottes- 
chalci  et  Prcedesfinatiance  controversice  ab  eo  viotce  Historia.  Dublin, 
1631 ;  Hanover,  1662 ;  and  in  the  Dublin  ed.  of  his  works. 

GiLB.  Mauguin  (Jansenist,  d.  1674) :  Vet.  Auctorum,  qui  IX.  scec.  de 
Prcedest.  et  Grat.  scripserunt,  Opera  et  Fragm.  plurima  nunc  primum 
in  lucem  edita,  etc.  Paris,  1650,  2  Tom.  In  the  second  volume  he 
gives  the  history  and  defends  the  orthodoxy  of  Gottschalk. 

L.  Cellot  (Jesuit)  :  Hist.  Gotteschalci  prcedestinatiani.  Paris,  1655,  fol. 
Against  Gottschalk  and  Mauguin. 

J.  J.  HOTTINGER  (Eeformed) :  Fata  doctrinoe  de  Frcedestinatione  et  Gratia 
Dei.     Tiguri,  1727.     Also  his  Dissertation  on  Gottschalk,  1710. 

Card.  NoRIS :  Historia  Gottesc,  in  his  Opera.     Venice,  1759,  Tom.  III. 

F.  MONNIER:  De  Gotteschalci  et  Joan.  ErigencB  Controversia.   Paris,  1853. 

Jul.  Wetzsacker  (Luth.) :  Das  Dogma  von  der  gottl.  Vorherbestimmung 
im  9ten  Jahrh.,  in  Dorner's  "  Jahrbiicher  fiir  Deutsche  Theol." 
Gotha,  1859,  p.  627-576. 

Hefele  (E.  Cath.):   Conciliengesch.  IV.  130-223  (second  ed.,  1879). 


2  119.  THE  PEEDESTINARIAN  CONTROVEESY.  523 

V.  BoRRASCH :  Der  M'dnch  Gottschalk  v.  Orbais,  sein  Leben  u.  seine  Lehre. 

Thorn,  1868. 
KtJNSTMANN:    Hrahanus  iJfat»-ws  (Mainz,  1841) ;    Spikgler:    Rabanus 

Maurns  (Ratisbon,  1856) ;    and  C.  v.  Noorden  :  Hinkmar  v.  Eheims 

(Bonn,  1863);  H.  ScHRORS:  Mncmar  Erzbisch  v.  B.(Frei\.B.  188^). 
See  also  Schrockh,  vol.  XXIV.  1-126;  Neais'der,  Gieseler,  Baur, 

in  their  Kirchengeschichte  and  their  Dogmengeschiclite ;  Bach  (Rom. 

Gath.),  in  his  Dogmengesch.  des   Mitielaliers,  I.  219-263;  GuizOT: 

Civilization  in  France,  Lect.  V. ;  Hardwick:  Middle  Age,  161-165; 

Robertson,  II.  288-299 ;  Reuter,  Rel.  Aufkldrung  im  3fittelalter, 

I.  43-48 ;  and  Moller  in  Herzog^  V.  324-328. 

Gottschalk  or  Godescalcus/  an  involuntary  monk  and 
irregularly  ordained  priest,  of  noble  Saxon  parentage,  strong 
convictions,  and  heroic  courage,  revived  the  Augustinian  theory 
on  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  speculative  theology, 
but  had  to  suffer  bitter  persecution  for  re-asserting  what  the 
great  African  divine  had  elaborated  and  vindicated  four  centu- 
ries before  with  more  depth,  wisdom  and  moderation. 

The  Greek  church  ignored  Augustin,  and  still  more  Gottschalk, 
and  adheres  to  this  day  to  the  anthropology  of  the  Nicene  and 
ante-Nicene  fathers,  who  laid  as  great  stress  on  the  freedom  of 
the  will  as  on  divine  grace.  John  of  Damascus  teaches  an  ab- 
solute foreknowledge,  but  not  an  absolute  foreordination  of 
God,  because  God  cannot  foreordain  sin,  which  he  wills  not, 
and  which,  on  the  contrary,  he  condemns  and  punishes ;  and  he 
does  not  force  virtue  upon  the  reluctant  will. 

The  Latin  church  retained  a  traditional  reverence  for  Ausfus- 
tin,  as  her  greatest  divine,  but  never  committed  herself  to  his 

1  There  are  several  persons  of  that  name ;  the  three  best  known  are,  1)  the 
subject  of  this  chapter ;  2)  the  writer  of  sequences  mentioned  in  this  volume, 
p.  433 ;  3)  the  prince  of  the  Slavonic  and  Wendish  tribes  on  the  borders  of 
Northern  Germany,  who  died  a  martyr  June  7,  1066.  The  meaning  of  Gott- 
schalk is  God's  servant.  The  German  word  Schalk,  Knecht,  has  undergone  the 
same  change  as  the  English  word  knave.  Milman  (IV.  184)  calls  our  Gott- 
schalk a  "premature  Luther"  (who  was  also  a  Saxon),  but  gives  no  account 
of  the  controversy  on  "  the  dark  subject  of  predestination."  Schrors  {I.  c.  96) 
likewise  compares  Gottschalk  with  Luther,  but  the  difference  is  much  greater 
than  the  resemblance. 


524  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

scheme  of  predestination.^  It  always  found  individual  advo- 
cates, as  Fulgentius  of  Ruspe,  and  Isidore  of  Seville,  who  taught 
a  two-fold  predestination,  one  of  the  elect  unto  life  eternal,  and 
one  of  the  reprobate  unto  death  eternal.  Beda  and  Alcuin  were 
Augustinians  of  a  milder  type.  But  the  prevailing  sentiment 
cautiously  steered  midway  between  Augustinianism  and  Semi- 
Pelagianism,  giving  the  chief  weight  to  the  preceding  and  ena- 
bling grace  of  God,  yet  claiming  some  merit  for  man's  consenting 
and  co-operating  will.^  This  compromise  may  be  called  Semi- 
Augustinianism,  as  distinct  from  Semi-Pelagianism.  It  was 
adopted  by  the  Synod  of  Orange  (Arausio)  in  529,  which  con- 
demned the  Semi-Pelagian  error  (without  naming  its  adherents) 
and  approved  Augustin's  views  of  sin  and  grace,  but  not  his 
view  of  predestination,  which  was  left  open.  It  was  transmitted 
to  the  middle  ages  through  Pope  Gregory  the  Great,  who,  next 
to  Augustin,  exerted  most  influence  on  the  theology  of  our  pe- 
riod ;  and  this  moderated  and  weakened  Augustinianism  tri- 
umphed in  the  Gottschalk  controversy. 

The  relation  of  the  Roman  church  to  Augustin  in  regard  to 
predestination  is  similar  to  that  which  the  Lutheran  church  holds 
to  Luther.  The  Reformer  held  the  most  extreme  view  on  di- 
vine predestination,  and  in  his  book  on  the  Slavery  of  the 
Human  Will,  against  Erasmus,  he  went  further  than  Augustin 
before  him  and  Calvin  after  him;^  yet  notwithstanding  his 

'  See  vol.  III.  866  sqq.  Neander  says  {Church  Hist.  III.  472):  "The  Au- 
gustinian  doctrine  of  grace  had  finally  gained  a  complete  victory  even  over 
Semi-Pelagianism ;  but  on  the  doctrine  of  predestination  nothing  had  as  yet 
been  publicly  determined."  Gieseler  (II.  84):  ''Strict  Augustinianism  had 
never  been  generally  adopted  even  in  the  West." 

^  In  the  language  of  Gregory  I.:  "  Bonum,  quod  acjimiis,  et  Dei  est,  et  nostrum: 
Dei  per  prcevenientem  gratiam,  nostrum  per  obsequentem  liheram  voluntatem.  Si 
enim  Dei  nan  est,  unde  ei  gratias  in  eternum  agimusf  Rursum  si  nosti-um  non  est, 
unde  nobis  retribui  prcemia  speramusf"  Moral.,  Lib.  XXXI.  in  Cap.  41  Job,  in 
Migne's  cd.  of  Gregory's  Opera,  II.  699. 

'  Melanchthon,  too,  at  first  was  so  strongly  impressed  with  the  divine  sove- 
reignty, that  he  traced  the  adultery  of  David  and  the  treason  of  Judas  to  the 
eternal  decree  of  God  ;  but  he  afterwards  changed  his  view  in  favor  of  syner- 
gism, wiiicli  Luther  never  did. 


J  120.  GOTTSOHALK  AND  EABANUS  MAUEUS.  525 

commanding  genius  and  authority,  his  v^vW  dis- 
owned  and  gave  way  to  the  comprom.se  of  the  Fo  mnla  ot 
C^Lwhfch  teaci.sboth  an  absolu^  '^^^ ^^^ 
and  a  sincere  call  of  all  sinners  to  repentance.    The  Calvm  st  c 
Confessions,  with  more  logical  consistency,  teach  an  absolute 
predestination  as  a  necessary  sequence  of  Divme  omn.poten^ 
Ld  omniscience,  but  confine  it,  like  Angnstm,  to  the  hm.ts 
of  the  infralapsarian   scheme,   with   an   express  exclusion   of 
God  from  the  authorship  of  sin.    Supralapsariamsm  however, 
also  had  its  advocates  as  a  theological  opinion.     In  the  Roman 
church,  the  Augustinian  system  was  revived  by  the  Jansemsta, 
but  only  to  be  condemned. 

§  120.  Gottschaik  and  Eabanm  Maurus. 
Gottschalk,  the  son  of  Count  Berno  (or  Bern),  was  sent  in 
his  childhood  by  his  parents  to  the  famous  Heas.an  convent  of 
Fulda  as  a  pious  offering  (oblatus).     When  he  had  attau.ed 
mature  age,  he  denied  the  validity  of  his  involuntary  tonsure, 
:;!lll  to  leave  the  convent,  and  brought  his  case  before  a 
Synod  of  Mainz  in  829.     The  synod  decided  m  his  favor,  bu 
L  new  abbot,  Eabanus  Maurus,  appealed  to  the  -P-oj,  and 
wrote  a  book.  Be  OWaUone  Puerorum,  m  defence  of  the  obhga- 
tory  character  of  the  parental  consecration  of  a  chdd  to  monastic 
life     He^succeeded,  but  allowed  Gottschalk  to  exchange  Fulda 
for  Orbais  iu  the  diocese  of  Soissons  in  the  province  of  Ehe.ms. 
From  this  time  dates  his  ill  feeling  towards  the  reluctant  monk 
whom   he   called   a  vagabond,  and    it  cannot  be  denied  that 
Eabanus  appears  unfavorably  in  the  whole  controvei-sy. 

At  Orbais  Gottschalk  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  Angus- 
tin  and  Fulgentius  of  Enspe  (d.  533),  with  such  ardent  enthu- 
siasm that  he  was  called  Fulgentius}     He  selected  especially  the 

.  By  Walafrid  Strabo,  hi,  fellow-student  at  Fulda,  who  had  a  high  opinion 
or  hf/leyr:^n,  and  pie.;,  and  w,o.e  a  poen.  en.iUed  ■.  «»-<^*  —  ^ 
^  Fulamlius--  in  Opn-«  ed.  Migne,  Tom.  H.  ("Pair.  Lat.,     Tom    114,  col. 
niWim      Neander  (III.  474,  note)  appose,  that  GotUcbalk  probably  bor- 
rowed  from  Fulgentius  the  term  pradestinaho  duplex. 


526  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

passages  in  favor  of  the  doctrine  of  predestination,  and  recited 
them  to  his  fellow-monks  for  hom-s,  gaining  many  to  his  views. 
But  his  friend,  Servatus  Lupus,  warned  him  against  unprofita- 
ble speculations  on  abstruse  topics,  instead  of  searching  the 
Scriptures  for  more  practical  things.  He  corresponded  with 
several  scholars,  and  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome.  On  his  re- 
turn in  847  or  848,  he  spent  some  time  with  the  hospitable 
Count  Eberhard  of  Friuli,  a  son-in-law  of  the  Emperor  Louis 
the  Pious,  met  there  Bishop  Noting  of  Verona,  and  communi- 
cated to  him  his  views  on  predestination.  Noting  informed 
Rajbanus  Maurus,  who  had  in  the  mean  time  become  archbishop 
of  Mainz,  and  urged  him  to  refute  this  new  heresy. 

Rabanus  Maurus  wrote  a  letter  to  Noting  on  predestination, 
intended  against  Gottschalk,  though  without  naming  liim.^  He 
put  the  worst  construction  upon  his  view  of  a  double  predesti- 
nation, and  rejected  it  for  seven  reasons,  chiefly,  because  it  in- 
volves a  charge  of  injustice  against  God ;  it  contradicts  the 
Scriptures,  which  promise  eternal  reward  to  virtue;  it  declares 
that  Christ  shed  his  blood  in  vain  for  those  that  are  lost ;  and 
it  leads  some  to  carnal  security,  others  to  despair.  His  own 
doctrine  is  moderately  Augustinian.  He  maintains  that  the 
whole  race,  including  unbaptized  children,  lies  under  just  con- 
demnation in  consequence  of  Adam's  sin ;  that  out  of  this  mass 
of  corruption  God  from  pure  mercy  elects  some  to  eternal  life, 
and  leaves  others,  in  view  of  their  moral  conduct,  to  their  just 
punishment.  God  would  have  all  men  to  be  saved,  yet  he  ac- 
tually saves  only  a  part ;  why  he  makes  such  a  difference,  we 
do  not  know  and  must  refer  to  his  hidden  counsel.  Foreknow- 
ledge and  foreordination  are  distinct,  and  the  latter  is  conditioned 
by  the  former.     Here  is  the  point  where  Rabanus  departs  from 

^  Epist-  V-  ad  Noiingum,  De  Prcedestinatione,  first  published,  together  with  a 
letter  Ad  Eberhardum  comitem,  by  Sirmond,  Paris,  1647;  also  in  Rabani 
Mauri  Opera,  Tom.  VI.,  ed.  Migne  ("Patr.  Lat.,"  Tom.  112,  col.  1530-1553). 
Hefele  (IV.  134)  complains  that  this  edition  has  many  inaccuracies  and  typo- 
graphical errors. 


g  120.  GOTTSCHALK  AND  RABANUS  MAUEUS.  527 

Augustin  and  agrees  with  the  Semi-Pelagians.  He  also  distin- 
guishes between  prceseiti  and  prcedestinati.  The  impenitent  sin- 
ners were  only  foreknown,  not  foreordained.  He  admitted  that 
"the  punishment  is  foreordained  for  the  sinner,"  but  denied 
that  "the  sinner  is  foreordained  for  punishment."^  He  sup- 
ported his  view  with  passages  from  Jerome,  Prosper,  Gennadius, 
and  Augustin.^ 

Gottschalk  saw  in  this  tract  the  doctrine  of  the  Semi-Pelagian 
Gennadius  and  Cassianus  rather  than  of  "  the  most  catholic  doc- 
tor "  Augustin.  He  appeared  before  a  Synod  at  Mainz,  which 
was  opened  Oct.  1,  848,  in  the  presence  of  the  German  "Iving,  and 
boldly  professed  his  belief  in  a  two-fold  predestination,  to  life 
and  to  death,  God  having  from  eternity  predestinated  his  elect 
by  free  grace  to  eternal  life,  and  quite  similarly  all  reprobates, 
by  a  just  judgment  for  their  evil  deserts,  to  eternal  death.^  The 
offensive  part  in  this  confession  lies  in  the  words  two-fold  {gemina) 

1  Hefele  (IV.  136)  declares  this  to  be  inconsistent,  because  both  sentences 
amount  to  the  same  thing  and  give  a  good  orthodox  sense.  "In  Wahrheit  ist 
ja  auch  der  Sunder  prddestinirt  ad  mortem  oder  poenam,  aber  seine  Prcedestinatton 
ist  kdne  absolute,  wie  die  des  electus,  sondern  sie  ist  bedingt  durch  die  prcevisa  de- 
merita." 

2  Cliiefly  from  the  Hypomnesticon  {Commonitorium,  Memorandum),  usually 
called  Hypognostieon  (Subnotationes),  a  pseudo-Augustinian  work  against  the 
Pelagians,  which  was  freely  quoted  at  that  time  as  Augustinian  by  Scotus  Eri- 
gena  and  Hincmar;  while  Eemigius  proved  the  spuriousness.  It  is  printed 
in  the  tenth  vol.  of  the  Benedict,  ed.  of  Augustin,  and  in  Migne's  reprint,  X. 
1611-1664.  See  Feuerlein:  Dtsquis.  hist,  de  libris  Hypognostieon,  an  ab  Hinc- 
maro,  in  Augustana  Confessione  et  alibi  recte  tribuantur  divo  Augustino.  Altdorf, 
1735. 

^  The  fragment  of  this  confession  is  preserved  by  Hincmar,  De  Prcedest.,  c. 
5  (Migne,  125,  col.  89  sq.):  "Ego  Gothescalcus  credo  et  confiteor,  projiteor  et  testi- 
ficor  ex  Deo  Patre,  per  Deum  Filium,  in  Deo  Spiritu  Sancto,  et  affirmo  atque  ap- 
probo  coram  Deo  et  Sanctis  ejus,  quod  gemina  est  prcedestinatio,  sive  electorum  ad 
requiem,  sive  reproborum  ad  mortem  [so  far  quoted  verbatim  from  Isidore  of 
Seville,  Sent.  II.  6]  :  quia  sicut  Deus  incommutabilis  ante  mundi  constitufionem 
omnes  electos  suos  incnmmutabiliter  per  gratuitam  gratiam  suam  prcedest inavit  ad 
vitam  ceternam,  similiter  omnino  omnes  reprobos,  quia  in  die  judicii  damnabuntur 
propter  ipsorum  mala  merita,  idem  ipse  incommutabilis  Deus  per  justum  judicium 
suum  incommutabiliter  prcedestinavit  ad  mortem  merito  sempiternam." 


528  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

and  qtiite  similarly  {similiter  omnino),  by  which  he  seemed  to 
put  the  two  foreordinations,  i.  e.  election  and  reprobation,  on 
the  same  footing ;  but  he  qualified  it  by  a  reference  to  the  guilt 
and  future  judgment  of  the  reprobate.  He  also  maintained 
against  Rabanus  that  the  Son  of  God  became  man  and  died 
only  for  the  elect.  He  measured  the  extent  of  the  purpose  by 
the  extent  of  the  eifect.  God  is  absolutely  unchangeable,  and 
his  will  must  be  fulfilled.  What  does  not  happen,  cannot  have 
been  intended  by  him. 

The  details  of  the  synodical  transaction  are  unknown,  but 
Rabanus,  who  presided  over  the  Synod,  gives  as  the  result,  in  a 
letter  to  Hincmar,  that  Gottschalk  was  condemned,  together 
with  his  pernicious  doctrine  (which  he  misrepresents),  and 
handed  over  to  his  metropolitan,  Hincmar,  for  punishment 
and  safe-keeping. 

§  121.   Gottschalk  and  Hincmar. 

Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  a  most  influential,  proud 
and  intolerant  prelate,  was  ill-disposed  towards  Gottschalk,  be- 
cause he  had  been  somewhat  irregularly  (though  not  invalidly) 
ordained  to  the  priesthood  by  a  rural  bishop  {chorepiscopus), 
Rigbold  of  Rheims,  without  the  knowledge  of  his  own  bishop 
of  Soissons,  and  gone  on  travels  without  permission  of  his 
abbot.*  He  treated  the  poor  monk  without  mercy.  Gottschalk 
was  summoned  before  a  synod  of  Chiersy  (in  palatio  CarisiacoY 
in  the  spring  of  849.  He  refused  to  recant,  and  was  condemned 
as  an  incorrigible  heretic,  deposed  from  the  priesthood,  publicly 
scourged  for  obstinacy,  according  to  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict, 
compelled  to  burn  his  books,  and  shut  up  in  the  prison  of  a 
convent  in  the  province  of  Rheims,^     According  to  the  report 

^  Mauguin  vindicates  Gottschalk  in  botli  respects. 

*  Carisiacura,  Cressy  or  Cr^cy  in  Northern  France,  in  the  department  of 
Somme,  celebrated  by  the  battle  of  1346  between  the  English  Edward  III. 
and  the  French  Philip  VI. 

^  Mansi,  XIV.  921 ;  Pertz,  Monum.  I.  443  sq.;  Migne,  Tom.  115,  col.  1402; 


§  121.  GOTTSCHALK  AND  HINCMAR.  529 

of  eye-Avitnesses,  he  was  scourged  "most  atrociously"  and 
"  nearly  to  death,"  until  half  dead  he  threw  his  book,  which 
contained  the  proofs  of  his  doctrine  from  the  Scriptures  and  the 
fathers,  into  the  fii'e.  It  is  a  relief  to  learn  that  St.  Eemigius, 
archbishop  of  Lyons,  expressed  his  horror  at  the  ''  unheard  of 
impiety  and  cruelty"  of  this  treatment  of  the  miserabilis  mona- 
chus,  as  Gottschalk  is  often  called  by  his  friends. 

In  his  lonely  prison  at  Hautvilliers,  the  condemned  monk 
composed  two  confessions,  a  shorter  and  a  longer  one,  in  which 
he  strongly  re-asserted  his  doctrine  of  a  double  predestination. 
He  appealed  to  Pope  Nicolas,  who  seems  to  have  had  some 
sympathy  with  him,  and  demanded  a  reinvestigation,  which, 
however,  never  took  place.  He  also  offered,  in  reliance  on  the 
grace  of  God,  to  undergo  the  fiery  ordeal  before  the  king,  the 
bishops  and  monks,  to  step  successively  into  four  cauldrons  of 
boiling  water,  oil,  fat  and  pitch,  and  then  to  walk  through  a 
blazino-  pile;  but  nobody  could  be  found  to  accept  the  chal- 
lenge. Hincmar  refused  to  grant  him  in  his  last  sickness  the 
communion  and  Christian  burial,  except  on  condition  of  full 
recantation.^  Gottschalk  scorned  the  condition,  died  in  his  un- 
shaken faith,  and  was  buried  in  unconsecrated  soil  after  an 
imprisonment  of  twenty  years  (868  or  869). 

He  had  the  courage  of  his  convictions.  His  ruling  idea  of 
the  unchangeableness  of  God  reflected  itself  in  his  inflexible 
conduct.  His  enemies  charged  him  with  vanity,  obstinacy,  and 
strange  delusions.  Jesuits  (Sirmond,  Peteau,  Cellot)  condemn 
him  and  his  doctrine;  while  Calvinists  and  Jansenists  (TJssher, 
Hottinger,  Mauguin)  vindicate  him  as  a  martyr  to  the  truth. 

Hefele,  IV.  142  sqq.  Hefele  doubts,  with  plausible  reason,  the  concluding 
sentence  of  the  synod,  in  which  Gottschalk  is  condemned  to  everlasting 
silence. 

^  Gottschalk  had  provoked  him  by  his  disregard  of  episcopal  authority,  and 
by  the  charge  of  Sabellianism  for  altering  '^frina  Deitan"  in  a  church  hymn, 
into  " siimma  Deltas."  Hincmar  charged  him  in  turn  with  Arianism,  but  the 
word  to  which  he  had  objectecJ,  retained  its  place  in  the  Galilean  service. 


530  FOUETH  PEEIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

§  122.  TIic  Contending  Theories  on  Predestination,  and  the 
Victory  of  Semi-Augustinianism. 

During  the  imprisonment  of  Gottschalk  a  lively  controversy 
was  carried  on  concerning  the  point  in  dispute,  which  is  very 
creditable  to  the  learning  of  that  age,  but  after  all  did  not  lead 
to  a  clear  and  satisfactory  settlement.  The  main  question  was 
whether  divine  predestination  or  foreordination  which  all  ad- 
mitted as  a  necessary  element  of  the  Divine  perfection,  was  ab- 
solute or  relative;  in  other  words,  whether  it  embraced  all  men 
and  all  acts,  good  and  bad,  or  only  those  who  are  saved,  and 
such  acts  as  God  approves  and  rewards.  This  question  necessa- 
rily involved  also  the  problem  of  the  freedom  of  the  human 
will,  and  the  extent  of  the  plan  of  redemption.  The  absolute  pre- 
destinarians  denied,  the  relative  predestinarians  affirmed,  the  free- 
dom of  will  and  the  universal  import  of  Christ's  atoning  death. 

The  doctrine  of  absolute  predestination  was  defended,  in  sub- 
stantial agreement  with  Gottschalk,  though  with  more  modera- 
tion and  caution,  by  Prudentius,  Bishop  of  Troyes,  Ratramnus, 
monk  of  Corbie,  Servatus  Lupus,  Abbot  of  Ferrieres,  and  Remi- 
gius.  Archbishop  of  Lyons,  and  confirmed  by  the  Synod  of 
Valence,  855,  and  also  at  Langres  in  859. 

The  doctrine  of  free  will  and  a  conditional  predestination  was 
advocated,  in  opposition  to  Gottschalk,  by  Archbishop  Rabanus 
Maurus  of  Mainz,  Archbishop  Hincmar  of  Rheims.  and  Bishop 
Pardulus  of  Laon,  and  confirmed  at  a  synod  of  Chiersy,  853, 
and  in  part  again  at  Savonnieres,  near  Toul,  in  859. 

A  third  theory  was  set  forth  by  John  Scotus  Erigena,  intended 
against  Gottschalk,  but  was  in  fact  still  more  against  the  ortho- 
dox view,  and  disowned  by  both  parties. 

I.  The  doctrine  of  an  absolute  and  two-fold  predesti- 
nation. 

Gottschalk  professed  to  follow  simply  the  great  Augustin.  This 
is  true;  but  he  gave  undue  disproportion  to  the  tenet  of  predes- 
tination, and  made  it  a  fundamental  theological  principle,  inse- 


§  122.  CONTENDING  THEORIES  ON  PREDESTINATION.    531 

parable  from  the  immutability  of  God ;  while  with  Augustin  it 
was  only  a  logical  inference  from  his  anthropological  premises. 
He  began  where  Augustin  ended.  To  employ  a  later  (CaLvin- 
istic)  terminology,  he  was  a  supralapsarian  rather  than  an  in- 
fralapsarian.  He  held  a  two-fold  predestination  of  the  elect  to 
salvation,  and  of  the  reprobate  to  perdition ;  not  in  the  sense  of 
two  separate  predestinations,  but  one  predestination  with  two 
sides  {gemina,  i.  e.  bipartita),  a  positive  side  (election)  and  a 
negative  side  (reprobation).  He  could  not  conceive  of  the  one 
without  the  other ;  but  he  did  not  teach  a  predestination  of  the 
sinner  to  sin,  which  would  make  God  the  author  of  sin.  In 
this  respect  he  was  misrepresented  by  Rabanus  Maurus.^  In 
his  shorter  Confession  from  his  prison,  he  says :  "  I  believe  and 
confess  that  God  foreknew  and  foreordained  the  holy  angels  and 
elect  men  to  unmerited  eternal  life,  but  that  he  equally  {pariter) 
foreordained  the  devil  with  his  host  and  with  all  reprobate  men, 
on  account  of  their  foreseen  future  evil  deeds,  by  a  just  judgment, 
to  merited  eternal  death."  He  appeals  to  passages  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, to  Augustin,  Fulgentius,  and  Isidor,  who  taught  the  very 
same  thing  except  the  jpa?-?*^er.  In  the  larger  Confession,  which 
is  in  the  form  of  a  prayer,  he  substitutes  for  equally  the  milder 
term  almost  or  nearly  (propemodum) ,  and  denies  that  God  predes- 
tinated the  reprobates  to  sin.  "  Those,  O  God,"  he  says, "  of  whom 
thou  didst  foreknow  that  they  would  persist  by  their  own  misery 
in  their  damnable  sins,  thou  didst,  as  a  righteous  judge,  predes- 
tinate to  perdition."  He  spoke  of  two  redemptions,  one  com- 
mon to  the  elect  and  the  reprobate,  another  proper  and  special 

*  Eabanus  makes  Gottschalk  teach  a  " proedestinatio  Dei,  sicut  in  bono,  sic  ita 
et  in  malo,  .  .  quasi  Deus  eos  [reprobos]  fecis^et  ah  initio  incorrigibiles."  But  even 
Hincmar  concedes  {De  Prced.,  c.  15,  in  Migne  125,  col.  126)  that  the  prcdesti- 
narians  of  his  day  {moderni  Prcedestinatiani)  taught  only  a  predestination  of 
the  reprobates  ad  interitum,  not  ad  peceatum.  Cardinal  Noris  and  Hefele  (IV. 
140)  admit  the  perversion  of  Gottschalk's  words  in  malam  partem  by  Rabanus. 
The  same  charge  of  making  God  the  author  of  sin  by  predestinating  and  crea- 
ting men  for  sin  and  damnation,  has  again  and  again  been  raised  against  su- 
pralapsarians  and  Calvinists  generally,  in  spite  of  their  express  denial. 


532  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A. D.  590-1049. 

for  the  elect  only.  In  similar  manner  the  Calvinists,  in  their 
controversy  with  the  Arminiaus,  maintained  that  Christ  died 
efficiently  only  for  the  elect,  although  sufficiently  for  all  men. 

His  predestinarian  friends  brought  out  the  difference  in  God's 
relation  to  the  good  and  the  evil  more  clearly.  Thus  Ratram- 
nus  says  that  God  was  the  author  {auctor)  as  well  as  the  ruler 
(ordinator)  of  good  thoughts  and  deeds,  but  only  the  ruler,  not 
the  author,  of  the  bad.  He  foreordained  the  punishment  of  sin, 
not  sin  itsslf  [pcenam,  not  peccatuni).  He  directs  the  course  of 
sin,  and  overrules  it  for  good.  He  used  the  evil  counsel  of 
Judas  as  a  means  to  bring  about  the  crucifixion  and  through  it 
the  redemption.  Lupus  says  that  God  foreknew  and  permitted 
Adam's  fall,  and  foreordained  its  consequences,  but  not  the  fall 
itself.  Magister  Florus  also  speaks  of  a  'prcedestinatio  gemina, 
yet  with  the  emphatic  distinction,  that  God  predestinated  the 
elect  both  to  good  works  and  to  salvation,  but  the  reprobate 
only  to  punishment,  not  to  sin.  He  was  at  first  ill-informed  of 
the  teaching  of  Gottschalk,  as  if  he  had  denied  the  meritum 
damnationis.  Remigius  censured  the  "temerity"  and  "untimely 
loquacity"  of  Gottschalk,  but  defended  him  against  the  inhu- 
man treatment,  and  approved  of  all  his  propositions  except  the 
unqualified  denial  of  freedom  to  do  good  after  the  fall,  unless 
he  meant  by  it  that  no  one  could  use  his  freedom  without  the 
graee  of  God.  He  subjected  the  four  chapters  of  Hincmar  to 
a  severe  criticism.  On  the  question  whether  God  will  have  all 
men  to  be  saved  without  or  with  restriction,  and  whether  Christ 
died  for  all  men  or  only  for  the  elect,  he  himself  held  the  par- 
ticularistic view,  but  was  willing  to  allow  freedom  of  opinion, 
since  the  church  had  not  decided  that  question,  and  the  Bible 
admitted  of  diiferent  intcipretations.* 

The  Synod  of  Valence,  which  met  at  the  request  of  the  Era- 

•  The  particularists  appealed  to  the  paasa^re  Matt,  26:  26,  pro  muWs  {nspi 
noXkCw,  without  the  ar(icle),  anrl  understood  it  in  tlie  restricted  sense  as  dis- 
tinct from  pro  omnibus;  while  tliey  arbitrarily  restricted  the  omnes  (navrec)  in 
1  Tim,  2 :  3  and  similar  passages. 


2  122.  CONTENDING  THEORIES  ON  PREDESTINATION.    533 

peror  Lothaire  in  855,  endorsed,  in  opposition  to  Hincmar  and 
the  four  chapters  of  the  Synod  of  Chiersy,  the  main  positions 
of  the  Augustiuian  system  as  understood  by  Remigius,  who  pre- 
sided.^ It  affirms  a  two-fold  predestination  [" prcEdestinationem 
electorum  ad  vitam  et  prcedestinationem  impiorum  ad  mortem^'), 
but  with  such  qualifications  and  distinctions  as  seemed  to  be 
necessary  to  save  the  holiness  of  God  and  the  moral  responsi- 
bility of  man.  The  Synod  of  Langres  in  the  province  of  Lyons, 
convened  by  Charles  the  Bald  in  859,  repeated  the  doctrinal 
canous  of  Valence,  but  omitted  the  censure  of  the  four  chapters 
of  Chiersy,  which  Charles  the  Bald  had  subscribed,  and  thus 
prepared  the  way  for  a  compromise. 

We  may  briefly  sfctte  the  system  of  the  Augustiuian  school  in 
the  following  propositions : 

(1)  All  men  are  sinners,  and  justly  condemned  in  consequence 
of  Adam's  fall. 

(2)  Man  in  the  natural  state  has  no  freedom  of  choice,  but  is 
a  slave  of  sin.  (This,  however,  was  qualified  by  Remigius  and 
the  Synod  of  Valence  in  the  direction  of  Semi-Pelagianism.) 

(3)  God  out  of  free  grace  elected  from  eternity  and  unaltera- 
bly a  part  of  mankind  to  holiness  and  salvation,  and  is  the 
author  of  all  their  good  deeds ;  while  he  leaves  the  rest  in  his 
inscrutable  counsel  to  their  merited  damnation. 

(4)  God  has  unalterably  predestinated  the  impenitent  and 
persistent  sinner  to  everlasting  punishment,  but  not  to  sin,  which 
is  the  guilt  of  man  and  condemned  by  God. 

(5)  Christ  died  only  for  the  elect. 

Gottschalk  is  also  charged  by  his  opponents  with  slighting 
the  church  and  the  sacraments,  and  confining  the  eifect  of  bap- 
tism and  the  eucharist  to  the  elect.  This  would  be  consistent 
with  his  theory.  He  is  said  to  have  agreed  with  his  friend 
Ratramnus  in  rejecting  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  Au- 
gustin  certainly  did  not  teach  transubstantiation,  but  he  checked 

>  See  the  canons  of  this  Synod  in  Mansi,  XV.  1  sqq.,  and  Hefele,  IV.  193-196. 


534  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

the  lo"-ical  tendency  of  Predestinarianism  by  the  Catholic  doc- 
trine of  baptismal  regeneration,  and  of  the  visible  historical 
church  as  the  mediatrix  of  salvation.^ 

II.  The  doctrine  of  a  conditional  and  single  predesti- 
nation. 

Rabanus  and  Hincmar,  who  agreed  in  theology  as  well 
as  in  unchristian  conduct  towards  Gottschalk,  claimed  to  be 
Augustinians,  but  were  at  heart  Semi-Pelagians,  and  struck  a 
middle  course,  retaining  the  Augustiuian  premises,  but  avoid- 
ing the  logical  consequences.  Foreknowledge  (prcescientia)  is  a 
necessary  attribute  of  the  omniscient  mind  of  God,  and  differs 
from  foreordination  or  predestination  [j^rcedestinatio),  which  is 
an  attribute  of  his  omnipotent  will.  The  former  may  exist 
without  the  latter,  but  not  the  latter  without  the  former.  Fore- 
knowledge is  absolute,  and  embraces  all  things  and  all  men, 
good  and  bad ;  foreordination  is  conditioned  by  foreknowledge, 
and  refers  only  to  what  is  good.  God  foreknew  sin  from  eter- 
nity, but  did  not  predestinate  it ;  and  so  he  foreknew  the  sin- 
ners, but  did  not  predestinate  them  to  sin  or  death ;  they  are 
simply  prcesciti,  not  prcedestinati.  There  is  therefore  no  double 
predestination,  but  only  one  predestination  which  coincides  with 
election  to  eternal  life.  The  fall  of  Adam  Math  its  conse- 
quences falls  under  the  idea  of  divine  permission.  God  sincerely 
intends  to  save  all  men  without  distinction,  and  Christ  shed 
his  blood  for  all ;  if  any  are  lost,  they  have  to  blame  them- 
selves. 

Hincmar  secured  the  confirmation  of  his  views  by  the  Synod 

'  Dr.  Bach,  a  learned  Roman  Catholic  historian,  states  this  point  thus  (I.  c, 
I.  230):  "Der  historische  Christus  und  die  Kirche,  der  sichtbare  Leib  Christi  ver- 
fluchtir/l  sich  schon  bei  Oottschalk  zu  einem  leeren  Abstraktum,  sobald  der  concrete 
Boden  der  Erwdhlang  nicht  mehr  die  Kirche  und  ihre  Sakramente,  sondern  ein 
Udiglich  fingirtes  vorzeitliche."  Decret  Golles  ist.  Es  taucht  dann  immer  ein  Sur- 
rogal  der  Phantasie,  die  s.  g.  umdchtbare  Kirche  auf,  und  diejenigen,  welche  die 
grossartige  realistische  Lehre  do  hi  Augustin  von  der  Kirche  und  den  SaJcramenten 
zerstoren,  nennen  sich  vorziiglich  Awjustinianer,  indem  sie  nicht  wl'^sen,  dass  die 
Lehre  Augustins  von  der  Prddestination  auf  dcm  concreten  Boden  der  Christologie 
und  Anthropologic  steht  und  ohne  diese  zur  grfdhrlichsten  Hdresie  wird." 


2  122.  CONTENDING  THEOKIES  ON  PREDESTINATION.    535 

of  Chiersy,  held  in  presence  of  the  Emperor,  Charles  the  Bald, 
b53.     It  adopted  four  propositions:^ 

(1)  God  Almighty  made  man  free  from  sin,  endowed  him 
with  reason  and  the  liberty  of  choice,  and  placed  him  in  Para- 
dise. ISIan,  by  the  abuse  of  this  liberty,  sinned,  and  the  whole 
race*  became  a  mass  of  perdition.  Out  of  this  ma^sa  perdi- 
tionis  God  elected  those  whom  he  by  grace  predestinated  unto 
life  eternal;  others  he  left  by  a  just  judgment  in  the  mass  of 
perdition,  foreknowing  that  they  would  perish,  but  not  foreor- 
daining them  to  perdition,  though  he  foreordained  eternal  pun- 
ishment for  them.''     This  is  Augustmian,  but  weakened  in  the 

last  clause. 

(2)  We  lost  the  freedom  of  will  through  the  fall  of  the  fii-st 
man,  and  regained  it  again  through  Christ.  This  chapter,  how- 
ever, is  so  vaguely  worded  that  it  may  be  understood  in  a  Semi- 
Pelagian  as  well  as  in  an  Augustinian  sense,^ 

{S)  God  Almighty  would  have  all  men  without  exception  to 
be  saved,  although  not  all  are  actually  saved.  Salvation  is  a  free 
gift  of  grace;  perdition  is  the  desert  of  those  who  persist  in  sin. 

(4)  Jesus  Christ  died  for  all  men  past,  present  and  future, 
though  not  all  are  redeemed  by  the  mystery  of  his  passion, 
owing  to  their  unbelief. 

The  last  two  propositions  are  not  Augustinian,  but  catholic, 
and  are  the  connecting  link  between  the  catholic  orthodoxy  and 
the  Semi-Pelagian  heresy. 

Hincmar  defended  these  propositions  against  the  objections  of 
Remigius  and  the  Synod  of  Valence,  in  two  books  on  Predesti- 
nation and  Free  Will  (between  856  and  863).     The  first  is  lost, 

»  Capitula  IV.  Carisiacensia,  in  Hincmar,  De  Prczd.,  c.  2;  in  Mansi,  XIV. 
920;  Gieseler,  II.  88;  and  Hefele,  IV.  187. 

»  -'perituros  prcescivit,  sed  non  ut  perirent  prcBdestinavU,  pcBuam  autem  ilUs,  qum 
Justus  est,  nnrdestinavit  oelernam."  ™    .  ,        n      •     ^ 

3  «  Libertatem  arbitrii  in  prmo  homine  perdidimus,  quam  per  Christum  Damnum 
nostrum  recepimus:  et  habemus  liberum  arbitrium  ad  bonum,  prczventum  et  adjuium 
gratia:  et  habemus  liberum  arbitrium  ad  malum.,  deserium  gratm.  Liberum  autem 
habemus  arbitrium,  quia  gratia  liberatum,  et  gratiu  de  corrupto  sanatam. 


536  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

the  second  is  preserved.  It  is  very  prolix  and  repetitious,  and 
marks  no  real  progress.  He  made  several  historical  blunders, 
and  quoted  freely  from  the  pseudo-Augustinian  Hypomuesticon, 
which  he  thought  presented  Augustin's  later  and  better  views. 

The  two  parties  came  to  a  sort  of  agreement  at  the  National 
Synod  of  France  held  at  Toucy,  near  Toul,  in  October,  860,  in 
presence  of  the  Emperor,  Charles  the  Bald,  King  Lothaire  II., 
and  Charles  of  Provence,  and  the  bishops  of  fourteen  ecclesiasti- 
cal provinces.'  Hincmar  was  the  leading  man,  and  composed 
the  synodical  letter.  He  still  maintained  his  four  propositions, 
but  cleared  himself  of  the  suspicion  of  Semi-Pelagiauism.  The 
first  part  of  the  synodical  letter,  addressed  to  all  the  faithful, 
gives  a  summary  of  Christian  doctrine,  and  asserts  that  nothing 
can  happen  in  heaven  and  earth  without  the  will  or  permission 
of  God ;  that  he  would  have  all  men  to  be  saved  and  none  lost ; 
that  he  did  not  deprive  man  after  the  fall  of  free  will,  but  heals 
and  supports  it  by  grace ;  that  Christ  died  on  the  cross  for  all 
men ;  that  in  the  end  all  the  predestinated  who  are  now  scat- 
tered in  the  massa  perdltionis,  will  be  gathered  into  the  fulness 
of  the  eternal  church  in  heaven. 

Here  ended  the  controversy.  It  was  a  defeat  of  prcdestina- 
rianism  in  its  rigorous  form  and  a  substantial  victory  of  Semi- 
Augustinianism,  which  is  almost  identical  with  Semi-Pelagian- 
ism,  except  that  it  gives  greater  prominence  to  divine  grace. 

Practically,  even  this  difference  disappeared.  The  mediaeval 
church  needed  the  doctrine  of  free  will  and  of  universal  call,  as 
a  basis  for  maintaining  the  moral  responsibility,  the  guilt  and 
merit  of  man,  and  as  a  support  to  the  sacerdotal  and  sacramental 
mediation  of  salvation ;  while  the  strict  predestinarian  system, 
which  unalterably  determines  the  eternal  fate  of  every  soul  by 
a  pre-temporal  or  ante-mundane  decree,  seemed  in  its  logical 
consequences  to  neutralize  the  appeal  to  the  conscience  of  the 
sinner,  to  cut  off  the  powerful  inducement  of  merit  and  reward, 

«  Mansi,  XV.  563;  Hefele,  IV.  215  sqq. 


2  122.  C0:NTENDING  theories  on  PEEDESTINATION,     537 

to  limit  the  efficacy  of  the  sacraments  to  the  elect,  and  to  weaken 
the  hierarchy  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

But  while  churchly  and  sacerdotal  Semi-Augustiiiianism  or 
covert  Semi-Pelag'iauism  triumphed  iu  France,  where  liiuc- 
mar  had  the  last  word  in  the  controversy,  it  was  not  occume- 
nically  sanctioned.  Pope  Nicolas,  who  was  dissatisfied  with 
Hincmar  on  hierarchical  grounds,  had  some  sympathy  with 
Gottschalk,  and  is  reported  to  have  approved  the  Augustinian 
canons  of  the  Synods  of  Valence  and  Langres  in  regard  to  a 
"two-fold  predestination"  and  the  limitation  of  the  atonement.^ 

Thus  the  door  was  left  open  within  the  Catholic  church  itself 
for  a  revival  of  strict  Augustinianism,  and  this  took  place  on  a 
grand  scale  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

NOTES. 

The  Gottschalk  controversy  was  first  made  the  subject  of  historical 
investigation  and  critical  discussion  in  the  seventeenth  century,  but  was 
disturbed  by  the  doctrinal  antagonism  between  Jansenists  (Jansen, 
Mauguin)  and  Jesuits  (Sirmond,  Cellot).  The  Calvinistic  historians 
(Ussher,  Hottinger)  sided  with  Gottschalk  and  the  Jansenists.  The 
controversy  has  been  more  calmly  and  impartially  considered  by  the  Pro- 
testant historians  of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  with  a  slight  difference 
as  to  the  limits  and  the  result  of  the  controversy;  some  representing  it 
merely  as  a  conflict  between  a  stricter  and  a  milder  type  of  Augustin- 
ianism (Neander,  Kurtz),  others  as  a  conflict  between  Augustinianism 

^  The  decree  of  the  pope  is  lost;  but  the  fact  rests  on  the  authority  of  the 
well-informed  Prndentius  of  Troyes  in  the  Annales  Bertiniani  ad  ann.  859 
(Pertz,  Mon.  Germ.,  I.  453  sq.):  "Nicolas,  ponHfex  Romanus,  de  gratia  Dei  et 
libera  arbitrio,  de  veritafe  gemin.e  ■prcedestinationis  el  sanguine  Chrisii,  ut  pro 
CREDENTIBITS  omnibus  fusus  sit,fidfliter  confirmat  ft  catJiolice  decernit."  Hincmar 
doubted  such  n  derision,  and  charged  Prudentius  with  partiality  (Ep.  24  ad- 
dressed to  Egilo,  Bishop  of  Sens).  The  Jesuits  labored  hard  to  pet  it  aside 
against  the  Jansenists  and  Calvinists,  but  without  good  reason.  Weizsiicker 
(p.  574),  Hardwick  (p.  165),  and  Moller  (in  Herzog'''  V.  327)  accept  the  state- 
ment of  Prudentius,  and  Weizsiicker  says :  "  Ha  tie  in  Gallien  die  Hofthcologie 
des  Konigs  den  Semipdagianismvs  (?)  durchgebracht,  so  hat  dock  der  Papst  fiir 
Augustin  enfsrhieden.  .  .  .  Die  Kirchengeschielte  darf  ganz  unbedenklich  in  ihre 
Dialler  die!>e  Enhcheidung  des  romischen  Sinhls  gegen  den  Semipekigianismus  des 
veimten  Jahrhiinderts  aiifnehmen,  die  man  seit  Maugidn  niemals  hdlte  bezweifdn 
soUen.''     Neander  and  Gieseler  are  silent  on  this  point. 


538  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.D.  590-1049. 

and  a  revived  and  triumphant  Semi-Pelagianism  (Baur,  Weizsacker). 
The  former  view  is  more  correct.  Semi-Pelagiuiiism  was  condemned  by 
the  Synod  of  Orange  (Arausio),  529;  again  by  the  Synod  of  Valence  in 
tbe  same  year,  and  by  Poj^e  Boniface  II.,  530,  and  has  ever  since  figured 
in  the  Roman  catalogue  of  heresies.  The  Catholic  Church  cannot  sanc- 
tion what  she  has  once  condemned. 

Both  parties  in  the  contest  of  the  ninth  century  (leaving  the  isolated 
Scotus  Erigena  out  of  view)  appealed  to  Augustin  as  the  highest  patristic 
authority  in  the  Latin  church.  Both  agreed  in  the  Augustinian  anthro- 
pology and  soteriology,  i.  e.  in  the  doctrine  of  a  universal  fall  in  Adam, 
and  a  partial  redemption  through  Christ;  both  maintained  that  some 
men  are  saved  by  free  grace,  that  others  are  lost  by  their  own  guilt; 
and  both  confined  the  possibility  of  salvation  to  the  present  life  and  to 
the  limits  of  the  visible  church  (which  leads  logically  to  the  horrible 
and  incredible  conclusion  that  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  human 
race,  including  all  unbaptized  infants,  are  eternally  lost).  But  the  Au- 
gustinian party  went  back  to  absolute  predestination,  as  the  ultima  ratio 
of  God's  difference  of  dealing  with  the  saved  and  the  lost,  or  the  elect 
and  the  reprobate;  while  the  Semi-Augustiuian  party  sought  the  difier- 
ence  rather  in  the  merits  or  demerits  of  men,  and  maintained  along-side 
with  a  conditional  predestination  the  universal  benevolence  of  God  and 
the  universal  offer  of  saving  grace  (which,  however,  is  merely  assumed, 
and  not  at  all  apparent  in  this  present  life).  The  Augustinian  scheme 
is  more  theological  and  logical,  the  Semi-Augustinian  more  churchly 
and  practical.  Absolute  predestinarianism  starts  from  the  almighty 
power  of  God,  but  is  checked  by  the  moral  sense  and  kept  within  the 
limits  of  infralapsarianism,  which  exempts  the  holy  God  from  any  agency 
in  the  fall  of  the  race,  and  fastens  the  guilt  of  sin  upon  man.  Relative 
predestinarianism  emphasizes  the  responsibility  and  salvability  of  all 
men,  but  recognizes  also  their  perfect  dependence  upon  divine  grace  for 
actual  salvation.  The  solution  of  the  problem  must  be  found  in  the 
central  idea  of  the  holy  love  of  God,  which  is  the  key-note  of  all  his 
attributes  and  works. 

The  practical  difference  between  the  catholic  Semi-Augustinianism 
and  the  heterodox  Semi-Pelagianism  is,  as  already  remarked,  very  small. 
They  are  twin-sisters;  they  virtually  ignore  predestination,  and  lay  the 
main  stress  on  the  efficacy  of  the  sacramental  system  of  the  historical 
church,  as  the  necessary  agency  for  regeneration  and  salvation. 

The  Lutheran  system,  as  developed  in  the  Formula  of  Concord,  is  the 
evangelical  counterpart  of  the  Catholic  Semi-Augustinianism.  It  re- 
tains also  its  sacramental  feature  (baptismal  regeneration  and  the  eucha- 
ristic  presence),  but  cuts  the  root  of  human  merit  by  the  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith  alone. 

Calvinism  is  a  revival  of  Augustinianism,  but  without  its  sacramental 
and  sacerdotal  checks. 


i  123.  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  SCOTUS  ERIGENA.  539 

Arminianism,  as  developed  in  the  Reformed  church  of  Holland  and 
among  the  Wesleyan  Methodists,  and  held  extensively  in  the  Church  of 
England,  is  an  evangelical  counterpart  of  Semi-Pelagianism,  and  differs 
from  Lutheranism  by  teaching  a  conditional  election  and  freedom  of  the 
will  sufficient  to  accept  as  well  as  to  reject  the  universal  offer  of  saving 
grace. 

§  123.   Hie  Doctrine  of  Scotus  Erigena. 

A  complete  ed.  of  the  works  of  Scotus  Erigena  by  H.  J.  Floss,  1853,  in 
Migne's  "  P.  L.,"  Tom.  122.  The  book  De  Prcedestinatione  in  col. 
355-440.  Comp.  the  monographs  on  S.  E.  by  Hjort  (1823),  Stau- 
DENMAiER  (1834),  Taillandier  (1843),  Christlieb  (1860,  and 
his  art.  in  Hcrzog^  XIII.  788  sqq.),  Hermens  (1861),  Huber  (1861) ; 
the  respective  sections  in  Schrockh,  Neander,  Baur  (on  the 
Trinity),  Dorner  (on  Christology) ;  and  in  the  Histories  of  Philo- 
sophy by  RiTTER,  Erdmann,  and  Ueberweg.  Also  Reuter: 
Gesch.  der  relig.  Aufkldrung  im  Mittelalter  (1875),  I.  51-64  (a  discus- 
sion of  Erigena's  views  on  the  relation  of  authority  and  reason). 

At  the  request  of  Hincmar,  who  was  very  anxious  to  secure 
learned  aid,  but  mistook  his  man,  John  Scotus  Eeigena  wrote 
a  book  on  Predestination  (in  850),  and  dedicated  it  to  Hincmar 
and  his  friend  Pardulus,  Bishop  of  Laon.  This  most  remarka- 
ble of  Scotch-Irishmen  was  a  profound  scholar  and  philosopher, 
but  so  far  ahead  of  his  age  as  to  be  a  wonder  and  an  enigma.  He 
shone  and  disappeared  like  a  brilliant  meteor.  We  do  not  know 
whether  he  was  murdered  by  his  pupils  in  Malmsbury  (if  he  ever 
was  called  to  England),  or  died  a  natural  death  in  France  (which 
is  more  likely).  He  escaped  the  usual  fate  of  heretics  by  the 
transcendental  character  of  his  speculations  and  by  the  protec- 
tion of  Charles  the  Bald,  with  Avhom  he  was  on  such  familiar 
terms  that  he  could  answer  his  saucy  question  at  .the  dinner- 
table:  "What  is  the  difference  between  a  Scot  and  a  sot?"  with 
the  quick-witted  reply:  "The  table,  your  Majesty."  His  sys- 
tem of  thought  was  an  anachronism,  and  too  remote  from  the 
spirit  of  his  times  to  be  properly  understood  and  appreciated. 
He  was  a  Christian  Neo-Platonist,  a  forerunner  of  Scholasticism 
and  Mysticism  and  in  some  respects  of  Spinoza,  Schleiermacher, 


540  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

and  Hegel.  With  him  church  authority  resolves  itself  into 
reason,  theology  into  philosophy,  and  true  philosophy  is  identi- 
cal with  true  religion.  Philosophy  is,  so  to  say,  religion  un- 
veiled and  raised  from  the  cloudy  region  of  popular  belief  to 
the  clear  ether  of  pure  thought.^ 

From  this  alpine  region  of  speculation  he  viewed  the  problem 
of  predestination  and  free  will.  He  paid  due  attention  to  the 
Scriptures  and  the  fathers.  He  often  quotes  St.  Augustin,  and 
calls  him,  notwithstanding  his  dissent,  "  the  most  acute  in- 
quirer and  asserter  of  truth." ^  But  where  church  authority 
contradicts  reason,  its  language  must  be  understood  figura- 
tively, and,  if  necessary,  in  the  opposite  sense.^  He  charges 
Gottschalk  with  the  heresy  of  denying  both  divine  grace  and 
human  freedom,  since  he  derived  alike  the  crimes  which  lead  to 
damnation,  and  the  virtues  which  lead  to  eternal  life,  from 
a  necessary  and  compulsory  predestination.  Strictly  speaking, 
there  is  in  God  neither  before  nor  after,  neither  past  nor  fu- 
ture/ and  hence  neither /cre-knowledge  nor /ore-ordination, 
except  in  an  anthropopathic  sense.  He  rejects  a  double  predesti- 
nation, because  it  would  carry  a  contradiction  into  God.  There 
is  only  one  predestination,  the  predestination  of  the  righteous,  and 
this  is  identical  with  foreknowledge.^     For  in  God  knowledge 

*  So  it  was  with  Hegel.  His  pious  widow  told  me  that  her  husband  often 
politely  declined  her  request  to  accompany  her  to  church,  with  the  remark: 
"  Mein  llebes  Kind,  das  Denken  ist  audi  Goitesdienst." 

*  De  Freed.,  ca[).  15,  col.  413:   " acutissimus  veritatis  ct  inquisitor  et  assertor." 
'  Afar*  avTi(ppaaiv,  e  contrario. 

*  De  Prmd.,  cap.  9  (in  Migne,  col.  392):  "In  Deo  sicut  nulla  locorum  spacia 
sunt,  ita  nulla  temporum  intervalla."  A  profound  thought,  not  fully  considered 
by  either  party  in  the  strife. 

5  He  thus  sums  up  his  discussion  at  the  close  (Migne,  col.  4.38) :  "Cum  om- 
nibus ortkodoxis  filelihua  anathematizo  eos,  qui  dicunt,  duos  proedestinationes  esse, 
aut  unam  geminam,  bipartitam,  aut  duplam.  Si  enim  duce  sunt,  non  est  una  divina 
siihstantia.  Si  gemina,  non  est  individua.  Si  bipartita,  non  est  simplex,  sed  parti- 
bus  composita.  Si  dupla  est,  complicala  est.  Quod  si  prohibemur  divinam  unitatem 
dicere  triplam,  qua  dementia  audet  ha^reticus  earn  asserere  duplam  f  Tali  igitur 
monsiroso,  venenoso,  morlifcro  dugmafe  a  cordibus  nosfris  radicitus  exploso,  crcdamus, 
unam  (Biernam  pradestivalionem  Dei  Domini  esse,  et  non  nisi  in  his,  quce  sunt,  ad 
ea  vero,  quie  non  sunt,  nulla  modo  pertinere.'' 


^  123.  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  SCOTUS  ERIGENA.  541 

and  will  are  inseparable,  and  constitute  his  very  being.  The 
distinction  arises  from  the  limitation  of  the  human  mind  and 
from  ignorance  of  Greek;  for  Tzpoopdw  means  both  prcevideo 
and  prccdestino.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  predestination  to  sin 
and  punishment ;  for  sin  is  nothing  real  at  all,  but  simply  a 
negation,  an  abuse  of  free  will;^  and  punishment  is  simply  the 
inner  displeasure  of  the  sinner  at  the  failure  of  his  bad  aims. 
If  several  fathers  call  sinners  prcedestinati,  they  mean  the  re- 
verse, as  Christ  called  Judas  amice  instead  of  inimice,  and  as 
lucus  is  called  a  non  lucendo.  Sin  lies  outside  of  God,  and  does 
not  exist  for  him  at  all;  he  does  not  even  foreknow  it,* much  less 
foreordain  it;  for  knowing  and  being  are  identical  with  liim.^ 
But  God  has  ordered  that  sin  punishes  itself;  he  has  established 
immutable  laws,  which  the  sinner  cannot  escape.  Free  will  is 
the  very  essence  of  man,  and  was  not  lost  by  the  fall ;  only  the 
power  and  energy  of  will  are  impaired.  But  Erigena  vindicates 
to  man  freedom  in  the  same  sense  in  which  he  vindicates  it  to 
God,  and  identities  it  with  moral  necessity.  His  pantheistic 
principles  lead  him  logically  to  universal  restoration.' 

This  appears  more  clearly  from  his  remarkable  work,  De 
Divisione  Naturce,  where  he  develops  his  system.  The  leading 
idea  is  the  initial  and  final  harmony  of  God  and  the  universe, 

*  Ncgatio,  privalio,  defectus  juHitice.  absentia  boni,  corruptio  boni.  On  the  other 
hand,  Scotus  seems  to  regard  sin  as  a  necessary  limitation  of  the  creature.  But 
this  idea  is  inconsistent  with  the  freedom  of  will,  and  runs  into  necessitarian- 
ism and  pantlieisra.  As  sin  is  the  defect  of  justice,  so  death  is  simply  the  de- 
fect of  life,  and  pain  the  defect  of  bliss.     See  cap.  15  (col.  416). 

^  God  knows  only  what  is,  and  sin  has  no  real  existence.  "  Sicut  Deus  mali 
auctor  non  est.  ita  nee  prcescius  mali,  nee  prcedestinans  est."  Cap.  10  (col.  395). 
"  Ratio  pronuneiare  non  duhilat,  peceata  eorumqiie  snjiplicia  nihil  esse,  ac  per  hoc 
nee  prceieiri  nee  prcedestinari  po-se;  quomodo  enim  vel  proesciuntur,  rel  prcedesti- 
nantur,  qiwe  non  sunt. ^"  Cap.  1-5.  The  same  thought  occurs  in  his  work,  De 
Divis.  Nat.  He  refers  to  such  passages  of  the  Scriptures  where  it  is  said  of 
God  that  he  does  not  know  the  wicked. 

^  The  predestination  theory  of  Scotus  has  some  points  of  resemblance  with 
that  of  Schleiermacher,  who  defended  the  Calvinistic  particularism,  but  only 
as  a  preparatory  stage  to  universal  election  and  restoration. 


542  FOURTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

as  unfoldino"  itself  under  four  aspects :  1)  Natura  creatrix  non 
<yreata,  i.  e.  God  as  the  creative  and  uncreated  beginning  of  all 
that  exists ;  2)  Natura  creatrix  creata,  i.  e.  the  ideal  world  or 
the  divine  prototypes  of  all  things;  3)  Natura  creata  non  creans, 
i.  e.  the  created,  but  uncreative  world  of  time  and  sense,  as  the 
reflex  and  actualization  of  the  ideal  world ;  4)  Natura  nee  cre- 
ata nee  crcans,  i.  e.  God  as  the  end  of  all  creation,  which,  after 
the  defeat  of  all  opposition,  must  return  to  him  in  an  o-oxazd- 
axaciz  Tcov  r.dvrcov.  "The  first  and  the  last  form,"  he  says, 
"are  one,  and  can  be  understood  only  of  God,  who  is  the  begin- 
ning and  the  end  of  all  things." 

The  tendency  of  this  speculative  and  mystical  pantheism  of 
Erigena  was  checked  by  the  practical  influence  of  the  Christian 
theism  which  entered  into  his  education  and  personal  experience, 
so  that  we  may  say  with  a  historian  who  is  always  just  and 
charitable:  "We  are  unwilling  to  doubt,  that  he  poured  out 
many  a  devout  and  earnest  prayer  to  a  redeeming  God  for  his 
inward  illumination,  and  that  he  diligently  sought  for  it  in  the 
sacred  Scripture,  though  his  conceptual  apprehension  of  the 
divine  Being  seems  to  exclude  such  a  relation  of  man  to  God,  as 
prayer  presupposes."  ^ 

Hincraar  had  reason  to  disown  such  a  dangerous  champion,  and 
complained  of  the  Scotch  "porridge.""  John  Scotus  was  vio- 
lently assailed  by  Archbishop  Wenilo  of  Sens,  who  denounced 
nineteen  propositions  of  his  book  (which  consists  of  nineteen 
chapters)  as  heretical,  and  by  Bishop  Prudentius,  who  increased 
the  number  to  seventy -seven.     He  was  charged  with  Pelagian- 

*  Neander,  III.  462.  Tlie  same  may  be  said  still  more  confidently  of 
Schleiermacher,  who  leaned  with  his  head  to  pantheism,  but  lovingly  clung 
with  his  heart  to  Christ  as  his  Lord  and  Saviour.  He  keenly  felt  the  specu- 
lative difficulty  of  confining  the  absolute  being  to  the  limitations  of  personality 
{"omnis  definilio  est  negatio"),  and  yet  sincerely  prayed  to  a  personal  God.  We 
cannot  pray  to  an  abstraction,  but  only  to  a  personal  being  that  is  able  to  hear 
and  to  answer.  Nor  is  personality  necessarily  a  limitation.  There  may  be 
an  absolute  personality  as  well  as  an  absolute  intelligence  and  an  absolute  will. 

'  "  PuUes  Scotorum." 


§  124.  THE  EUCHAEISTIC  CONTROVERSIES.  543 

ism  and  Origeuism,  and  censured  for  substituting  philosophy 
for  theology,  and  sophistical  subtleties  for  sound  arguments 
from  Scripture  and  tradition.  Remigius  thought  him  insane. 
Florus  Magister  likewise  wrote  against  him,  and  rejected  as 
blasphemous  the  doctrine  that  sin  and  evil  were  nonentities, 
and  therefore  could  not  be  the  subjects  of  divine  foreknowledge 
and  foreordination.  The  Synod  of  Valence  (855)  rejected  his 
nineteen  syllogisms  as  absurdities,  and  his  whole  book  as  a 
"commentum  diaboli  potiiis  quam  argumentum  Jidei"  His  most 
important  work,  which  gives  his  whole  system,  was  also  con- 
demned by  a  provincial  Synod  of  Sens,  and  afterwards  by  Pope 
Honorius  III.  in  1225,  who  characterized  it  as  a  book  "teeming 
with  the  vermin  of  heretical  depravity,"  and  ordered  all  copies 
to  be  burned.  But,  fortunately,  a  few  copies  survived  for  the 
study  of  later  ages. 

§  124.  The  Eucharistic  Controversies.     Literature. 

The  general  Lit.  on  the  history  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist,  see  in 

vol.  I.,  §  55,  p.  472,  and  II.  241. 
Add  the  following  Roman  Catholic  works  on  the  general  subject:  Card. 
Jo.  DE  Lugo  (d.  1660) :   Tractatus  de  venerabili  Eucharisttoi  Sacra- 
mento, in  Migne's  "  Cursus  Theol.  Completus,"  XXIII.    Card.  Wise- 
man :  Lectures  on  the  Real  Presence.  Lond.,  1836  and  1842.   Oswald  : 
Die  clogmat.  Lehre  von  den  heil.  Sacramenten  der  katholischen  Kirche. 
Miinster,  3rd  ed.,  1870,  vol.  I.  375-427. 
On  the  Protestant  side :  T.  K.  Meier  :  Versuch  einer  Gesch.  der  Transsub- 
stantiationslehre.     Heilbronn,  1832.      Ebrard:  Das  Dogma  v.  heil. 
Abendmahl  und  seine  Gesch.      Frankf.  a.  M.,  1845  and  '46,  2  vols. 
Steitz  :  Arts,  on  Radbert,  Ratramnus,   and     Transubstantiation   in 
Herzog.     Schaff  :   Transubstantiation  in  "Eel.  Encycl."  III.  2385. 
Special  Lit.  on  the  eucharistic  controversies  in  the  ninth  and  eleventh 

centuries. 
I.  Controversy  between  Ratramnus  and  Paschasius  Eadbertus. 
(1)  Paschasius  Eadbertus  :  Liber  de  Corporeet  Sanguine  Domini,  de- 
dicated to  Marinus,  abbot  of  New  Corbie,  831,  second  ed.,  844,  pre- 
sented to  Charles  the  Bald ;  first  genuine  ed.  by  Nic.  Mameranus,  Colon. 
1550  ;  best  ed.  by  Martene  and  Durand  in  "  Veter.  Script,  et  Monum. 
amplissima  Collectio,"  IX.  367.— Comw.  in  Matth.  (26  :  26) ;  Epistola 
ad  Frudegardum,  and  treatise  De  Fartu  Virginis.  See  S.  Pasch. 
Radb.  :  Opera  omnia  in  Tom.  120  of  Migne's  "  Patrol.  Lat.,"  Par.  1852. 


544  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

HaimO:  Tract,  de  Corp.  et  Sang.  Dom.  (a  fragment  of  a  Com.  on  1  Cor.), 
in  D'Achery,  "Spicil."  I.  42,  and  in  Migne,  "P.  L.,"  Tom.  118,  col. 
815-817.  HlxCMAR:  Ep.  ad  Carol.  Calv.  de  cavendis  vitiis  et  virtu- 
tibus  exercendis,  c.  9.     In  Migne,  T.  125,  col.  915  sqq. 

(2)  Ratramnus  :  De  Corpore  et  Sanguine  Domini  liber  ad  Carolmn  Cal- 
vum  Reg.  Colon.,  1532  (under  the  name  of  Bertram),  often  publ. 
by  Reformed  divines  in  the  original  and  in  translations  (from  1532 
to  1717  at  Zurich,  Geneva,  London,  Oxford,  Amsterdam),  and  by  Jac. 
Boileau,  Par.,  1712,  with  a  vindication  of  the  catholic  orthodoxy  of 
Ratramnus.  See  Rj^teamni  Opera  in  Migne,  "P.  L.,"  Tom.  121, 
col.  10-346. 

Rabanus  Maurus:  Poenitentiale,  cap.  33.  Migne,  "P.  L."  Tom.  110, 
col.  492,  493.  Walafrid  Strabo  :  De  Rebus  Eccles.,  c.  16, 17.  See 
extracts  in  Gieseler,  II.  80-82. 

(3)  Discussions  of  historians:  Natalis  Alexander,  H.  Eccl.  IX.  and 
X.,  Dissert.  X.  and  XIII.  Neander,  IV.  458-475,  Germ,  ed.,  or 
III.  495-501,  Engl,  transl.,  Bost.  ed.  Gieseler,  II.  79-84,  N.  Y. 
ed.     Baur:    Vorlesungen  iiber  Dogmengesch.  II.  161-175. 

II.  Controversy  between  Berengar  and  Lanfranc. 

(1)  Lanfrancus  :  De  Eucharistice  Sacramento  contra  Bercngarium  lib., 
Basil.,  1528,  often  publ.,  also  in  "Bibl.  PP.  Lugd.,"  XVIII.  763, 
and  in  Migne,  "Patrol.  Lat.,"  Tom.  150  (1854),  col.  407-442. 

(2)  Berengarius:  De  Sacra  Coena  adv.  Lanfrancum  liber  posterior,  first 
publ.  by  A.  F.  &  F.  Th.  Vischer.  Berol.,  1834  (from  the  MS.  in  Wol- 
fenbiittel,  now  in  Gottingen.  Comp.  Lessing:  Berengarius  Turon. 
oder  Ankilndigung  eines  vichtigen  Werkes  desselben.  Braunschweig, 
1770).  H.  Sudendorf:  Berengarius  Turonensis  oder  eine  Sammlung 
ihn  betreffeiider  Briefe.  Hamburg  and  Gotha,  1850.  Contains  tAven- 
ty-two  new  documents,  and  a  full  list  of  the  older  sources. 

(3)  Neander:  III. .502-530  (E.Tr.  Bost.  ed.;  or  IV.  476-534  Germ. ed.). 
Gieseler:  II.  163-173  (E.  Tr.  N.  York  ed.).  Baur:  II.  175-198. 
Hardwick:  Middle  Age,  169-173  (third  ed.  by  Stubbs).  Milman: 
III.  258  sqq.  Robertson:  TI.  609  sqq.  (small  ed.,  IV.  351-367). 
Jacobi:  Berengar,  in  Herzog^  IT.  305-311.  Reuter:  Gesch.  der 
relig.  Avfkldrting  im  Mittelalter  (1875),  I.  91  sqq.  Hefele:  IV.  740 
sqq.  (ed.  1879). 

§  125.   The  Two  Theories  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  became  the  subject  of  two 
controversies  in  the  Western  church,  especially  in  France. 
The  first  took  ]^lace  in  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century  between 
Paschasius  Radbcrtus  and  Ratramnus,  the  other  in  the  middle 
of  the  eleventh  century  between  Berengar  and  Lanfranc.     In 


§  125.  THE  TWO  THEORIES  OF  THE  LOED'S  SUPPER.  545 

the  second,  Pope  Hildebrand  was  implicated,  as  mediator  be- 
tween Berengar  and  the  orthodox  party. 

In  both  cases  the  conflict  was  between  a  materialistic  and  a 
spiritualistic  conception  of  the  sacrament  and  its  effect.  The 
one  was  based  on  a  literal,  the  other  on  a  figurative  interpreta- 
tion of  the  words  of  institution,  and  of  tlie  mysterious  discourse 
in  the  sixth  chapter  of  St.  John.  The  contending  parties  agreed 
in  the  belief  that  Christ  is  present  in  the  eucharist  as  the  bread 
of  life  to  believers;  but  they  differed  widely  in  their  conception 
of  the  mode  of  that  presence :  the  one  held  that  Christ  was  lite- 
rally and  corporeally  present  and  communicated  to  all  commu- 
nicants through  the  mouth;  the  other,  that  he  was  spiritually 
present  and  spiritually  communicated  to  believers  through  faith. 
The  transubstantiationists  (if  we  may  coin  this  term)  believed 
that  the  eucharistic  body  of  Christ  was  identical  with  his  histo- 
rical body,  and  was  miraculously  created  by  the  priestly  conse- 
cration of  the  elements  in  every  sacrifice  of  the  mass;  their 
opponents  denied  this  identity,  and  regarded  the  eucharistic 
body  as  a  symbolical  exhibition  of  his  real  body  once  sacrificed 
on  the  cross  and  now  glorified  in  heaven,  yet  present  to  the 
believer  with  its  life-giving  virtue  and  saving  power. 

We  find  both  these  views  among  the  ancient  fathei^s.  The 
realistic  and  mystical  view  fell  in  more  easily  with  the  excessive 
supernaturalism  and  superstitious  piety  of  the  middle  age,  and 
triumphed  at  last  both  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches ;  for 
there  is  no  material  difference  between  them  on  this  dogma.^ 
The  spiritual  theory  was  backed  by  the  all-powerful  authority 
of  St.  Augustin  in  the  West,  and  ably  advocated  by  Ratramnus 
and  Berengar,  but  had  to  give  way  to  the  prevailing  belief  in 
transubstantiation  until,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  controversy 
was  revived  by  the  Reformers,  and  resulted  in  the  establish- 


'  The  Greek  fathers  do  not,  indeed,  define  the  real  presence  as  transuhstavr 
tiatio  or  fierovaiuacg,  but  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  Clirysostom,  and  John  of  Damascus 
use  similar  terms  which  imply  a  miraculous  change  of  the  elements. 
35 


546  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

raent  of  three  theories:  1)  the  Roman  Catholic  dogma  of  tran- 
substantiation,  re-asserted  by  the  Council  of  Trent;  2)  the  Lu- 
theran theory  of  the  real  presence  in  the  elements,  retaining 
their  substance;'  and  3)  the  Reformed  (Calvinistic)  theory 
of  a  spiritual  real  or  dynamic  presence  for  believers.  In 
the  Roman  church  (and  herein  the  Greek  church  fully  agrees 
with  her),  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  is  closely  connected 
with  the  doctrine  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  which  forms  the 
centre  of  worship. 

It  is  humiliating  to  reflect  that  the  commemorative  feast  of 
Christ's  dying  love,  which  should  be  the  closest  bond  of  union 
between  believers,  innocently  gave  rise  to  the  most  violent  con- 
troversies. But  the  same  was  the  case  with  the  still  more  im- 
portant doctrine  of  Christ's  Person.  Fortunately,  the  spiritual 
benefit  of  the  sacrament  does  not  depend  upon  any  particular 
human  theory  of  the  mode  of  Christ's  presence,  who  is  ever 
ready  to  bless  all  who  love  him. 

§  126.   The  Theory  of  Paschasius  Radbertus. 

Paschasius  Radbertus  (from  800  to  about  865),  a  learned, 
devout  and  superstitious  monk,  and  afterwards  abbot  of  Corbie 
or  Corvcy  in  France,^  is  the  first  who  clearly  taught  the  doctrine 
of  transubstantiation  as  then  believed  by  many,  and  afterwards 
adopted  by  the  Roman  Catholic  church.     He  wrote  a  book  "on 

1  The  Lutheran  theory,  as  formulated  by  the  Formula  of  Concord,  is  usually 
and  conveniently  pty led  consxibstantiation,'m  distinction  from  transubMantiation  ; 
but  Lutheran  divines  disown  the  term,  because  they  confine  the  real  presence 
to  the  time  and  act  of  the  sacramental  fruition,  and  hence  reject  the  adoration 
of  the  consecrated  elements. 

2  Corbie,  Corvey,  Corbeia  (also  called  Corbeia  aurea  or  vetus),  was  a  fnmous 
Benedictine  Convent  in  the  diocese  of  Amiens,  founded  by  King  Clotar  and 
his  mother  Bathilde  in  664,  in  honor  of  Peter  and  Paul  and  the  Protomartyr 
Stephen.  It  boasted  of  many  distinguished  men,  as  St.  Ansgarius  (the  Apostle 
of  the  Danes),  Eadhert,  Ratramnus,  Druthmar.  New  Corbie  {Xova  Corbeia) 
was  a  colony  of  the  former,  founded  in  822,  near  Hoxter  on  the  Weser  in 
Germany,  and  became  the  centre  for  tlie  christianization  of  the  Saxons.  See 
Gallia  Christiann,  X.;  Wiegand,  ^escA.  t).  Corvey,  Hoxter,  1819;  Klippel,  Cor- 
vey, in  Herzog2  III.  365-370. 


§  126.  THE  THEORY  OF  PASCHASIUS  KADBERTUS.      547 

the  Body  and  Blood  of  the  Lord,"  composed  for  his  disciple 
Placidus  of  New  Corbie  in  the  year  831,  and  afterwards  re- 
edited  it  in  a  more  popular  form,  and  dedicated  it  to  the  Empe- 
ror Charles  the  Bald,  as  a  Christmas  gift  (844).  He  did  not 
employ  the  term  transnhstantiation,  which  came  not  into  use  till 
two  centuries  later ;  but  he  taught  the  thing,  namely,  that  "  the 
substance  of  bread  and  wine  is  effectually  changed  {efficacitei- 
interius  commutatur)  into  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ,"  so  that 
after  the  priestly  consecration  there  is  "nothing  else  in  the 
eucharist  but  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ,"  although  "  the  figure 
of  bread  and  wine  remain"  to  the  senses  of  sight,  touch,  and 
taste.  The  change  is  brought  about  by  a  miracle  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  who  created  the  body  of  Christ  in  the  womb  of  the  Vir- 
gin without  cohabitation,  and  who  by  the  same  almighty  powxr 
creates  from  day  to  day,  wdierever  the  mass  is  celebrated,  the 
same  body  and  blood  out  of  the  substance  of  bread  and  wine. 
He  emphasizes  the  identity  of  the  eucharistic  body  with  the 
body  which  was  born  of  the  Virgin,  sufiered  on  the  cross,  rose 
from  the  dead,  and  ascended  to  heaven  ;  yet  on  the  other  hand 
he  represents  the  sacramental  eating  and  drinking  as  a  spiritual 
process  by  faith. ^  He  therefore  combines  the  sensuous  and 
spiritual  conceptions.^     He  assumes  that  the  soul  of  the  believer 

'  He  denies  the  grossly  Capernailic  conception  ("  Christum  vorarifas  dentibm 
non  est")  and  the  conversion  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  into  our  flesh  and 
blood.  He  confines  the  spiritual  fruition  to  believers  ("iste  eucharistice  cibus 
non  nisi  filiorum  Dei  est'').  The  unworthy  communicants,  whom  he  compares 
to  Judas,  receive  the  sacramental  "mystery"  to  their  judgment,  but  not  the 
"virtue  of  the  mystery"  to  their  benefit.  He  seems  not  to  have  clearly  seen 
that  his  premises  lead  to  the  inevitable  conclusion  that  all  communicants  alike 
receive  the  same  substance  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  though  with  oppo- 
site effects.  But  Dr.  Ebrard  is  certainly  wrong  when  he  claims  Radbert  rather 
for  the  Augustinian  view,  and  denies  that  he  was  the  author  of  the  theory  of 
transubstantiation.  See  his  Dogma  v.  heil.  Abendmahl  I.  406,  and  his  Christl. 
Kirchen-  unci  Dogmengesch.  II.  27  and  33. 

'  See  Steitz  on  Radbert,  and  also  Reuter  (I.  43),  who  says  :  "Die  Radbertische 
Doetrin  war  das  synkretistische  Gebilde,  in  welchem  die  spiritualistische  Lehre  Au- 
gnslin's  mit  der  uralten  Anschauung  von  der  realen  Gegenwart  des  Leibes  und  des 
Blutes  Christl,  aber  in  Analogic  mit  dem  religiosen  Materialismus  der  Periode 


548  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

communes  with  Christ,  and  that  his  body  receives  an  imperish- 
able principle  of  life  which  culminates  at  last  in  the  resurrection. 
He  thus  understood,  like  several  of  the  ancient  fathers,  the 
words  of  our  Saviour  :  "  He  that  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh 
my  blood  hath  eternal  life;  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last 
day"  (John  6:  54). 

He  supports  his  doctrine  by  the  words  of  institution  in  their 
literal  sense,  and  by  the  sixth  chapter  of  John.  He  appealed 
also  to  marvellous  stories  of  the  visible  appearances  of  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ  for  the  removal  of  doubts  or  the  satisfaction 
of  the  pious  desire  of  saints.  The  bread  on  the  altar,  he  reports, 
was  often  seen  in  the  shape  of  a  lamb  or  a  little  child,  and  when 
the  priest  stretched  out  his  hand  to  break  the  bread,  an  angel 
descended  from  heaven  with  a  knife,  slaughtered  the  lamb  or 
the  child,  and  let  his  blood  run  into  a  cup ! ' 

Such  stories  were  readily  believed  by  the  people,  and  helped 
to  strengthen  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation ;  as  the  stories 
of  the  appearances  of  departed  souls  from  purgatory  confirmed 
the  belief  in  purgatory. 

The  book  of  Eadbert  created  a  great  sensation  in  the  West, 
which  was  not  yet  prepared  to  accept  the  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiation without  a  vigorous  struggle.  Eadbert  himself  ad- 
mits that  some  of  his  contemporaries  believed  only  in  a  spiritual 
communion  of  the  soul  with  Christ,  and  substituted  the  mere 
virtue  of  his  body  and  blood  for  the  real  body  and  blood,  i.  e., 
as  he  thinks,  the  figure  for  the  verity,  the  shadow  for  the  sub- 
stance.^ 

combinirt  vnirde;  die  gegnerische  Theorie  der  Protest  gegen  das  Recht  dieser  Com- 
bination." 

'  See  several  such  examples  in  eh.  14  {Opera,  ed.  Migne,  col.  131G  sqq). 

*  He  clearly  contrasts  the  two  theories,  probably  with  reference  to  Ratram- 
nus,  in  his  comments  on  the  words  of  institution,  Matt.  26:  26  {Expos,  in  Matt,, 
ed.  Migne,  col.  890  sq.) :  ''  N-que  itaque  dixit  cum  fregit  et  dedit  eis  panem,  '  hoc 
est,  vel  in  hoc  mysterio  est  virtus  vel  figura  corporis  mei,'  sed  ait  non  ficte,  'Hoc  est 
corpus  meum.'  Ubi  Lucas  addidit,  '  Quod  pro  vobis  iradetur,'  vel  sicut  alH  codices 
habent,  '  datur.'     Sed  et  Joannes  ex  persona  Domini,  '  Fanis,'  inquit,  '  quem  ego 


§  127.  THE  THEORY  OF  EATRAMNUS.  549 

His  opponents  appealed  chiefly  to  St.  Augustin,  who  made  a 
distinction  between  the  historical  and  the  eucharistic  body  of 
Christ,  and  between  a  false  material  and  a  true  spiritual  fruition 
of  his  body  and  blood.  In  a  letter  to  the  monk  Frudegard, 
who  quoted  several  passages  of  Augustin,  Radbert  tried  to  ex- 
plain them  in  his  sense.  For  no  divine  of  the  Latin  church 
dared  openly  to  contradict  the  authority  of  the  great  African 
teacher. 

§  127.  Tlie  Theory  of  Ratramnus. 

The  chief  opponent  of  transubstantiation  was  RatrXmjsxts/  a 
contemporary  monk  at  Corbie,  and  a  man  of  considerable  lite- 
rary reputation.  He  was  the  first  to  give  the  symbolical  theory 
a  scientific  expression.  At  the  request  of  King  Charles  the 
Bald  he  wrote  a  eucharistic  tract  against  Radbert,  his  superior, 
but  did  not  name  him.^  He  answered  two  questions,  whether 
the  consecrated  elements  are  called  body  and  blood  of  Christ 

dabo  caro  mea  est,  non  alia  quam,  pro  rmindi  vita''  [Joan.  VI.  52).  Ac  deinde, 
*  Qui  manducat  meam  carnem,  et  bibit  sanguinem  meum,  in  me  manet  et  ego  in  illo' 
(ver.  57).  Unde  miror  quid  velint  una  quidam  dicere,  non  in  re  esse  veritatem  carnis 
Christi  vel  sanguinis;  sed  in  sacramento  virtutem  carnis  et  non  cam  em ;  virtutem 
sangui7iis  et  non  sanguinem ;  figuram  et  non  veritatem,  umbram  et  non  corpus,  cum 
hie  species  accipit  veritatem  et  figuram,  veterum  hostiarum  corpus.  Unde  Veritas  cum 
porrigeret  discipulis  panem,  '  Hoc  est  corpus  meum,'  et  non  aliud  quam,  '  quod  pro 
vobis  tradetur ; '  et  cum  calicem,  '  Hie  est  caliz  Nbvi  Testamenti,  qui  pro  multis  effun- 
detur  in  remissionem peccatorum.'  Necdum  itaque  eratfusus,  et  tamen  ipse  porrigetur 
in  calice  sanguis,  qui  fundendus  erat.  Erat  quidem  jam  in  calice,  qui  adhuc  tamen 
fundendus  erat  in  pretium;  et  ideo  ipse  idemque  sanguis  jam  erat  in  calice,  qui  et  in 
corpore  sicut  et  corpus  vel  caro  in  pane.  Erat  autem  integer  Christus  et  corpus 
Christi  coram  oculis  omnium  positum ;  necnon  et  sanguis  in  corpore,  sicut  et  adhuc 
hodie  integerrimum  est  et  manet,  qui  vere  dabatur  eis  ad  comedendum,  et  ad  bidendum, 
in  remissionem  peccatorum,  quam  in  Ohristo." 

^  In  the  middle  ages  and  during  the  Reformation  he  was  known  by  a  writing 
error  under  the  name  of  Bertram. 

2  De  Corpore  et  Sanguine  Domini,  in  Migne  121,  col.  103-170,  to  which  is 
added  the  Dissertation  of  Boileau,  171-222.  The  tract  of  Ratramnus,  together 
with  Bullinger'.s  tract  on  the  same  subject  and  the  personal  influence  of  Rid- 
ley, Peter  INIartyr,  and  Bucer,  produced  a  change  in  Archbishop  Cranmer,  who 
was  successively  a  believer  in  transubstantiation,  consubstantiation,  and  a  sym- 
bolic presence.    See  Schaff,  Creeds  of  Christendom,  I.  601. 


550  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

after  a  sacramental  manuer  {in  mysterio),  or  in  the  literal  sense; 
and  whether  the  eucharistic  body  is  identical  with  the  historical 
body  which  died  and  rose  again.  He  denied  this  identity  which 
Radbert  had  strongly  asserted;  and  herein  lies  the  gist  of  the 
difference.  He  concluded,  that  the  elements  remain  in  reality  as 
well  as  for  the  sensual  perception  what  they  were  before  the 
consecration,  and  that  they  are  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ 
only  in  a  spiritual  sense  to  the  faith  of  believers..'  He  calls 
the  consecrated  bread  and  wine  figures  and  pledges  of  the  body 
aud  blood  of  Christ.  They  are  visible  tokens  of  the  Lord's 
death,  that,  remembering  his  passion,  we  may  become  partakers 
of  its  effect.  He  appealed  to  the  discourse  in  the  sixth  chapter 
of  John,  as  well  as  Radbert;  but,  like  Augustin,  his  chief  autho- 
rity, he  found  the  key  to  the  whole  chapter  in  vei'se  63,  which 
points  from  the  letter  to  the  spirit  and  from  the  carnal  to  the 
spiritual  understanding.^  The  souls  of  believers  are  nourished 
in  the  communion  by  the  Word  of  God  (the  Logos),  which 
dwells  in  the  natural  body  of  Christ,  and  which  dwells  after  an 
invisible  manner  in  the  sacrament.  Unbelievers  cannot  receive 
Christ,  as  they  lack  the  spiritual  organ.  He  refers  to  the  ana- 
logy of  baptism,  which  is  justly  called  a  fount  of  life.  Viewed 
by  the  senses,  it  is  simply  a  fluid  element ;  but  by  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  priest  the  regenerating  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
added  to  it,  so  that  what  properly  is  corruptible  water  becomes 
figuratively  or  in  mystery  a  healing  virtue.^ 

*  Cap.  88  (col.  164) :  "  Quapropter  corpus  et  sanguis,  quod  in  ecdesia  gerilur, 
differt  ah  illo  corpore  et  sanguine,,  quod  in  Christi  corpore  per  resurrectionem  jam 
glorifieatum  cognoscitur.  Et  hoc  corpus  pignus  est  et  species,  illud  vera  ipsa  Veritas." 
— "  Videmus  Haque  multa  differentia  separari  mysterium  sanguinis  et  corporis  Christi, 
quod  nunc  afidelibus  sumitur  in  ecdesia,  et  illud,  quod  natum  est  de  Maria  Virgine, 
quod  passum,  quod  sepultum,  quod  resurrezit,  quod  ad  codos  ascendit,  quod  ad  dex- 
teram  Patris  sedet."     Cap.  89,  col.  165. 

«Cap.  78-8.3  (col.  160-162). 
Cap.  17  and  18  (col.  135  .'^q.):  "  Consideremus  sacri  fontem  baptismatis,  qui 
fans  vitx  non  immerito  nuncupatur.  .  .  .  Si  consideretur  solummodo,  quod  corporeus 
aapicit  sensus,  dementum  fluidum  conspicitur.  .  .  Sed  accessit  Sancti  Spiritus  per  sacer- 
dotis  consecrationem  virtus  et  efficax  facta  est  non  solum  corpora,  vcrvm  etiam  animas 
d'luere.  .  .  .  Igitur  in  proprietatc  humor  corruptibilis,  in  mysterio  vera  virtus  sana- 
bills." 


2  127.  THE  THEORY  OF  KATEAM^'US.  551 

It  is  consistent  with  this  view  that  Ratramnus  regarded  the 
sacrifice  of  the  mass  not  as  an  actual  (though  unbloody)  repe- 
tition, but  only  as  a  commemorative  celebration  of  Christ's 
sacrifice  whereby  Christians  are  assured  of  their  redemption. 
When  we  shall  behold  Christ  face  to  face,  we  shall  no  longer 
need  such  instruments  of  remembrance. 

John  Scotus  Erigeua  is  also  reported  to  have  written  a  book 
against  Radbert  at  the  request  of  Charles  the  Bald.  Hinc- 
mar  of  Rheims  mentions  among  his  errors  this,  that  in  the  sac- 
rament of  the  altar  the  true  body  and  blood  of  Christ  were  not 
present,  but  only  a  memorial  of  tliem.^  The  report  may  have 
arisen  from  a  confusion,  since  the  tract  of  Ratramnus  was  at  a 
later  period  ascribed  to  Scotus  Erigena.^  But  he  expresses  his 
view  incidentally  in  otlier  writings  from  which  it  appears  that 
he  agreed  with  Ratramnus  and  regarded  the  eucharist  only  as  a 
typical  representation  of  a  spiritual  communion  with  Christ.^ 
In  his  book  De  Divisione  Naturce,  he  teaches  a  mystic  ubiquity  of 
Christ's  glorified  humanity  or  its  elevation  above  the  limitations 
of  space.  Neander  infers  from  this  that  he  held  the  eucharistic 
bread  and  wine  to  be  simply  symbols  of  the  deified,  omnipresent 
humanity  of  Christ  which  communicates  itself,  in  a  real  manner, 
to  believing  souls.*  At  all  events  the  hypothesis  of  ubiquity 
excludes  a  miraculous  change  of  the  elements,  and  gives  the  real 

»  De  Freed.,  c  31. 

'^  See  Laufs,  Ueber  diejur  verloren  gehaltene  Schrift  des  Johannes  Scotus  Erirjena 
von  der  Eucharistie,  in  the  "Studien  und  Kritiken"  of  Ullmann  and  Umbreit, 
1828,  p.  755  sqq.     Laufs  denies  that  Erigena  wrote  on  the  Eucharist. 

'  In  his  newly  discovered  Expositions  on  the  Celestial,  and  on  the  Ecclesiastical 
Hierarchy  of  St.  Dionysius,  and  the  fragments  of  a  Com.  on  St.  John.  See  Op. 
ed.  Floss  in  Migne,  122  (col.  126-356);  Chrisllieb,  Scotus  Er.,  p.  68-81,  and  in 
Herzog'^  XIII.  790  sq.,  and  Huber,  Sc.  Erig.,  p.  98  sqq. 

*  Dr.  Baur  is  of  the  same  opinion  (Dogmengesch.  II.  173):  "Scotus  Erigena 
dachte  sick  (De  Div.  Nat.  V.  38)  eine  JJ/jiquildt  der  vergeistigten  und  vergoltlichten 
Natur,  die  die  Annahme  einer  speciellen  Gegenwart  in  den  Elementen  des  Abendmahls 
nicht  zuliess,  sondern  dieselhen  nur  als  Symbols  zu  nehmen  gestaiteie.  Brod  und 
Wein  konnten  ihm  daher  nur  als  Sgmbole  jener  Vbiquitdt  der  verherrlichten  mensch- 
lichen  Natur  gelten ;  er  hat  sich  aber  hieriiber  nicht  naher  erkldrt." 


552  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

presence  a  christo-pantheistic  aspect.  The  Lutheran  divines  used 
this  hypothesis  in  a  modified  form  {imultipresencc,  or  multivoli- 
presence,  dependent  on  the  will  of  Christ)  as  a  dogmatic  support 
for  their  doctrine  of  the  real  presence. 

Among  the  divines  of  the  Carolingiau  age  who  held  the 
Augustinian  view  and  rejected  that  of  Radbert,  as  an  error, 
were  Rabanus  Maurus,  Walafrid  Strabo,  Christian  Druthmar, 
and  Floras  Maglster.  They  recognized  only  a  dynamic  and 
spiritual,  not  a  visible  and  corporeal  presence,  of  the  body  of 
Christ,  in  the  sacrament.^ 

On  the  other  hand,  the  theory  of  Radbert  was  accepted  by 
Archbishop  Hincmar  of  Rheims,  Bishop  Plaimo  of  Halberstadt, 
and  other  leading  ecclesiastics.  It  became  more  and  more  popu- 
lar during  the  dark  post-Carolingian  period.  Bishop  Rathe- 
rius  of  Verona  (about  950),  who,  however,  repelled  all  curious 
questions  about  the  mode  of  the  change^  and  even  the  learned 
and  liberal-minded  Gerbert  (afterwards  Pope  Sylvester  II.,  from 
999  to  1003),  defended  the  miraculous  transformation  of  the 
eucharistic  elements  by  the  priestly  consecration.  It  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  grossly  sensuous  character  of  the  theology  of  the 
tenth  century  that  the  chief  point  of  dispute  was  the  revolting 
and  indecent  question  whether  the  consecrated  elements  pass 
from  the  communicant  in  the  ordinary  way  of  nature.  The 
opponents  of  trausubstantiation  affirmed  this,  the  advocates 
indignantly  denied  it,  and  fastened  upon  the  former  the  new 
heretical  name  of  "  Stercorianists."  Gerbert  called  stercorianism  a 
diabolical  blasphemy,  and  invented  the  theory  that  the  eucha- 
ristic body  and  blood  of  Christ  do  not  pass  in  noxios  et  super- 
fiuos  hvmore^s,  but  are  preserved  in  the  flesh  for  the  final  resur- 
rection.^ 

Radbertus  was  canonized,  and  his  memory  is  celebrated  since 

1  "  Corpus  Clirixti  e.tse  non  in  specie  visibili,  sed  in  virtute  tspirituali,"  etc  See 
Baur.  II.  166,  172,  and  the  notes  in  Gieseler,  II.  80  and  82. 

'  De  Corpore  et  Sanyuini  Domini^  edited  by  Fez,  in  "  Tlies.  nov.  Anecd."  I., 
Pars  II.  133  sqq. 


2  127.  THE  THEORY  OF  RATRAMNUS.       553 

1073,  on  the  26th  of  April  in  the  diocese  of  Soissons/     The 
book  of  Ratramnus,  under  the  supposed  authorship  of  Scotus  / 
Erigena,   was   twice  condemned   in   the  Berengar   controversy  { 
(1050  and  1059),  and  put  in  the  Tridentine  Index  of  prohibited 
books.^ 

NOTES. 

In  connection  with  this  subject  is  the  subordinate  controversy  on  the 
delicate  question  whether  Christ,  admitting  his  supernatural  conception, 
was  born  in  the  natural  way  like  other  children,  or  miraculously  {dauso 
utero).  This  question  troubled  the  pious  curiosity  of  some  nuns  of  Ve- 
sona  (?),  and  reached  the  convent  of  Corbie.  Paschasius  Badbertus, 
following  the  lead  of  St.  Ambrose  and  St.  Jerome,  defended  the  theory 
that  the  holy  Virgin  remained  virgo  in  partu  and  post  partum,  and 
used  in  proof  some  poetic  passages  on  the  hortus  condusus  and  fons 
signatus  in  Cant.  4:  12,  and  the  porta  dausa  Domini  in  Ezek.  41 :  2.  The 
whole  incarnation  is  supernatural,  and  as  the  conception  so  the  birth  of 
Christ  was  miraculous.  He  was  not  subject  to  the  laws  of  nature,  and 
entered  the  world  ''sine  dolore  et  sine  gemitu  et  sine  ulla  corruptione  carnis." 
See  Eadbert's  tract  De  Partu  Virginis  in  his  Opera,  ed.  Migne,  col.  1365- 

1386.  ,. 

Ratramnus,  in  his  book  De  eo  quod  Chrisfus  ex  Virgine  natiis  est  (in 
D'Achery,  "  Spicilegium,"  I.,  and  in  Migne,  Tom.  121,  col.  82-102),  like- 
wise taught  the  perpetual  virginity  of  Mary,  but  assumed  that  Christ 
came  into  the  world  in  the  natural  way  ("naturaliter  per  aulam  virgin- 
earn"  or  ''per  virginalisjanuam  vulvse").  The  conception  in  utero  implies 
the  birth  ex  utero.  But  he  does  not  controvert  or  name  Radbert,  and 
uses  the  same  Scripture  passages  for  his  view.  He  refers  also  to  the 
analogy  of  Christ's  passing  through  the  closed  doors  on  the  day  of  the 
resurr'ection.  He  quotes  from  Augustin,  Jerome,  Pope  Gregory,  and 
Bede  in  support  of  his  view.  He  opposes  only  the  monstrous  opinion 
that  Christ  broke  from  the  womb  through  some  unknown  channel 
{"monsfruose  de  seereto  ventris  incerto  tramite  luminis  in  auras  exisse,  quod 
non  est  nasci,  sed  erumpi."  Cap.  1,  col.  83).  Such  an  opinion,  he  tbinks, 
leads  to  the  docetic  heresy,  and  to  the  conclusion  that  "nee  vere  natus 
Christus,  nee  vere  genuit  Maria." 

1  See  the  Acta  Sand.  BoUand.  ad  26  Apr.,  with  the  Vita  of  Pasch.  Radb.  by 
Sirraond,  and  the  Martyrol.  Bened.  with  the  Vita  by  Menard. 

■^  Notwithstanding  this  prohibition,  Mabillon,  Natalis  Alexander,  and  Boileau 
have  defended  the  catholic  orthodoxy  of  Ratramnus  with  the  apologetic  aim 
to  wrest  from  the  Protestants  a  weighty,  authority  of  the  ninth  century.  See 
Gieseler  II.  82,  and  J.  G.  Miiller  in  Wetzer  and  Welte  (first  ed.)  VIII.  170  eq. 


554  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

§  128.   TJie  Berengar  Controversy. 

While  tlie  doctrine  of  a  corporeal  presence  and  participation 
of  Christ  in  the  eucharist  made  steady  progress  in  the  public 
opinion  of  Western  Christendom  in  close  connection  with  the 
rising  power  of  the  priesthood,  the  doctrine  of  a  spiritual  pre- 
sence and  participation  by  faith  was  re-asserted  by  way  of  re- 
action in  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century  for  a  short  period, 
but  condemned  by  ecclesiastical  authority.  This  condemnation 
decided  the  victory  of  transubstantiation. 

Let  us  first  review  the  external  history  of  the  controversy, 
which  runs  into  the  next  period  (till  1079). 

Beeexgar  (c.  1000-1088),  a  pupil  of  Fulbert  of  Chartres  (d. 
1029),  was  canon  and  director  of  the  cathedral  school  in  Tours, 
his  native  city,  afterwards  archdeacon  of  Angers,  and  highly 
esteemed  as  a  man  of  rare  learning  and  piety  before  his  eucha- 
ristic  views  became  known.^  He  was  an  able  dialectician 
and  a  popular  teacher.  He  may  be  ranked  among  the  fore- 
runners of  a  Christian  rationalism,  who  dared  to  criticize 
church  authority  and  aimed  to  reconcile  the  claims  of  reason 
and  faith. ^  But  he  had  not  the  courage  of  a  martyr,  and  twice 
recanted  from  fear  of  death.  Nor  did  he  carry  out  his  principle. 
He  seems  to  have  been  in  full  accord  with  catholic  orthodoxy 
except  on  the  point  of  the  sacrament.     He  was  ascetic  in  his 

'  During  and  after  the  eucharistic  controversy  he  was  charged  with  vanity, 
ambition,  and  using  improper  means,  such  as  money  and  patronage,  for  the 
spread  of  his  opinions.  See  Hefele,  IV.  742.  Card.  Hergenrother  (I.  707) 
calls  Berengar  oberfldchlich,  eitel,  ehrgeizig,  verwegen  and  neuerungssiichtig.  Arch- 
bishop Trench  (Lectures  on  Medieval  Church  History,  p.  189  sq.),  dissenting 
from  Coleridge's  charitable  judgment,  finds  fault  with  Berengar's  ''insolent 
tone  of  superiority"  in  addressing  Lanfranc,  and  with  a  "passionate  feeble- 
ness" and  "want  of  personal  dignity"  in  his  whole  conduct.  He  thinks  his 
success  would  have  been  a  calamity,  since  it  would  have  involved  the  loss  of 
the  truth  which  was  concealed  under  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  "Su- 
perstition sometimes  guards  the  truth  which  it  distort^j,  caricatures,  and  in 
part  conceals."     Coleridge  wrote  a  touching  poem  on  Berengar's  recantation. 

*  As  an  ''  Anfkldrer"  Berengar  is  one-sidedly  represented  by  Renter,  /.  o. 
Comp.  also  Baur,  in  his  Kirchengesch.  des  Miltelaltcrs,  p.  66  sqq. 


g  128.  THE  BEEENGAR  CONTEOVEKSY.       655 

habits  and  shared  the  prevailing  respect  for  monastic  life,  but 
saw  clearly  its  danger.  "  The  hermit,"  he  says  with  as  much 
beauty  as  truth,  in  an  Exhortatory  Discourse  to  hermits  who 
had  asked  his  advice,  "  is  alone  in  his  cell,  but  sin  loiters  about 
the  door  with  enticing  words  and  seeks  admittance.  I  am  thy 
beloved — says  she — whom  thou  didst  court  in  the  world.  I  was 
with  thee  at  the  table,  slept  with  thee  on  thy  couch ;  without 
me,  thou  didst  nothing.  How  darest  thou  think  of  forsaking 
me  ?  I  have  followed  thy  every  step ;  and  dost  thou  expect  to 
hide  away  from  me  in  thy  cell  ?  I  was  with  thee  in  the  world, 
when  thou  didst  eat  flesh  and  drink  wine ;  and  shall'  be  with 
thee  in  the  wilderness,  where  thou  livest  only  on  bread  and 
water.  Purple  and  silk  are  not  the  only  colors  seen  in  hell, — 
the  monk's  cowl  is  also  to  be  found  there.  Thou,  hermit,  hast 
something  of  mine.  The  nature  of  the  flesh,  which  thou  wearest 
about  thee,  is  my  sister,  begotten  with  me,  brought  up  with  me. 
So  long  as  the  flesh  is  flesh,  so  loug  shall  I  be  in  thy  flesh. 
Dost  thou  subdue  thy  flesh  by  abstinence?  —  thou  becomest 
proud ;  and  lo !  sin  is  there.  Art  thou  overcome  by  the  flesh, 
and  dost  thou  yield  to  lust  ?  sin  is  there.  Perhaps  thou  hast 
none  of  the  mere  human  sins,  I  mean  such  as  proceed  from 
sense ;  beware  then  of  devilish  sins.  Pride  is  a  sin  which  be- 
longs in  common  to  evil  spirits  and  to  hermits."  ^ 

By  continued  biblical  and  patristic  studies  Berengar  came 
between  the  years  1040  and  1045  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
eucharistic  doctrine  of  Paschasius  Radbertus  was  a  vulgar 
superstition  contrary  to  the  Scriptures,  to  the  fathers,  and  to 
reason.  He  divulged  his  view  among  his  many  pupils  in 
France  and  Germany,  and  created  a  great  sensation.  Eusebius 
Bruno,  bishop  of  Angers,  to  whose  diocese  he  belonged,  and 
Frollant,  bishop  of  Senlis,  took  his  part,  but  the  majority  was 
against  him.     Adelmann,  his  former  fellow-student,  then  arch- 


^  Neander  ITI.  504.    The  Discourse  is  published  in  Martene  and  Durand, 
Thes-  nov.  Aneedotorum,  Tom.  I. 


556  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

deacon  at  Liittich  (Liege),  afterwards  bishop  of  Bresci,  remon- 
strated with  him  iu  two  letters  of  warning  (1046  and  1048). 

The  controversy  was  fairly  opened  by  Berengar  himself  in 
a  letter  to  Lanfranc  of  Bee,  his  former  fellow-student  (1049). 
He  respectfully,  yet  in  a  tone  of  intellectual  superiority,  perhaps 
with  some  feeling  of  jealousy  of  the  rising  fame  of  Bee,  expressed 
his  surprise  that  Lanfranc,  as  he  had  been  informed  by  Ingel- 
ram  of  Chartres,  should  agree  with  Paschasius  Radbertus  and 
condemn  John  Scotus  (confounded  with  Ratraranus)  as  heretical ; 
this  showed  an  ignorance  of  Scripture  and  involved  a  con- 
demnation of  Ambrose  (?),  Jerome,  and  Augustin,  not  to  speak 
of  others.  The  letter  was  sent  to  Rome,  where  Lanfranc  then 
sojourned,  and  caused,  with  his  co-operation,  the  first  condemna- 
tion of  Berengar  by  a  Roman  Synod  held  under  Pope  Leo  IX.  in 
April,  1050,  and  attended  mostly  by  Italian  bishops.  At  the 
same  time  he  was  summoned  before  another  Synod  which  was 
held  at  Vercelli  in  September  of  the  same  year ;  and  as  he  did 
not  appear,^  he  was  condemned  a  second  time  without  a  hearing, 
and  the  book  of  Ratramnus  on  the  eucharist  was  burned.  "  If 
we  are  still  in  the  figure,"  asked  one  member  indignantly 
(probably  Peter  Damiani),  "  when  shall  we  have  the  thing?" 
A  Synod  of  Paris  in  October,  1050  or  1051,  is  said  to  have 
confirmed  this  judgment  and  threatened  Berengar  and  his 
friends  with  the  severest  punishment,  even  death ;  but  it  is 
uncertain  whether  such  a  Synod  was  held.^ 

After  a  short  interval  of  silence,  he  was  tried  before  a  Synod 
of  Tours  in  1054  under  Leo  IX.,^  but  escaped  condemnation 

1  He  was  prevented  by  a  violent  act  of  King  Heury  I.  of  France,  who  com- 
mitted hina  to  prison  and  seized  his  property. 

*  Berengar  makes  no  mention  of  this  Synod.  Lessing,  Gieseler  and  Baur 
(n.  178)  doubt  whether  it  was  held.  Neander,  Sudendorf,  Robertson  and 
Hefele  (IV.  753  scjq.)  credit  the  report  of  Durandiis,  but  correct  his  dates. 

'  This  seems  to  be  the  correct  date,  instead  of  10.55  under  Victor  II.,  accord- 
ing to  Lanfranc's  account.  The  difference  involves  the  veracity  of  Berengar, 
who  assigns  the  Synod  to  the  pontificate  of  Leo  IX. ;  but  it  is  safer  to  assume, 
with  Lessing,  Sudendorf  (p.  45),  and  Hefele  (IV.  778),  that  Lanfranc,  after  a 
lapse  of  ten  or  more  years,  liad  forgotten  the  correct  date. 


2  128.  THE  BEEENGAR  CONTEOVERSY.       557 

through  the  aid  of  Hildebrand  who  presided  as  papal  represen- 
tative, listened  calmly  to  his  arguments  and  was  perfectly 
satisfied  with  his  admission  that  the  consecrated  bread  and  wine 
are  (in  a  spiritual  seuse)  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ/  At  the 
same  time  he  was  invited  by  Hildebrand  to  accompany  him  to 
Rome  for  a  final  settlement. 

Confiding  in  this  powerful  advocate,  Berengar  appeared 
before  a  Lateran  council  held  in  1059,  under  Nicolas  II., 
but  was  bitterly  disappointed.  The  assembled  one  hundred 
and  thirteen  bishops,  whom  he  compares  to  "wild  beasts," 
would  not  listen  to  his  notion  of  a  spiritual  communion,  and 
insisted  on  a  sensuous  participation  of  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ.  The  violent  and  bigoted  Cardinal  Humbert,  in 
the  name  of  the  Synod,  forced  on  him  a  formula  of  recanta- 
tion wliich  cuts  off  all  spiritual  interpretation  and  teaches 
a  literal  mastication  of  Christ's  body.^  Berengar  was  weak 
enough  from  fear  of  death  to  accept  this  confession  on  his 
knees,  and  to  throw  his  books  into  the  fire.^     "  Human  wicked- 

1  "  Panis  atque  vinum  altaris  post  covsecraiionem  sunt  corpus  Christi  et  sanguis." 
De  S.  Ccena,  p.  52.  Berengar  meant  a  real,  though  uncorporeal  presence. 
He  admiLted  a  conversion  of  the  elements  in  the  sense  of  consecration,  but 
without  change  of  substance.  Hildebrand  was  willing  to  leave  this  an  open 
question.     See  below. 

^  ''^  Ego  Berengarius,  indignus  diaconus  .  .  .  anathematize  omnem  hceresim,  prce- 
cipue  earn  de  qua  hactcnus  infamatus  sum,  qua  astruere  conatur,  panem  et  vinum, 
quce  in  altari  ponuntur,  post  consecrationem  solummodo  sacramentum,  et  non  verum 
corpus  et  sanguivem  Domini  nostri  J.  Ch-  esse^  nee  posse  sensualiter  in  solo  sacr 
ramento  [^non  solum  sacramento,  sed  in  veritate^  manihis  sacerdotum  fractari,  vd 
FEANGi,  aid  fidelium  dentibus  atteri,"  etc.  So  Lanfranc  reports  the  creed 
in  De  Corp.  et  Sang.  Dom.,  c.  2  (Migne,  vol.  150,  p.  410);  comp.  Berengar,  De 
S.  Cosna,  p.  68.  Gieseler  calls  this  creed  "  truly  Capernaitic"  Hergenro- 
ther  (I.  703)  admits  that  it  sounds  very  hard,  but  may  be  defended  by  simi- 
lar language  of  Chrysostom.  Luther  expressed  his  faith  in  the  real  presence 
almost  as  strongly  when  he  instructed  Melanchthon  to  insist,  in  his  conference 
with  Bucer,  1534,  that  Christ's  body  was  literally  eaten  and  torn  with  the 
teeth  (" gegessen  und  mil  den  Zdhnen  zerbissen").  See  his  letters  to  Jonas  and 
Melanchthon  in  Brief e,  ed.  De  Wette,  Bd,  IV.  569  and  572.  But  I  doubt 
whether  any  Lutheran  divine  would  endorse  such  language  now. 

'  Lanfranc  charges  him  with  downright  perjury.     But  according  to  his  own 


558  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

ness/'  he  says,  "extorted  from  human  weakness  a  different 
confessio7i,  but  a  change  of  conviction  can  be  effected  only  by 
the  agency  of  Almighty  God."  He  would  rather  trust  to  the 
mercy  of  God  than  the  charity  of  his  enemies,  and  found  com- 
fort in  the  pardon  granted  to  Aaron  and  to  St.  Peter. 

As  soon  as  he  returned  to  France,  he  defended  his  real  con- 
viction more  boldly  than  ever.  He  spoke  of  Pope  Leo  IX. 
and  Nicolas  II.  in  language  as  severe  as  Luther  used  five 
centuries  later.^  Lanfranc  attacked  him  in  his  book  on  the 
eucharist,  and  Berengar  replied  very  sharply  in  his  chief  work 
on  the  Lord's  Supper  (between  1063  and  106 9.)^  His  friends 
gradually  withdrew,  and  the  wrath  of  his  enemies  grew  so 
intense  that  he  Avas  nearly  killed  at  a  synod  in  Poitiers  (1075 
or  1076). 

Hildebrand  who  in  the  mean  time  had  ascended  the  papal 
throne  as  Gregory  VII.,  summoned  Berengar  once  more  to 
Pome  in  1078,  hoping  to  give  him  peace,  as  he  had  done  at 
Tours  in  1054.  He  made  several  attempts  to  protect  him 
against  the  fanaticism  of  his  enemies.  But  they  demanded 
absolute  recantation  or  death.  A  Lateran  Council  in  Febru- 
ary, 1079,  required  Berengar  to  sign  a  formula  which  affirmed 

report,  Berengar  did  not  sign  the  formula,  nor  was  he  required  to  do  so.  De 
S.  Coena,  p.  25  sq.;  comp.  p.  59  sq. 

^  Leo  is  "minivie  ho  de  tribu  luda;^'  the  pope  is  not  a  pontifer,  but  a  pomp- 
ifez  and  pulpi/ex,  and  the  see  of  Ronae  not  a  sedes  apostoUca,  but  a  sedes  Saiance. 
De  S.  Ccena,  p.  34,  40,  42,  71.  Lanfranc,  c.  16.  See  Neander,  III.  513,  who 
refers  to  otlier  testimony  in  Bibl.  P.  Liigd.  XVII  f.  836. 

^  De  Sacra  Cana  adversus  Lcmfrancum  Liber  posterior  (290  pages).  This 
book,  after  having  been  long  lost,  was  discovered  by  Lessing  in  the  liibrary 
of  Wolfenbiitfel  (1770),  who  gave  large  extracts  from  it,  and  was  published  in 
full  by  A.  F.  and  F.  Th.  Vischer,  Berlin,  1834,  with  a  short  preface  by  Nean- 
der. Berengar  gives  here  a  very  different  version  of  the  previous  history,  and 
charges  Lanfranc  with  falsehood.  He  fortifies  his  view  by  quotations  from 
Ambrose  and  Augustin,  and  abounds  in  passion,  vituperation  and  repetition. 
The  style  is  obscure  and  barbarous.  The  MS.  is  defective  at  the  beginning 
and  the  close.  Lessing  traced  it  to  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  century,  Stiiudlin 
to  Berengar  himself,  the  editors  (p.  23),  more  correctly  to  a  negligent  copyist 
who  had  the  original  before  him.     C!omp.  Sudendorf,  p.  47. 


§  128.  THE  BERENGAR  CONTROVERSY.       559 

the  conversion  of  substance  in  terras  that  cut  off  all  sophistical 
escape.'  He  imprudently  appealed  to  his  private  interviews  with 
Gregory,  but  the  pope  could  no  longer  protect  him  without 
risking  his  own  reputation  for  orthodoxy,  and  ordered  him  to 
confess  his  error.  Berengar  submitted.  "  Confounded  by  the 
sudden  madness  of  the  pope,"  he  says,  "  and  because  God  in 
punishment  for  my  sins  did  not  give  me  a  steadfast  heart,  I 
threw  myself  on  the  ground  and  confessed  with  impious  voice 
that  I  had  erred,  fearing  the  pope  would  instantly  pronounce 
against  me  the  sentence  of  excommunication,  and  that,  as  a 
necessary  consequence,  the  populace  would  hurry  me  to  the 
worst  of  deaths."  The  pope,  however,  remained  so  far  true  to 
him  that  he  gave  him  two  letters  of  recommendation,  one  to 
the  bishops  of  Tours  and  Angers,  and  one  to  all  the  faithful, 
in  which  he  threatened  all  with  the  anathema  who  should  do 
him  any  harm  in  person  or  estate,  or  call  him  a  heretic.^ 

Berengar  returned  to  France  with  a  desponding  heart  and 
gave  up  the  hopeless  contest.  He  was  now  an  old  man  and 
spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  strict  ascetic  seclusion  on  the  island 
of  St.  Come  (Cosmas)  near  Tours,  where  he  died  in  peace  1088. 
Many  believed  that  he  did  penance  for  his  heresy,  and  his 
friends  held  an  annual  celebration  of  his  memory  on  his  grave. 
But  what  he  really  regretted  was  his  cowardly  treason  to  the 
truth  as  he  held  it.     This  is  evident  from  the  report  of  his  trial 

^  "  Corde  credo  et  ore  covfiteor,  panem  et  vinum,  quce  ponuntur  in  altari,  per  mys- 
terivm  sacrce  orationis  et  verba  nostri  Redemptoris  substantialiter  converti 
in  veram  et  propriam  et  vivifratricem  earnem  et  sanguinem  Jesu  Christi  Domini 
nostri,  et  post  consecrationem  esse  verum  Christi  corpus,  quod  natum  est  de  Virgine, 
et  quod  pro  salute  mundi  oblaium  in  cruce  pependif,  et  quod  sedet  ad  dexteram  Fa- 
tris,  et  verum  sanguinem  Christi,  qui  de  latere  ejus  effuKUS  est,  non  tantum  per  sig- 
num  et  virtutem  sacramenti,  sed  in  proprietate  nnturce  et  veritate  substanticB." 
Berengar  was  willing  to  admit  a  conversio  panis,  but  salva  sua  substantia,  i-  e. 
non  amittens  quod  erat,  sed  assumens  quod  non  erat;  in  other  words,  conversion 
without  annihilation.  A  mere  Fophistry.  Substantialilcr  can  mean  nothing  else 
but  secundum  substantiam.     See  the  Acts  of  (he  Council  in  Mansi,  XIX.  762. 

2  D'Achery,  Spicileg.  III.  413.  Mansi,  XX.  621.  Neander,  III.  520.  Su- 
dendorf,  57. 


560  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

at  Rome  which  he  drew  up  after  his  return.^  It  concludes  with 
a  prayer  to  God  for  forgiveness,  and  to  the  Christian  reader  for 
the  exercise  of  charity.  ''Pray  for  me  that  these  tears  may 
procure  me  the  compassion  of  the  Ahnighty." 

His  doctrine  was  misrepresented  by  Lanfranc  and  the  older 
historians,  as  denying  the  real  presence.^  But  since  the  discovery 
of  the  sources  it  is  admitted  also  by  Roman  Catholics  that,  while 
he  emphatically  rejected  transubstantiation,  he  held  to  a  spirit- 
ual real  presence  and  participation  of  Christ  in  the  eucharist. 

This  explains  also  the  conduct  of  Gregory  VII.,  which  is  all 
the  more  remarkable,  as  he  was  in  every  other  respect  the  most 
strenuous  champion  of  the  Roman  church  and  the  papal  power. 
This  great  pope  was  more  an  ecclesiastic  than  a  theologian. 
He  was  willing  to  allow  a  certain  freedom  on  the  mysterious 
mode  of  the  eucharistic  presence  and  the  precise  nature  of  the 
change  in  the  elements,  which  at  that  time  had  not  yet  been 
authoritatively  defined  as  a  change  of  substance.  He  therefore 
protected  Berengar,  with  diplomatic  caution,  as  long  and  as 
far  as  he  could  without  endangering  his  great  reforms  and  in- 
curring himself  the  suspicion  of  heresy.^  The  latest  known 
writing  of  Berengar  is  a  letter  on  the  death  of  Gregory  (1085), 
in  which  he  speaks  of  the  pope  with  regard,  expresses  a  convic- 
tion of  his  salvation,  and  excuses  his  conduct  towards  himself. 

Berengar  was  a  strange  compound  of  moral  courage  and  phy- 
sical cowardice.  Had  he  died  a  martyr,  his  doctrine  would  have 
gained  strength ;  but  by  his  repeated  recantations  he  injured  his 
own  cause  and  promoted  the  victory  of  transubstantiation. 

*  See  the  Acta  Concilii  Romani  snb  Gregorio  papa  VII-  in  causa  Bcrengarii  ab 
ipso  Berengario  conscripta  cum  ipsius  recantatione  (after  Febr.,  1079),  printed  in 
Mansi,  XIX.  761.  Conip.  Neander,  III.  521,  and  Sudendorf,  p.  58  sqq.  Beren- 
gar is  reported  to  have  repeated  his  creed  before  one  of  the  two  Synods  which 
were  held  at  Bordeaux  in  1079  and  1080,  but  of  these  we  have  only  fragmentary 
accounts.     See  Mansi,  XX.  527;  Hefele,  V.  142  sq.;  Sudendorf,  p.  196. 

^  He  was  treated  as  a  heretic  not  only  by  Roman  Catholics,  but  also  by 
Luther  and  several  Lutheran  historians,  including  Guericke. 

'His  enemies  of  the  party  of  Henry  IV.  charged  him  with  skepticism  or  infidelity 
on  account  of  his  sympathy  with  Berengar.  See  the  quotations  in  Gieseler,  11.172. 


§  128.  THE  BEEENGAR  CONTROVERSY.  561 

NOTES.      HILDEBEAND   AND   BERENGAE. 

Sudendorf  s  Berengarius  Turonensis  (1850)  is,  next  to  the  discovery 
and  publication  of  Berengar's  De  Sacra  Ccena  (1834),  the  most  important 
contribution  to  the  literature  on  this  chapter.^  Dr.  Sudendorf  does  not 
enter  into  the  eucharistic  controversy,  and  refers  to  the  account  of  Stiiud- 
lin  and  Neander  as  sufficient;  but  he  gives  1)  a  complete  chronological 
list  of  the  Berengar  literature,  including  all  the  notices  by  friends  and 
foes  (p.  7-68) ;  2)  an  account  of  Gaufried  Martell,  Count  of  Anjou,  step- 
fatlier  of  the  then-ruling  Empress  Agnes  of  Germany,  and  the  most 
zealous  and  powerful  protector  of  Berengar  (p.  69-87);  and  3)  twenty- 
two  letters  bearing  on  Berengar,  with  notes  (p.  88-233).  These  letters 
were  here  published  for  the  first  time  from  manuscripts  of  the  royal 
library  at  Hanover,  contained  in  a  folio  volume  entitled:  "  Codex  episto- 
laris  Im2)eratorum,  Regum,  Pontificum,  Episcoporian."  They  throw  no 
new  light  on  the  eucharistic  doctrine  of  Berengar;  but  three  of  them 
give  us  interesting  information  on  his  relation  to  Hildebrand. 

1.  A  letter  of  Count  Gaufried  of  Anjou  (d.  1060)  to  Cardinal  Hilde- 
brand, written  in  March,  1059,  shortly  before  the  Lateran  Synod  (April, 
1059),  which  condemned  Berengar  (p.  128  and  215).  The  Count  calls 
here,  with  surprising  boldness  and  confidence,  on  the  mighty  Cardinal 
to  protect  Berengar  at  the  approaching  Synod  of  Rome,  under  the  im- 
pression that  he  thoroughly  agreed  with  him,  and  had  concealed  his 
real  opinion  at  Tours.  He  begins  thus:  "To  the  venerable  son  of  the 
church  of  the  Romans,  H.  [ildebrand].  Count  Gauf.  Bear  thyself  not 
unworthy  of  so  great  a  mother.  B.  [erengar]  has  gone  to  Rome  accord- 
ing to  thy  wishes  and  letters  of  invitation.  Now  is  the  time  for  thee  to 
act  with  Christian  magnanimity  [nunc  magnanwiitate  Christiana  tibi 
agendum  est),  lest  Berengar  have  the  same  experience  with  thee  as  at 
Tours  [1054J,  when  thou  earnest  to  us  as  delegate  of  apostolic  authority. 
He  expected  thy  advent  as  that  of  an  angel.  Thou  wast  there  to  give 
life  to  souls  that  were  dead,  and  to  kill  souls  that  should  live.  .  .  .  Thou 
didst  behave  thyself  like  that  person  of  whom  it  is  written  [John  19 :  38] : 
'He  was  himself  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  but  secretly  from  fear  of  the  Jews.' 
Thou  resemblest  him  who  said  [Luke  23:  22] :  'I  find  no  cause  of  death 
in  him,'  but  did  not  set  him  free  because  he  feared  Csesar.  Thou  hast 
even  done  less  than  Pilate,  who  called  Jesus  to  him  and  was  not  ashamed 
to  bear  witness:  I  find  no  guilt  in  him.  ...  To  thee  applies  the  sentence 
of  the  gospel  [Luke  9:  26] :  'Whosoever  shall  be  ashamed  of  me  and  of 
my  words,  of  him  shall  I  be  ashamed  before  my  heavenly  Father.'     To 

1  I  obtained  a  copy  by  the  kindness  of  Profespor  Thayer  from  the  library  of 
Harvard  College,  after  hunting  for  one  in  vain  in  the  libiaries  of  New 
York,  and  the  Niedner  library  in  Andover  (which  has  B's  D.  S.  Ccena,  but  not 
Sudendorf 's  B.  T.). 


562  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

thee  applies  the  word  of  the  Lord  [Luke  11:  52] :  'Woe  unto  you,  for  ye 
took  away  the  key  of  knowledge ;  ye  entered  not  in  yourselves,  and  hin- 
dered those  that  were  entering.'  .  . .  Now  the  opportune  time  has  come. 
Thou  hast  Berengar  present  with  the  pope.  If  thou  again  keepest  silence 
on  the  error  of  those  fools,  it  is  clear  that  thou  formerly  didst  not  from 
good  reasons  wait  for  the  proper  time,  but  from  weakness  and  fear  didst 
not  dare  to  defend  the  cause  of  the  innocent.  Should  it  come  to  this, 
which  God  forbid,  we  would  be  wholly  disappointed  in  our  great  hope 
placed  on  thee;  but  thou  wouldst  commit  a  monstrous  injustice  to  thy- 
self, yea  even  to  God.  By  thee  the  Orient  with  all  its  perverseness  would 
be  introduced  into  the  Occident;  instead  of  illuminating  our  darkness, 
thou  wouldest  turn  our  light  into  darkness  according  to  the  best  of  thy 
ability.  All  those  who  excel  in  erudition  and  judge  the  case  according 
to  the  Scriptures,  bore  testimony  that  Berengar  has  the  right  view  ac- 
cording to  the  Scriptures.  .  .  .  That  popular  delusion  [of  transubstantia- 
tion]  leads  to  pernicious  heresy.  The  resurrection  of  the  body,  of  which 
Paul  says  that  the  corruptible  must  put  on  the  incorruptible,  cannot 
stand,  if  we  contend  that  the  body  of  Christ  is  in  a  sensuous  manner 
broken  by  the  priest  and  torn  with  the  teeth  [sensiialiter  sacerdotum 
manibus  frangi,  dentibus  atteri).  Thou  boastest  of  thy  Rome  that  she 
was  never  conquered  in  faith  and  military  glory.  Thou  wilt  put  to  shame 
that  glory,  if,  at  this  time  when  God  has  elevated  thee  above  all  others  at 
the  papal  see,  that  false  doctrine,  that  nursery  of  the  most  certain  heresy, 
by  thy  dissimulation  and  silence  should  raise  its  head.  Leave  not 
thine  honor  to  others,  by  retiring  to  the  corner  of  disgraceful  silence." 

2.  A  letter  of  Berengar  to  Pope  Gregory  VII.  from  the  year  1077,  in 
which  he  addresses  him  as  "pater  optime^^  and  assures  him  of  his  pro- 
found reverence  and  love  (p.  182  and  230).  He  thanks  him  for  a  letter 
of  protection  he  had  written  to  his  legate,  Bishop  Hugo  of  Die  (after- 
wards Archbishop  of  Lyons),  but  begs  him  to  excuse  him  for  not  attend- 
ing a  French  council  of  his  enemies,  to  which  he  had  been  summoned. 
He  expresses  the  hope  of  a  personal  conference  with  the  pope  (opportu- 
nitatem  vivendi  prxsentiam  tuam  et  audiendi),  and  concludes  with  the 
request  to  continue  his  patronage.  "  Vel  [i.  e.  Valeat]  Christianitas  tua, 
pater  optime,  longo  parvitati  meae  tempore  dignum  sede  apostoUca  patrocv- 
nium  i7npensura."  The  result  of  this  correspondence  is  unknown.  Be- 
rengar's  hope  of  seeing  and  hearing  the  pope  was  fulfilled  in  1078,  when 
he  was  summoned  to  the  Council  in  Rome;  but  the  result,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  his  condemnation  by  the  Council  Avith  the  pope's  consent. 

3.  A  letter  of  Berengar  to  Archbishop  Joscelin  of  Bordeaux,  written 
in  a  charitable  Christian  spirit  after  May  25,  1085,  when  Gregory  VII. 
died  (p.  196  and  231).  It  begins  thus:  "The  unexpected  death  of  our 
G.  [regory]  causes  me  no  little  disturbance  {G.  nostri  me  non  parum 
mors  inopinato  [a]  perturbat)."     The  nostri  sounds  rather  too  familiar  in 


i  128.  THE  BERENGAR  CONTROVERSY.       663 

view  of  Gregory's  conduct  in  1079,  but  must  be  understood  of  the  per- 
sonal sympathy  shown  him  before  and  after  in  the  last  commendatory 
letters.  B.  then  goes  on  to  express  confidence  in  the  pope's  salvation,  and 
forgives  him  his  defection,  whicli  he  strangely  compares  with  the  separa- 
tion of  Barnabas  from  Paul.  "  Sed,  quantum  mihi  videor  novisse  hominem, 
de  salute  hominis  certuvi  constat,  quicquid  illi  prejudicent,  qui,  secundum 
dominicam  sententiam  \_Matt.  23:  24],  culicem  culantes,  camelum  sorbent. 
hi  Christo  lesu,  inquit  Apostolus  {^Gal.Q:  15],  neque  circumcisio  est  aliquid, 
neque  preputium,  sed  nova  creatura.  Quod  ilium  fuisse,  quantum  ilium 
noveram,  de  misericordia  presumo  divina.  Discessit  a  Paulo  Barnabas 
[_Acts  15 :  39,  40],  ut  non  cum  illo  secundum  exterior  em  commaneret  homi- 
nem, nee  minus  tamen  secundurn  interiorem  hominem  Barnabas  in  libro 
vitce  permansit."  In  remembrance  of  Gregory's  conduct  in  forcing  him 
at  the  Roman  Council  in  1079  to  swear  to  a  formula  against  his  convic- 
tion, he  asserts  that  the  power  of  the  keys  which  Christ  gave  to  Peter 
(Matt.  16:  19)  is  limited.  The  binding  must  not  be  arbitrary  and  unjust. 
The  Lord  speaks  through  the  prophet  to  the  priests  {per  prophetam  ad 
prelatos) :  "I  will  curse  your  blessings  (Mai.  2:  2:  maledicam  benedic- 
tionibus  vestris)."  From  this  it  follows  necessarily  that  He  also  blesses 
their  curses  [Ex  quo  necessarium  constat,  quod  etiam  henedicat  malediction- 
ibus  talium).  Hence  the  Psalmist  says  (Ps.  109:  28):  "Let  them  curse, 
but  bless  thou."  The  blessed  Augustin,  in  his  book  on  the  Words  of 
the  Lord,  says:  "Justice  solves  the  bonds  of  injustice;"  and  the  blessed 
Gregory  [I.]  says  [Homil.  XXVI. ] :  "He  forfeits  the  power  to  bind  and 
to  loose,  who  uses  it  not  for  the  benefit  of  his  subjects,  but  according  to 
his  arbitrary  will  {ipsa  hac  ligandi  atque  solvendi  potestafe  se  privat,  qui 
hanc  non  pro  suhditorum  moribus,  sed  pro  suce  voluntatis  motibus  exercet)^ 
Berengar  thus  turns  the  first  Gregory  against  the  seventh  Gregory. 

Hildebrand's  real  opinion  on  the  eucharistic  presence  can  only  be 
inferred  from  his  conduct  during  the  controversy.  He  sincerely  pro- 
tected Berengar  against  violence  and  persecution  even  after  his  final 
condemnation ;  but  the  public  opinion  of  the  church  in  1059  and  again 
in  1079  expressed  itself  so  strongly  in  favor  of  a  substantial  or  essential 
change  of  the  eucharistic  elements,  that  he  was  forced  to  yield.  Person- 
ally, he  favored  a  certain  freedom  of  opinion  on  the  mode  of  the  change, 
provided  only  the  change  itself  was  admitted,  as  was  expressly  done  by  Be- 
rengar. Only  a  few  days  before  the  Council  of  1078  the  pope  sought  the 
opinion  of  the  Virgin  Mary  through  an  esteemed  monk,  and  received  as  an 
answer  that  nothing  more  should  be  held  or  required  on  the  real  presence 
than  what  was  found  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  namely,  that  the  bread 
after  consecration  was  the  true  body  of  Christ.  So  Berengar  reports;  see 
Mansi,  XIX.  766;  Gieseler,  II.  172;  Neander,  III.  519.  (The  charge  of 
Ebrard  that  the  pope  acted  hypocritically  and  treacherously  towards  B., 
is  contradicted  by  facts). 


564  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  same  view  of  a  change  of  the  elements  in  a  manner  inexplicable 
and  therefore  indefinable,  is  expressed  in  a  fragment  of  a  commentary  on 
Matthew  by  a  certain  "Magister  HiJdebrand,"  published  by  Peter  Allix 
(in  Determinatio  loannis  prcedicatoris  de  modo  exisiendi  corp.  Christi  in 
Sacramento  alfaris.  Loud.,  1686).  "  In  this  fragment,"  says  Keander, 
III.  511,  "after  an  investigation  of  the  different  ways  in  which  the  con- 
versio  of  the  bread  into  the  body  of  Christ  may  be  conceived,  the  conclu- 
sion is  arrived  at,  that  nothing  can  be  decided  with  certainty  on  this 
point;  that  the  concersio  therefore  is  the  only  essential  part  of  the  doc- 
trine, namely,  that  bread  and  wine  become  body  and  blood  of  Christ, 
and  that  with  regard  to  the  way  in  which  that  conversion  takes  place, 
men  should  not  seek  to  inquire.  This  coincides  with  the  view  which 
evidently  lies  at  the  basis  of  the  cardinal's  proceedings.  But  whether 
the  author  was  this  Hildebrand,  must  ever  remain  a  very  doubtful  ques- 
tion, since  it  is  not  probable,  that  if  a  man  whose  life  constitutes  an 
epoch  in  history  wrote  a  commentary  on  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  it 
should  have  been  so  entirely  forgotten."  Sudendorf,  however  (p.  186), 
ascribes  the  fragment  to  Pope  Hildebrand. 

§  129.  Berengar's  Tlieory  of  the  Lord\  Supper. 

The  chief  source  is  Berengar's  second  book  against  Lanfranc,  already 
quoted.  His  first  book  is  lost  with  the  exception  of  a  few  fragments 
in  Lanfranc's  reply. 

Berengar  attacked  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  and 
used  against  it  nearly  every  argument :  it  is  not  only  above 
reason,  but  against  reason  and  against  the  testimony  of  the 
senses;  it  involves  a  contradiction  between  subject  and  predi- 
cate, and  between  substance  and  its  qualities,  which  are  insepa- 
rable ;  it  is  inconsistent  with  the  fact  of  Christ's  ascension  and 
presence  in  heaven;  it  virtually  assumes  either  a  multiplication 
or  an  omnipresence  of  his  body,  which  contradicts  the  necessary 
limitations  of  corporeality.^  There  can  be  only  one  body  of 
Christ,  and  only  one  sacrifice  of  Christ.  The  stories  of  the 
appearances  of  blood  on  the  altar,  he  treated  with  scorn,  from 
which  some  of  his  enemies  inferred  that  he  denied  all  miracles. 
He  called  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  an  absurdity  {inep- 
tio)  and  an  insane  folly  of  the  populace  {vecordia  vulgi). 

To  this  notion  of  a  corporeal  or  material    presence  on  the 

^  "  Qnod  diversis  in  locis  eodem  momento  sensualitej'  adsit  corpus,  corpus  non 
esse  constcd)it."     De  S,  Coena,  p.  199. 


§  129.  BEEENGAE'S  THEOEY  OF  THE  LOED'S  SUPPEE.  565 

altar,  he  opposed  the  idea  of  a  spiritual  or  dynamic  presence 
and  participation.  His  positive  view  agrees  essentially  with 
that  of  Ratramnus ;  but  he  went  beyond  him,  as  Calvin  went 
beyond  Zwingli.  He  endeavors  to  save  the  spiritual  reality 
without  the  carnal  form.  He  distinguishes,  with  St.  Augustin 
and  Ratramnus,  between  the  historical  and  the  eucharistic  body 
of  Christ,  and  between  the  visible  symbol  or  sacramentum  and 
the  thino-  symbolized  or  the  i^es  sacramenti.  He  maintains  that 
we  cannot  literally  eat  and  drink  Christ's  body  and  blood,  but 
that  nevertheless  we  may  have  real  spiritual  communion  by 
faith  with  the  flesh,  that  is,  with  the  glorified  humanity  of 
Christ  in  heaven.  His  theory  is  substantially  the  same  as  that 
of  Calvin.^     The  salient  points  are  these : 

1)  The  elements  remain  in  substance  as  well  as  in  appearance, 
after  the  consecration,  although  they  acquire  a  new  significance. 
Hence  the  predicate  in  the  words  of  institution  must  be  taken 
figuratively,  as  in  many  other  passages,  where  Christ  is  called 
the  lion,  the  lamb,  the  door,  the  vine,  the  corner-stone,  the  rock, 
etc.^  The  discourse  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  John  is  likewise 
figurative,  and  does  not  refer  to  the  sacrament  at  all,  but  to  the 
believing  reception  of  Christ's  death.^ 

1  Baur  very  clearly  puts  tlie  case  (II.  190):  "Die  Lehre  Berengarh  schliesst 
sich  ganz  an  die  des  Ratramnus  an,  ist  aber  zugleich  eine  Fortbildung  dcrsclben. 
Wie  Ratramnus  sich  eigentlich  nur  in  der  Sphdre  des  Verhdltnisses  von  Bild  und 
Sache  bewegt,  so  sucJd  dagegen  Berengar  zu  zeigen,  dass  tingeachtet  keine  andere 
Ansicht  vom  Abendmahl  moglich  set,  als  die  symbolische,  dem  Abendmahl  dock  seine 
voUe  Realitdt  bleibe,  dass,  wenn  man  auch  im  Abendmahl  den  Leib  und  das  Blut 
Chrisli  nicht  wirkUch  geniesse,  doch  auch  so  eine  reelle  Verbindung  mit  dem  Fleiseh 
Oder  der  in  den  Himmel  erhdhten  Menschheit  Chrisli  stattfinde.  Es  ist  im  Allge- 
meinen  zwischen  Ratramnus  und  Berengar  ein  analoges  Verhdltniss  wie  spdter 
zwischen  Zwingli  und  Calvin."  Comp.  also  the  exposition  of  Neander,  III.  521- 
526,  and  of  Herzog,  in  liis  Kirchengesch.  II.  112-114. 

2  De  S.  Ccena,  p.  83.  B.  lays  down  the  hermeneutic  principle :  "  Ubicunque  pr(B- 
dicatur  nonprcedicabile,  quia  tropica  locutio  est,  de  non  susceptibili,  alter  propositionis 
terminus  tropice,  alter  proprie  accipiatur."  Zwingli  used  the  same  and  other  examples 
of  figurative  speech  in  his  controversy  with  Luther.  He  found  the  figure  in  the 
verb  {esti=significaf), CEcolaxm^a.dius  in  the  predicate  {corpus=figura  corporis). 

*  L.  c,  p.  165  and  236.     He  quotes  Augustin  in  his  favor,  and  refers  to  the 


566  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

2)  Nevertheless  bread  and  wine  are  not  empty  symbols,  but  in 
some  sense  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  which  they  represent. 
They  are  converted  by  being  consecrated ;  for  whatever  is  con- 
secrated is  lifted  to  a  higher  sphere  and  transformed.  They  do 
not  lose  their  substance  after  consecration ;  but  they  lose  their 
emjjtiness,  and  become  efficacious  to  the  believer.  So  water  in 
baptism  remains  water,  but  becomes  the  vehicle  of  regeneration. 
Wherever  the  sacramentum  is,  there  is  also  the  res  sacramenti. 

3)  Christ  is  spiritually  present  and  is  spiritually  received  by 
faith.  Without  faith  we  can  have  no  real  communion  with 
him,  nor  share  in  his  benefits.  "  The  true  body  of  Christ,"  he 
says  in  a  letter  to  Adelraann,  "  is  placed  on  the  altar,  but  spirit- 
ually to  the  inner  man  and  to  those  only  who  are  members  of 
Christ,  for  spiritual  manducation.  This  the  fathers  teach 
openly,  and  distinguish  betw^een  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ 
and  the  sacramental  signs  of  the  body  and  blood.  The  pious 
receive  both,  the  sacramental  sign  {sacramentum)  visibly,  the 
sacramental  substance  (rem  sacramenti)  invisibly ;  while  the  un- 
godly receive  only  the  sacramental  sign  to  their  own  judgment." 

4)  The  communion  in  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  communion 
with  the  whole  undivided  person  of  Christ,  and  not  with  flesh 
and  blood  as  separate  elements.  As  the  whole  body  of  Christ 
was  sacrificed  in  death,  so  we  receive  the  whole  body  in  a  spirit- 
ual manner ;  and  as  Christ's  body  is  now  glorified  in  heaven, 
we  must  spiritually  ascend  to  heaven.' 

Here  again  is  a  strong  point  of  contact  with  Calvin,  who  like- 
wise taught  such  an  elevation  of  the  soul  to  heaven  as  a  neces- 
sary condition  of  true  communion  with  the  life-giving  power  of 
Christ's  humanity.  He  meant,  of  course,  no  locomotion,  but  the 
sursum  corda,  which  is  necessary  in  eveiy  act  of  prayer.     It  is 

fourth  ch.  of  John,  where  Christ  speaks  of  drinking  the  water  of  life  (ver.  14) 
and  eating  meat  (vers.  32-34),  in  a  spiritual  sense. 

^  P.  157.  The  believer  receives  "totam  et  integram  Domini  Dei  sui  carnem, 
noil  autem  ccdo  devocatam,  sed  in  coclo  manentem,"  and  he  ascends  to  heaven 
"  cordis  ad  videndum  Deum  mundati  devotione  spatiosissima." 


130 


.  LANFRANC-TRIUMPH  OF  TRAIsSUBSTANTIATION.  567 

the  Holy  Spirit  who  lifts  us  up  to  Christ  on  the  wings  of  faith, 
and  brings  him  down  to  us,  and  thus  unites  heaven  and  earth. 

A  view  quite  similar  to  that  of  Berengar  seems  to  have  ob- 
tained about  that  time  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church,  if  we  are 
to  judge  from  the  Homilies  of  ^Ifric,  which  enjoyed  great 
authority  and  popularity.^ 

§  130.  Lanfranc  and  the  Triumph  of  Tramubstantiation. 

The  chief  opponent  of  Berengar  was  his  former  friend,  Lan- 
FRANC,  a  native  of  Pavia  (b.  1005),  prior  of  the  Convent  of  Bee 
in    Normandy   (1045),    afterwards   archbishop  of  Canterbury 
(1070-1089),  and  in  both  positions  the  predecessor  of  the  more 
distinguished  Anselm.2     jj^  ^as,  next  to  Berengar,  the  greatest 
dialectician  of  his  age,  but  used  dialectics  only  in  support  of 
church  authority  and  tradition,  and  thus  prepared  the  way  for 
orthodox  scholasticism.     He  assailed  Berengar  in  a  treatise  of 
twenty-three  chapters  on  the  eucharist,  written  after  1063,  in 
epistolary  form,  and  advocated  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation 
(without  using  the  term)  with  its  consequences.^     He  describes 
the  change  as  a  miraculous  and  incomprehensible  change  of  the 

1  Thus  he  savs  in  the  Homily  on  Easter  day;  "Great  is  the  difference  be- 
tween  the  invisible  might  of  the  holy  housel  [sacrament]  and  the  visible  ap- 
pearance of  its  own  nature.  By  nature  it  is  corruptible  bread  and  corruptible 
wine  and  is,  by  the  power  of  the  Divine  word,  truly  Christ  s  body  and  blood: 
not  however,  bodily,  but  spiritually.  Great  is  the  difference  between  the  body 
in  which  Christ  suffered  and  the  body  which  is  hallowed  for  housel.  .  .  .In  his 
.hostly  body,  which  we  call  housel,  there  is  nothing  to  be  understood  bodily, 
but  all  is  to  be  understood  spiritually."  The  passage  is  quoted  by  J.  C.  Ro- 
bertson from  Thorpe's  edition  of  ^Ifric,  II  271  Thorpe  identifies  the  au  hor 
of  these  An.lo-Saxon  Homilies  with  ^Ifric,  Archbishop  of  York,  who  lived 
mi  thl  bti;nin,  of  the  Berengar  controversy  (d^  1051),  but  the  identity  is  dis- 
puted. See  Hardwick,  p.  174.  and  L.  Stephen' s  "  Diet,  of  Nat  Biogr.     I-  164  .^'l^ 

2  He  was  the  first  of  the  Norman  line  of  English  archbishops,  and  the  chief 
adviser  of  William  the  Conqueror  in  the  conquest  of  England.  See  Freeman, 
History  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  vols.  III.  and  IV.;  and  R.  C.  Jenkins,  Diocesan 
History  of  Canterbury  (London,  1880),  p.  78  sqq. 

3  On  the  different  editions  and  the  date  of  the  book  (between  1063  and  1069), 
see  Sudendorf,  p.  39  sqq. 


568  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A. D.  590-1049. 

substance  of  bread  and  wine  into  the  very  body  and  blood  of 
Christ/  He  also  teaches  (what  Radbert  had  not  done  expressly) 
that  even  unworthy  communicants  (indigne  sumentes)  receive  the 
same  sacramental  substance  as  believers,  though  with  opposite 
effect.2 

Among  the  less  distinguished  writers  on  the  Eucharist  must 
be  mentioned  Adelmann,  Durandus,  and  Guitmund,  who  de- 
fended the  catholic  doctrine  against  Berengar.  Guitmund  (a 
pupil  of  Lanfranc,  and  archbishop  of  Aversa  in  Apulia)  reports 
that  the  Bereugarians  differed,  some  holding  only  a  symbolical 
presence,  others  (with  Berengar)  a  real,  but  latent  presence,  or  a 
sort  of  impanation,  but  all  denied  a  change  of  substance.  This 
change  he  regards  as  the  main  thing  which  nourishes  piety. 
"  What  can  be  more  salutary,"  he  asks,  "  than  such  a  faith  ? 
Purely  receiving  into  itself  the  pure  and  simple  Christ  alone, 
in  the  consciousness  of  possessing  so  glorious  a  gift,  it  guards 
with  the  greater  vigilance  against  sin ;  it  glows  with  a  more 
earnest  longing  after  all  righteousness ;  it  strives  every  day  to 
escape  from  the  world  .  .  .  and  to  embrace  in  unclouded  vision 
the  fountain  of  life  itself."  ^ 

From  this  time  on,  transubstantiation  may  be  regarded  as  a 
dogma  of  the  Latin  church.  It  was  defended  by  the  orthodox 
schoolmen,  and  cecumenically  sanctioned  under  Pope  Innocent 
III.  in  1215. 

1  De  Corp.  el  Sang.  Dom.,  c.  18  (in  Migne,  T.  150,  col.  ■<30) :  "  Crtdimm  ter- 
renas  substantias,  qute  in  mensa  Dominica  per  sacerdotale  myslerium  divinitus  saitc- 
tificantur,  ineffabiliter,  incomprehensibiliter,  mirabiliter,  operante  superna  potenlia, 
eonverti  in  essentiam  Dominici  corporis,  reservaiis  ipsarum  rerum  speciebus,  et  qui- 
busdam  aliis  qualitatibus,  ne  percipienies  cruda  et  crv^nta  horrerent,  et  ut  credenies 
fidei  prcemia  ampliora  perciperent,  ipso  iamen  Dominico  corpore  existente  in  coelesti- 
bus  ad  dexleram  Palris,  immortali,  inviolato,  integro,  incontaminato,  illaso :  ut  vere 
did  posset,  et  ipsum  corpus,  quod  de  Virgine  sumpturn  est,  nos  sumere,  el  tamen  non 
ipsum.' 

■■*  Cap.  20  (col.  436):  "Est  quidem  et  peccatoribus  et  indigne  sumentibus  vera 
Christi  caro,  verusqne  sanguis,  sed  essentia,  non  satubri  cfficicnlia.' ' 

*  Neander,  III.  529  sq.,  from  Guitmund's  De  Corp.  et  Sang.  Christi  veritate 
in  eucharistia.     It  was  written  about  1076,  according  to  Sudendorf,  p.  52  sqq. 


2  130.  LANFRANC— TKIUMPH  OF  TRANSUBSTANTIATION.  569 

With  the  triumph  of  transubstantiation  is  closely  connected 
the  withdrawal  of  the  communion  cup  from  the  laity,  which 
gradually  spread  in  the  twelfth  century/  and  the  adoration  of 
the  presence  of  Christ  in  the  consecrated  elements,  which  dates 
from  the  eleventh  century,  was  enjoined  by  Honorius  III.  in 
1217,  and  gave  rise  to  the  Corpus  Christi  festival  appointed  by 
Urban  IV.,  in  1264.  The  withdrawal  of  the  cup  had  its  origin 
partly  in  considerations  of  expediency,  but  chiefly  in  the  super- 
stitious solicitude  to  guard  against  profanation  by  spilling  the 
blood  of  Christ.  The  schoolmen  defended  the  practice  by  the 
doctrine  that  the  whole  Christ  is  present  in  either  kind.^  It 
strengthened  the  power  of  the  priesthood  at  the  expense  of  the 
rights  of  the  laity  and  in  plain  violation  of  the  command  of 
Christ:  "Drink  ye  all  of  it"  (Matt.  26:  27). 

The  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  is  the  most  characteristic 
tenet  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  the  middle  age,  and  its  modern 
successor,  the  Roman  Church.  It  reflects  a  magical  supernatu- 
ralism  which  puts  the  severest  tax  upon  the  intellect,  and  re- 
quires it  to  contradict  the  unanimous  testimony  of  our  senses  of 
sight,  touch  and  taste.  It  furnishes  the  doctrinal  basis  for  the 
daily  sacrifice  of  the  mass  and  the  power  of  the  priesthood  with 
its  awful  claim  to  create  and  to  offer  the  very  body  and  blood 
of  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  For  if  the  self-same  body  of 
Christ  which  suffered  on  the  cross,  is  truly  present  and  eaten  in 
the  eucharist,  it  must  also  be  the  self-same  sacrifice  of  Calvary 
which  is  repeated  in  the  mass;  and  a  true  sacrifice  requires  a 
true  priest  who  offers  it  on  the  altar.  Priest,  sacrifice,  and  altar 
form  an  inseparable  trio;  a  literal  conception  of  one  requires 

^  In  place  of  the  older  custom  of  administering  the  bread  dipped  in  wine, 
especially  to  infants  and  sick  persons.  In  the  Greek  church,  where  infant 
communion  still  prevails,  both  elements  are  delivered  in  a  golden  spoon  ;  but 
the  priest  receives  each  element  separately  as  in  the  Roman  church. 

2  Anaelm  was  the  first  to  teach  "in  utraque  specie  totum  Chrislvm  sumi." 
See  J.  J.  de  Lith,  De  Adoratione  Partis  conaecrati,  et  Intcrdictione  sacn  Ccdicia 
in  Eucharistia,  1753;  Spittler,  Gesch.  des  Kelchs  im  Abendmahl,  1780;  Gieseler, 
II.  480  sqq.,  notes. 


/ 


570  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

a  literal  conception  of  the  other  two,  and  a  spiritual  conception 
of  one  necessarily  leads  to  a  spiritual  conception  of  all. 

NOTES. 

/ 

I       A   few  additional  remarks  must  conclude  this  subject,  so  that  we 

need  not  return  to  it  in  the  next  volume. 

1.  The  scholastic  terms  transsubstantiatio,  transsubstantiare  (in  Greek 
fzETovaiuacc,  Engl,  transubstantiation,  Germ.  Wesensverwandlung),  signify 
a  change  of  one  substance  into  another,  and  were  introduced  in  the  ele- 
venth and  twelfth  centuries.  The  phrase  substantialiter  converti  was  used 
by  the  Roman  Synod  of  1079  (see  p.  559).  Transsubstanfiatio  occurs  first 
in  Peter  Damiani  (d.  1072)  in  his  Expos,  can.  Misses  (published  by  Angela 
Mai  in  "Script.  Vet.  Nova  Coll."  VI.  215),  and  then  in  the  sermons  of  Hil- 
debert,  archbishop  of  Tours  (d.  1134) ;  the  verb  transsubstantiare  first  in 
Stephanus,  Bishop  of  Autun  (1113-1129),  Tract,  de  Sacr.  Alfaris,  c.  14 
{"panem,  quern  accept,  in  corpus  meum  transsubstantiavV),  and  then  offi- 
cially in  the  fourth  Lateran  Council,  1215.  See  Gieseler,  II.  ii,  434  sq, 
(fourth  Germ.  ed.).  Similar  terms,  as  mutatio,  transmutatio,  transformation 
conversio,  transitio,  had  been  in  use  before.  The  corresponding  Greek 
noun  fiETovalumg  was  formally  accepted  by  the  Oriental  Church  in  the 
Orthodox  Confession  of  Peter  Mogilas,  1643,  and  later  documents,  yet 
with  the  remark  that  the  word  is  not  to  be  taken  as  a  definition  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  bread  and  wine  are  changed  into  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ,  See  SchafF's  Creeds  of  Christendom,  II,  382,  427,  431, 
495,  497  sq.  Similar  expressions,  such  as  fiSTafiolfj,  /lerafiaT^TiEcv,  fiEraKoulv, 
had  been  employed  by  the  Greek  flithers,  especially  by  Cyril  of  Jerusa- 
lem, Chrysostom,  and  John  of  Damascus,  The  last  is  the  chief  authority 
quoted  in  the  Russian  Catechism  (see  Schaff",  I.  c.  II.  498). 

All  these  terms  attempt  to  explain  the  inexplicable  and  to  rationalize 
the  irrational — the  contradiction  between  substance  and  accidents,  be- 
tween reality  and  appearance.  Transubstantiation  is  devotion  turned 
into  rhetoric,  and  rhetoric  turned  into  irrational  logic, 

2,  The  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  was  first  strongly  expressed  in  the 
confessions  of  two  Roman  Synods  of  1059  and  1079,  which  Berengar  was 
forced  to  accept  against  his  conscience  ;  see  p,  557  and  559.  It  was  oecu- 
menically  sanctioned  for  the  whole  Latin  church  by  the  fourth  Lateran 
Council  under  Pope  Innocent  III,,  A,  D,  1215,  in  the  creed  of  the  Synod, 
cap,  1 :  "Corpus  et  sanguis  [^Christi]  in  sacramenio  altaris  sub  speciebus 
panis  et  vini  veraciter  continentur,  transstjbstantiatis  PANE  IN  corpus 
ET  VINO  IN  SANGUINEM,  POTEST  ATE  DiviNA,  ut  ad  perficiendum  myste- 
rium  vnitatis  accipiamus  ipsi  de  sno,  quod  accepit  ipse  dc  nostra.  Et  hoc 
utique  sacramentum  nemo  potest  co7ificere,  nisi  sacerdos,  qui  fuerit  rite  ordi- 


§  130.   LANFEANC— TRIUMPH  OF  TRANSUBSTANTIATION.  571 


natus  secundum  elaves  Ecclesice,  quas  ipse  concessit  Apostolis  et  eorum  suc- 
cessoribus  lesus  Christus." 

The  Council  of  Trent,  in  the  thirteenth  session,  1551,  reaffirmed  the 
doctrine  against  the  Protestants  in  these  words:  "that,  by  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  bread  and  of  the  wine,  a  conversion  is  made  of  the  whole 
substance  of  the  bread  into  the  substance  of  the  body  of  Christ  our  Lord 
{conversionem  fieri  totius  substantice  panis  in  substantiam  corporis  Christi 
Domini),  and  of  the  whole  substance  of  the  wine  into  the  substance  of 
his  blood;  which  conversion  is  by  the  holy  Catholic  Church  suitably 
and  properly  called  Transubstantiation."  The  same  synod  sanctioned  the 
adoration  of  the  sacrament  [i.  e.  Christ  on  the  altar  under  the  figure  of 
the  elements),  and  anathematizes  those  who  deny  this  doctrine  and 
practice.     See  SchaflT,  Creeds  of  Christendom,  II.  130-139. 

3.  Thomas  Aquinas,  the  prince  of  scholastic  divines,  has  given  the 
clearest  poetic  expression  to  the  dogma  of  trausubstantiation  in  the  fol- 
lowing stanzas  of  his  famous  hymn,  ^' Lmida  Sion  Salvatorem,"  for  the 
Corpus  Christi  Festival : 


"Dogma  datur  Christianis, 
Quod  in  carnem  transit  pants, 

Et  vinum  in  sanguinem. 
Quod  non  capis,  quod  non  vides, 
Animosa  firmat  fides 

Prater  rerum  ordinem. 

"Suh  diversis  speciehus, 
Signis  tantum  et  non  rebus, 

Latent  res  eximice. 
Caro  cibus,  sanguis  potus, 
Manet  tamen  Christus  totus, 
Sub  utraque  specie. 


"Hear  what  holy  Church  maintameth. 
That  the  bread  its  substance  changeth 

Into  Flesh,  the  wine  to  Blood. 
Doth  it  pass  thy  comprehending? 
Faith,  the  law  of  sight  transcending, 

Leaps  to  things  not  understood. 

Here,  in  outward  signs,  are  hidden 
Priceless  things,  to  sense  forbidden  ; 

Signs,  not  things,  are  all  we  see: 
Flesh  from  bread,  and  Blood  from  wine: 
Yet  is  Christ,  in  either  sign. 

All  entire,  confess'd  to  be. 


"j1  sumente  non  concisus, 
Non  covfradus,  non  divisus, 

Integer  accipitur. 
Sumit  unus,  sumunt  mille. 
Quantum  isti,  tantum  ille. 
Nee  sumitus  consumitur. 


They,  too,  who  of  Him  partake. 
Sever  not,  nor  rend,  nor  break, 

But  entire,  their  Lord  receive. 
Whether  one  or  thousands  eat. 
All  receive  the  self-same  meat, 

Nor  the  less  for  others  leave. 


"Sumunt  boni,  sumunt  mali, 
Sorfe  tamen  incequali 
Vitce  vel  interitus. 
Mors  est  malis,  vita  bonis: 
Vide,  paris  sumptionis 
Qiiam  sit  dispar  exitus.'' 


Both  the  wicked  and  the  good 
Eat  of  this  celestial  Food  ; 

But  with  ends  how  opposite! 
Here  'tis  life,  and  there  'tis  death; 
The  same,  yet  issuing  to  each 

In  a  difference  infinite." 


^7 'A  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

See  the  Thes.  Hymnol.  of  Daniel,  II.  97-100,  who  calls  St.  Thomas 
"summus  laudator  venerabilis  sacramenti"  and  quotes  the  interesting, 
but  oijposite  judgments  of  Miihler  and  Luther.  The  translation  is  by 
Edward  Caswull  [Hymns  and  Poems,  2nd  ed.,  1873,  and  previously  in 
Lyra  Catholica,  Lond.,  1849,  p.  238).  The  translation  of  the  last  two 
stanzas  is  not  as  felicitous  as  that  of  the  other  two.  The  following  ver- 
sion preserves  the  double  rhyme  of  the  original : 

"  Eaten,  but  without  incision,  "  Here  alike  the  good  and  evil. 

Broken,  but  without  division,  High  and  low  in  social  level. 

Each  the  whole  of  Christ  receives:  Take  the  Feast  for  woe  or  weal: 
Thousands  take  what  each  is  taking,  Wonder !  from  the  self-same  eating, 
Each  one  breaks  what  all  are  breaking.     Good  and  bad  their  bliss  are  meeting 

None  a  lessened  body  leaves.  Or  their  doom  herein  they  seal." 

4.  The  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  has  always  been  regarded  by 
Protestants  as  one  of  the  fundamental  errors  and  grossest  superstitions 
of  Romanism.  But  we  must  not  forget  the  underlying  truth  which  gives 
tenacity  to  error.  A  doctrine  cannot  be  toholly  false,  which  has  been 
believed  for  centuries  not  only  by  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches  alike, 
but  as  regards  the  chief  point,  namely,  the  real  presence  of  the  very 
body  and  blood  of  Christ — also  by  the  Lutheran  and  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  Anglican  communions,  and  which  still  nourishes  the  piety  of 
innumerable  guests  at  the  Lord's  table.  The  mysterious  discourse  of  our 
Saviour  in  the  synagogue  of  Capernaum  after  the  miraculous  feeding  of 
the  midtitude,  expresses  the  great  truth  which  is  materialized  and  carnal- 
ized in  transubstantiation.  Christ  is  in  the  deepest  spiritual  sense  the 
bread  of  life  from  heaven  which  gives  nourishment  to  believers,  and  in 
the  holy  communion  we  receive  the  actual  benefit  of  his  broken  body 
and  shed  blood,  which  are  truly  present  in  their  power;  for  his  sacrifice, 
though  offered  but  once,  is  of  perpetual  force  to  all  who  accept  it  in  faith. 
The  literal  miracle  of  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand  is  spiritually  car- 
ried on  in  the  vital  union  of  Christ  and  the  believer,  and  culminates  in 
the  sacramental  feast.  Our  Lord  thus  explains  the  symbolic  significance 
of  that  miracle  in  the  strongest  language ;  but  he  expressly  excludes  the 
carnal,  Capernaitic  conception,  and  furnishes  the  key  for  the  true  under- 
standing, in  the  sentence:  "It  is  the  spirit  that  quickeneth;  the  flesh 
profiteth  nothing:  the  words  that  I  have  spoken  unto  you  are  spirit,  and 
are  life"  (John  6:  63). 


2  131.  THE  PAULICIAXS.  573 

CHAPTER  XII. 

HERETICAL   SECTS. 
§  131.  The  Paulicians. 

I.  Petrus  SiCULrs  (imperial  commissioner  in  Armenia,  about  870) :  His- 
toria  ManichoRorum,  qui  Pauliciani  dicuntur  {'laropia  Trsfu  rf/g  Kev^g  /cat 
uaralag  alpeasuQ  tuv  ^lavixa'tuv  -uv  Kal  ]lav?.iKtav(Jv  leyoiiivuv).  Gr.  et 
Lat.  ed.  Matth.  Raderus.  Ingolst.,  1604.  Newly  ed.  by  J.  C.  L. 
Gieseler.  Gottingen,  1846,  witb  an  appendix,  1849.  Photius  (d. 
891):  Adv.  recentiores  Manichceos,  lib.  IV.  Ed.  by  J.  Chr.  Wolf. 
Hamburg,  1722;  in  Gallaxdii  "Bibl.  PP."  XIII.  603  Sq.,  and  in 
Photii  Opei-a  ed.  Migne,  Tom.  II.,  col.  9-264  (reprint  of  Wolf  )• 
For  the  history  of  the  sect  after  A.  D.  870  we  must  depend  on  the 
Byzantine  historians,  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus  and  Cedrenus. 

n.  Mosheim:  Centiuy  IX.,  ch.  V.  Schrceckh:  vols.  XX.  365  sqq., 
and  XXIII.  318  sqq.  Gibbon:  Ch.  LIV.  (vol.  V.  534-554).  F. 
Schmidt:  Hktoria  Paulicianorum  Orientalium.  Kopenhagen,  1826. 
Gieseler:  Untersuchunqen  uher  die  Gesch.  der  Faulicianer,  in  the 
"Studien  und  Kritiken,"  1829,  No.  I.,  79  sqq.;  and  his  Church  His- 
tory, II.  21  sqq.,  and  231  sqq.  (Germ.  ed.  II.  1,  13  and  400).  Neax- 
DER,  III.  244-270,  and  586-592.  Baur:  Christl.  K.  ira  Mittelalter, 
p.  22-25.  Hergexrother,  I.  524-527.  Hardwick,  Middle  Age, 
p.  78-84.  RoBERTSOX,  II.  164-173  (revised  ed.  IV.  117-127).  C. 
Schmidt,  in  Herzog^  XI.  34-3-348.  A.  Lombard:  Pcndiciens,  Bul- 
gares  et  Bom-hommes  en  Orient  et  Occident.     Geneve,  1879. 

The  Monothelites,  the  Adoptionists,  the  Predestinarians,  and 
the  Berengarians  moved  within  the  limits  of  the  Catholic 
church,  di.ssented  from  it  only  in  one  doctrine,  and  are  inter- 
woven with  the  development  of  catholic  orthodoxy  which  has 
been  described  in  the  preceding  chapter.  But  there  were  also 
radical  heretical  sects  which  mixed  Christianity  with  heathen 
notions,  disowned  all  connection  with  the  historic  church,  and 
set  themselves  up  against  it  as  rival  communities.  They  were 
essentially  dualistic,  like  the  ancient  Gnostics  and  Manichaeans, 
and  hence  their  Catholic  opponents  called  them  by  the  conve- 
nient and  hated  name  of  New  Manichaeans ;  though  the  system  of 
the  Paulicians  has  more  affinity  with  that  of  ^Marcion.     They 


574  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A,  D.  590-1049. 

appeared  first  in  the  East,  and  spread  afterwards  by  unknown 
tracks  in  the  West.  They  reached  their  height  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  when  they  were  crushed,  but  not  annihilated,  by  a 
crusade  under  Pope  Innocent  III. 

These  sects  have  often  been  falsely  represented^  as  forerun- 
ners of  Protestantism;  they  are  so  only  in  a  purely  negative 
sense,  while  in  their  positive  opinions  they  differ  as  widely  from 
the  evangelical  as  from  the  Greek  and  Roman  creed.  The  Re- 
formation came  out  of  the  bosom  of  Mediaeval  Catholicism, 
retained  its  oecumenical  doctrines,  and  kept  up  the  historic 
continuity. 

The  Paulicians^  are  the  most  important  sect  in  our  period. 
They  were  confined  to  the  territory  of  the  Eastern  church. 
They  flourished  in  Armenia,  where  Christianity  came  in  con- 
flict with  Parsism  and  was  mixed  with  dualistic  ideas.  They 
probably  inherited  some  traditions  of  the  Manichseans  and 
Marcionites. 

I.  Their  name  is  derived  by  their  Greek  opponents^  from 
two  brothers,  Paul  and  John,  sons  of  a  Manichsean  woman, 
Kallinike,  in  Samosata;  but,  more  probably,  by  modern  histo- 
rians* from  their  preference  for  St.  Paul,  whom  they  placed 
highest  among  the  Apostles.  They  borrowed  the  names  of 
their  leading  teachers  from  his  disciples  (Sylvan us,  Titus,  Timo- 
thy, Tychicus,  Epaphroditus),  and  called  their  congregations 
after  his  (Corinth,  Philippi,  Achaia,  etc.).  They  themselves 
preferred  simply  the  name  "Christians"  [Xpcaziavoi,  Xfiiazo- 
TTo/.Tzai),  in  opposition  to  the  professors  of  the  Roman  state- 
religion  {'Po)fiacou^). 

II.  The  founder  of  the  sect  is  Constantine,  a  Syrian  from 

1  Antipathetically  by  Roman  Catholic,  sympathetically  by  Protestant  histo- 
rians. 

*  Ilai'/l/Ko/,  JlavTicmavni ,  'n.av?uav2T0i. 

'  Peter  the  Sicilian  and  Photius,  followed  by  Mosheim  and  Schrceckh. 

*  Gibbon,  Gieseler,  Neander,  Baur,  Hardwick. 


2  131.  THE  PAULICIANS.  575 

a  Gnostic  (Marcionite)  congregation  in  Mananalis  near  Samo- 
sata.  Inspired  by  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul  and  pretending  to 
be  his  genuine  disciple,  he  propagated  under  the  name  of  Syl- 
vanus  dualistic  doctrines  in  Kibossa  in  Armenia  and  in  the 
regions  of  Pontus  and  Cappadocia,  with  great  success  for  twenty- 
seven  years,  until  the  Emperor  Constautine  Pogonatus  (668- 
685)  sent  an  officer,  Symeon,  for  his  arrest  and  execution.  He 
was  stoned  to  death  in  684,  and  his  congregation  scattered. 
But  Symeon  was  struck  and  converted  by  the  serene  courage 
of  Constantine-Sylvanus,  revived  the  congregation,  and  ruled  it 
under  the  name  of  Titus.  When  Justinian  II.  heard  of  it,  he 
condemned  him  and  the  other  leaders  to  death  by  fire  (690), 
according  to  the  laws  against  the  Manichseans. 

But  in  spite  of  repeated  persecution  and  inner  dissensions, 
the  sect  spread  throughout  Asia  Minor.  When  it  decayed,  a 
zealous  reformer  rose  in  the  person  of  Sergius,  called  Tychi- 
cus,  the  second  founder  of  the  sect  (801-835).  He  had  been 
converted  by  a  woman,  visited  the  old  congregations  and 
founded  new  ones,  preached  and  wrote  epistles,  opposed  the 
antinomian  practices  of  Baanes,  called  "  the  Filthy  "  (6  puita- 
fioz),  and  introduced  strict  discipline.  His  followers  were  called 
Sergiotes  in  distinction  from  the  Baanites. 

The  fate  of  the  sect  varied  with  the  policy  of  the  Greek 
emperors.  The  iconoclastic  Leo  the  Isaurian  did  not  disturb 
them,  and  gave  the  leader  of  the  sect,  Gegnsesius,  after  a  satis- 
factory examination  by  the  patriarch,  a  letter  of  protection 
against  persecution ;  but  the  wily  heretic  had  answered  the 
questions  in  a  way  that  deceived  the  patriarch.  Leo  the  Arme- 
nian (813-820)  organized  an  expedition  for  their  conversion, 
pardoning  the  apostates  and  executing  the  constant.  Theodora, 
who  restored  the  worship  of  images,  cruelly  persecuted  them, 
and  under  her  short  reign  one  hundred  thousand  Paulicians 
were  put  to  death  by  the  sword,  the  gibbet,  or  the  flames  (844). 
Perhaps  this  large  number  included  many  iconoclasts. 


576  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Provoked  by  these  cruelties,  the  Paulicians  raised  the  stand- 
ard of  revolt  under  the  lead  of  Karbeas.  He  fled  with  five 
thousand  to  the  Saracens,  built  a  strong  fort,  Tephrica/  on  the 
Arab  frontier,  and  in  alliance  with  the  Moslems  made  success- 
ful military  invasions  into  the  Byzantine  territory.  His  son- 
in-law,  Chrysocheres,  proceeded  as  far  as  Ephesus,  and  turned 
the  cathedral  into  a  stable  (867),  but  was  killed  by  the  Greeks 
in  871,  and  the  sect  had  to  submit  to  the  Emperor  Basil  the 
Macedonian.  He  sent  among  them  the  monk  Petrus  Siculus, 
who  thus  became  acquainted  with  their  doctrines  and  collected 
the  materials  for  his  work. 

After  this  the  sect  lost  its  political  significance,  and  gradually 
disappeared  from  history.  Many  were  transferred  to  Pliilip- 
popolis  in  Thrace  about  970,  as  guards  of  the  frontier,  and 
enjoyed  toleration.  Alexius  Comnenus  (1081-1118)  disputed 
with  their  leaders,  rewarded  the  converts,  and  punished  the 
obstinate.  The  Crusaders  found  some  remains  in  1204,  when 
they  captured  Constantinople. 

III.  The  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  Paulicians  are  known 
to  us  only  from  the  reports  of  the  orthodox  opponents  and  a 
few  fragments  of  the  epistles  of  Sergius.  They  were  a  strange 
mixture  of  dualism,  demiurgism,  docetism,  mysticism  and 
pseudo-Paulinism,  and  resemble  in  many  respects  the  Gnostic 
system  of  Marcion. 

(1)  Dualism  was  their  fundamental  principle.^  The  good 
God  created  the  spiritual  world;  the  bad  God  or  demiurge  cre- 
ated the  sensual  world.  The  former  is  worshipped  by  the 
Paulicians,  i.  e.  the  true  Christians,  the  latter  by  the  "  Romans " 
or  Catholics. 

1  Now  Divrigni  in  the  mountains  between  Sirvas  and  Trebizond,  still  occu- 
pied by  a  fierce  people. 

»  Petrus  Siculus  puts  this  first  (p.  16) :  Tlpurov  fiev  ydp  can  to  kot'  avrovg 
yvitiudfia  TO  6vo  apxag  6fin2.oyetv,  izovnpbv  ■deov  Kal  aya-&6v.  He  says  the  Paul- 
icians reject  the  impious  writings  of  the  Manichaaans,  but  propagate  their  con- 
tents by  tradition  from  generation  to  generation. 


2  131.  THE  PAULICIANS.  577 

(2)  Contempt  of  matter.  The  body  is  the  seat  of  evil  desire, 
and  is  itself  impure.     It  holds  the  divine  soul  as  in  a  prison. 

(3)  Docetism.  Christ  descended  from  heaven  in  an  ethereal 
body,  passed  through  the  womb  of  Mary  as  through  a  channel, 
suffered  in  appearance,  but  not  in  reality,  and  began  the  process 
of  redemption  of  the  spirit  from  the  chains  of  matter. 

(4)  The  Virgin  Mary  was  not  "  the  mother  of  God,"  and  has 
a  purely  external  connection  with  Jesus.  Peter  the  Sicilian 
says,  that  they  did  not  even  allow  her  a  place  among  the  good 
and  virtuous  women.  The  true  theotokos  is  the  heavenly  Jeru- 
salem, from  which  Christ  came  out  and  to  which  he  returned. 

(5)  They  rejected  the  Old  Testament  as  the  work  of  the 
Demiurge,  and  the  Epistles  of  Peter.  They  regarded  Peter  as 
a  false  apostle,  because  he  denied  his  master,  preached  Judaism 
rather  than  Christianity,  was  the  enemy  of  Paul  (Gal.  2:  11) 
and  the  pillar  of  the  Catholic  hierarchy.  They  accepted  the 
four  Gospels,  the  Acts,  fourteen  Epistles  of  Paul,  and  the  Epis- 
tles of  James,  John  and  Jude.  At  a  later  period,  however, 
they  seem  to  have  confined  themselves,  like  Marcion,  to  the 
writings  of  Paul  and  Luke,  adding  to  them  probably  the  Gos- 
pel of  John.  They  claimed  also  to  possess  an  Epistle  to  the 
Laodiceans;  but  this  was  probably  identical  with  the  Epistle 
to  the  Ephesians.     Their  method  of  exposition  was  allegorical. 

(6)  They  rejected  the  priesthood,  the  sacraments,  the  worship 
of  saints  and  relics,  the  sign  of  the  cross  (except  in  cases  of 
serious  illness),  and  all  externals  in  religion.  Baptism  means 
only  tlie  baptism  of  the  Spirit;  the  communion  with  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ  is  only  a  communion  with  his  word  and 
doctrine. 

In  the  place  of  priests  {hp$77  and  npecrjduTepoi)  the  PauHcians 
had  teachers  and  pastors  {dcddaxaloc  and  noipius^),  companions 
or  itinerant  missionaries  (auvixd/j/xoi),  and  scribes  {vcurdpcoc). 
In  the  place  of  churches  they  had  meeting-houses  called  "  ora- 
tories" {TTpoffE'j^ai);  but  the  founders  and  leaders  were  esteemed 
37 


578  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

as  "apostles"  and  "prophets."  There  is  no  trace  of  the  Mani- 
chaean  distinction  between  two  classes  of  the  eledi  and  credentes. 
(7)  Their  morals  were  ascetic.  They  aimed  to  emancipate  the 
spirit  from  the  power  of  the  material  body,  without,  however, 
condemning  marriage  and  the  eating  of  flesh;  but  the  Baanites 
ran  into  the  opposite  extreme  of  an  autinomiau  abuse  of  the 
flesh,  and  reveled  in  licentiousness,  even  incest.  In  both  ex- 
tremes they  resembled  the  Gnostic  sects.  According  to  Photius, 
the  Paulicians  were  also  utterly  deficient  in  veracity,  and  de- 
nied their  faith  without  scruple  on  the  principle  that  falsehood 
is  justifiable  for  a  good  end. 

§  132.  The  JEuchites  and  other  Sects  in  the  East. 

I.  Michael  Psellus  (a  learned  Constantinopolitan,  11th  cent.):  Aid?.o- 

yog  nspi  evepyeiac  <^aifi6i'uv,  ed.  Gaulmin.  Par.  1615 ;  also  by  J.  F. 
Boissonade.  Norimbergse,  1838.  Cedeenus  (in  the  11th  cent.): 
Hisior.  Compend.  (ed.  Bonn.  I.  514). — On  the  older  Euchites  and 
Messalians  see  Epiphanius  [Hcer.  80),  Theodoret  {Hist.Eccl.  IV.  10), 
John  of  Damascus  {De  Hcer.,  c.  80),  Photius  [Bibl.  cod.  52),  and 
Walch:  Ketzer-Historie,  III.  481  sqq.  and  536  sqq. 

II.  Schnitzer:  Die  Euchiten  im  elfien  Jahrh.,  in  Stirm's  "Studien  der 

evang.  Geistlichkeit  AViirtemberg's,"  vol.  XI.,  H.  I.  169.  Gieseler, 
II.  232  sq.     Neander,  III.  590  sqq.,  comp.  II.  277  sqq. 

The  Euchites  were  mystic  monks  with  dualistic  principles 
derived  from  Parsism.  They  held  that  a  demon  dwells  in 
every  man  from  his  birth,  and  can  be  expelled  only  by  un- 
ceasing silent  prayer,  which  they  exalted  above  every  spiritual 
exercise.  Hence  their  name.^  They  were  also  called  Enthu- 
siasts by  the  people  on  account  of  their  boasted  ecstasies,  in 
which  they  fancied  that  they  received  special  revelations. 
Psellus  calls  them  "devil-worshippers."  They  despised  all 
outward  forms  of  worship.  Rumor  charged  them  with  lewd- 
ness and  infanticide  in  their  secret  assemblies ;  but  the  same 
stories  were  told  of  the  early  Christians,  and  deserve  no  credit. 

*  Evx^iTai  or  'Evxirai,  from  £vxv,  prayer.  The  Syriac  name  Messalians 
n'bvpj    praying  people,  from  N^V>  oraidt  (Dan.  6:  11;  Ezra  6:  10). 


§  132.  THE  EUCHITES  AND  OTHEE  SECTS  IN  THE  EAST.  579 

They  appear  in  the  eleventh  century  in  Mesopotamia  and 
Armenia,  in  some  connection  with  the  Paulicians.  They  were 
probably  tlie  successors  of  the  older  Syrian  Euchites  or  Mes- 
salians  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  who  in  their  conceit 
had  reached  the  height  of  ascetic  perfection,  despised  manual 
labor  and  all  common  occupations,  and  lived  on  alms — the 
first  specimens  of  mendicant  friars. 

From  the  Euchites  sprang  towards  the  close  of  the  eleventh 
century  the  Bogomiles  (the  Slavonic  name  for  Euchites),^  and 
Catharists  {i.  e.  the  Purists,  Puritans),  and  spread  frqm  Bul- 
garia into  the  West.  They  will  occupy  our  attention  in  the 
next  period. 

Another  Eastern  sect,  called  Thondracians  (from  the  vil- 
lage Thondrac),  was  organized  by  Sembat,  a  Paulician,  in  the 
province  of  Ararat,  between  833  and  854.  They  sprang  from 
the  Paulicians,  and  in  spite  of  persecution  made  numerous  con- 
verts in  Armenia,  among  them  a  bishop,  Jacob,  in  1002,  who 
preached  against  the  corruptions  in  the  Armenian  church,  but 
was  branded,  exposed  to  public  scorn,  imprisoned,  and  at  last 
killed  by  his  enemies.* 

Little  is  known  of  the  sect  of  the  Athingians  who  appeared 
in  Upper  Phrygia.^  They  seem  to  have  been  strongly  Juda- 
istic.  They  observed  all  the  rites  of  the  law  except  circum- 
cision, for  which  they  substituted  baptism.  Neander  conjectures, 
that  they  were  the  successors  of  the  Colossian  errorists  opposed 
by  St.  Paul. 

'  From  ITospodi  pomilui,  the  Slavonic  Kyrie  deison,  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us. 
It  is  the  response  in  the  Russian  litany,  and  is  usually  chanted  by  a  choir  with 
touching  effect.  Schaffarik  derives  the  name  from  a  Bulgarian  bishop  named 
Bogorail,  who  represented  that  heresy  in  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century. 

*  See  Tschamtschean's  "History  of  Armenia,"  used  by  Neander  (from  Peter^ 
mann's  communications),  III.  587-589. 

'  ^A'&iyyavot,  from  d-iyydvcj,  to  touch,  to  handle;  probably  with  reference  to 
Col.  2:  21,  fin  ■^tyv?,  touch  not  (things  that  defile).  The  translator  of  Neander 
calls  them  Athinganians  (III.  592). 


580  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

§  133.   The  New  Manichoeans  in  the   West. 

L  The  chief  sources  for  the  sects  of  the  Middle  Age  belong  to  the  next 
period,  namely,  the  letters  of  Pope  Innocent  III.,  Honorius  III., 
Bernhard  of  Clairvaux,  Peter  the  Venerable;  the  acts  of  Coun- 
cils; the  chronicles ;  and  the  special  writings  against  them,  chiefly 
those  of  the  Dominican  monk  Eeinerius  Sacchoni  of  Lombard^  (d. 
1259),  who  was  himself  a  heretic  for  seventeen  years.  The  sources 
are  collected  in  the  "Maxima  Biblioth.  Patr."  (Lugd.,  1677,  Tom. 
XXII.,  XXIV.) ;  inMarteneand  Darand's  "Thesaurus  novus  auec- 
dotorum''  (Par.,  16S2);  in  Muratori's  "Kerum  Italic.  Scriptores" 
(Mediol.,  1723  sqq.);  in  Bouquet's  "Eecueil  des  historiens  des  Graules 
et  de  la  France"  (Par.,  173S  sqq.),  etc.  See  the  Lit.  in  Hahn  I.  23 
sqq. 

n.  J.  COXE.  FrxsSLl>':  Keue  nnparth.  Kirchen-und  Ketzerhistorie  der 
mUtleren  Zdt.     Frankf.,  1770.     2  Piirts. 

Chk.  U.  Hahx:  Geschichte  der  Eetzer  im  MiUelalter,  bcsonders  im  11., 
12.  und  13.  Jahrh.,  nach  den  Quellen  bearbe'iM.  Stuttgart,  184o-'50, 
S  vols.    The  first  vol.  contains  the  History  of  the  Xew  Manichaeans. 

C.  Schmidt:  Eistoire  et  dodnne  de  la  secte  des  Cathares.  Paris,  1849, 
2  vols. 

Razki:  Bogomili  i  Caiareni.     Agrain,  1869. 

NEiLN'DEE,  ill.  592-606.  GiESELEE,  II.  234^239.  Habd-vteck,  p.  187- 
190.    RoBEKTSOx,  II.  417-424. 

The  heretical  sects  in  the  \Ye5t  are  chiefly  of  three  distinct 
classes:  1)  the  dualistic  or  Manichcean;  2)  the  pantheistic  and 
mjstic;  3)  the  biblical  (the  Waldenses).  "Widely  differing 
among  themselves,  thej  -^ere  united  in  hatred  of  the  papal 
church  and  the  sacerdotal  system.  They  arose  from  various 
causes:  the  remains  of  heathen  notions  and  older  heresies;  op- 
position to  the  corruptions  of  the  church  and  the  clergy;  the 
revolt  of  reason  against  tyrannical  authority;  and  popular  thirst 
for  the  word  of  God.  They  spread  with  astonishing  rapidity 
during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  from  Bulgaria  to 
Spain,  especially  through  Italy  and  Southern  France,  and  called 
forth  all  the  energies  of  the  papacy  at  the  zenith  of  its  power 
(under  Innocent  III.)  for  their  forcible  suppression.  One  only 
survived  the  crusade,  the  Waldenscs,  owing  to  their  faithful 
adherence  to  the  positive  truths  of  the  Scriptures. 


2  133.  THE  yZ?r  MA>'TCH.FAVS  ES  THE  WEST.         581 

In  the  West  the  hei^^cal  tendency  in  organized  form  made 
its  first  appearance  daring  the  elevoith  centoij,  when  the  cor- 
rapdon  of  the  chordi  and  the  papacy  had  reached  its  height. 
It  appeared  to  that  age  as  a  oontinnation  or  revival  of  the 
Manichaean  heresy.*  The  connecting  link  is  the  doalistic  prin- 
ciple. The  old  Manichaeans  were  never  quite  extirpated  with 
nre  and  sword,  bat  oontinaed  secretly  in  Italy  and  France, 
waiting  for  a  fevorable  opportunity  to  emerge  fix>m  obsoiri^. 
Xor  must  we  overlook  the  influence  from  the  E-ist.  Paoliciaiis 
were  ofben  tran^orted  under  Byzantine  standards  from  Thrace 
and  Bulgaria  to  the  Greek  provinces  of  Italy  and  Sicily,  and 
spread  the  seed  of  their  dualism  and  docetism  and  hatred  of  the 
ruling  diurch.' 

Xew  Manidiaeans  were  first  discovered  in  Aquitania  and  Or- 
leans, ill  1022,  in  Arras,  1025,  in  Monicforte  near  Torin,  1030, 
in  Goslar,  1025.  Th^  taught  a  dualistie  antagonism  between 
God  and  matter,  a  doodic  view  of  the  humanity  of  Christ,  op- 
posed the  worship  of  saints  and  images,  and  rejected  the  whole 
Catholic  church  with  all  the  material  means  of  grace,  for  which 
they  substituted  a  spiritual  baptism,  a  spiritual  eucharist,  and  a 
symbol  of  initiation  by  the  imposition  of  hands.  Some  resolved 
the  life  of  Christ  into  a  myth  or  symbol  of  the  divine  life  in  every 
man.  They  generally  observed  an  austere  code  of  morals,  ab- 
stained from  marriage,  animal  food,  and  intoxicating  drinks.  A 
pallid,  ranafiated  face  was  regarded  by  the  people  as  a  sign  of  he- 
resy. The  adherents  of  the  sect  were  common  people,  but  among 
their  leaders  were  prints,  sometimes  in  disguise.  One  of  them, 
Dieudonn§.  precentor  of  the  church  in  Orleans,  died  a  Catholic ; 

'  Other  rtime?,  ro"<reTer.  ■were  invenied  i.o  disdcgnith  the  d-feren:  brariches 
■srhidi  ^rere  oompared  to  foxes  with  tails  tied  together.  In  the  time  of  Inno- 
cent ILL,  more  ttan  fonj  heretical  names  were  oied,  alroni  twelve  of  them  far 
tie  Maiichzean  brai>ch,  chiesflT  "Manichaeans,''  " Caiharisis,^  and  "PatarenL" 
See  Hahn,  I-  4-9  sqq. 

'  On  the  diSerent  daiTadons  see  the  DOtes  of  Gtesder,  XL  234  sq.,  and 
Hahn  L  30  sqq. 


582  FOUKTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

but  when  three  years  after  his  death  his  connection  with  the 
heretics  was  discovered,  his  bones  were  dug  up  and  removed 
from  consecrated  ground. 

The  Oriental  fashion  of  persecuting  dissenters  by  the  faggot 
and  the  sword  was  imitated  in  the  West.  The  fanatical  fury  of 
the  people  supported  the  priests  in  their  intolerance.  Thirteen 
New  Manichseans  were  condemned  to  the  stake  at  Orleans  in 
1022.  Similar  executions  occurred  in  other  places.  At  Milan 
the  heretics  were  left  the  choice  either  to  bow  before  the  cross, 
or  to  die;  but  the  majority  plunged  into  the  flames. 

A  few  men  rose  above  the  persecuting  spirit  of  the  age,  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours,  who  had  vigorously 
protested  against  the  execution  of  the  Priscillianists  at  Treves. 
Wazo,  bishop  of  Liege,  about  1047,  raised  his  voice  for  tolera- 
tion when  he  was  asked  for  his  oj)inion  concerning  the  treat- 
ment of  the  heretics  in  the  diocese  of  Chiilons-sur-]\Iarue.  Such 
doctrines,  he  said,  must  be  condemned  as  unchristian;  but  we 
are  bound  to  bear  with  the  teachers  after  the  example  of  our 
Saviour,  who  was  meek  and  humble  and  came  not  to  strive,  but 
rather  to  endure  shame  and  the  death  of  the  cross.  The  parable 
of  the  wheat  and  the  tares  teaches  us  to  wait  patiently  for  the 
repentance  of  erring  neighbors.  "We  bishops,"  he  tells  his 
fellow-bishops,  "should  remember  that  we  did  not  receive,  at 
our  ordination,  the  sword  of  secular  power,  the  vocation  to  slay, 
but  only  the  vocation  to  make  alive."  All  they  had  to  do  was 
to  exclude  obstinate  heretics  from  the  communion  of  the  church . 
and  to  guard  others  against  their  dangerous  doctrines.* 

»  Neander,  III.  605  sq.;  Gieseler,  II.  239,  note. 


2  134.  LITERATURE.  583 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE    STATE    OF    LEARNING. 

§  134.  Literature. 

Comp.  the  list  of  works  in  vol.  II.  621  sqq. 

I.  The  ecclesiastical  writers  of  this  period  are  collected  for  the  first  time 

by  MiGNE,  the  Greek  in  his  Patrologia  Grceca,  Tom.  90  (Maximus 
Confessor)  to  136  (Eustathius);  the  Latin  in  his  Patrologia  Latina, 
Tom.  69  (Cassiodorus)  and  75  (Gregory  I.)  to  148  (Gregory  VII.). 

II.  General  works :  Du  Pin,  Ceilliee,  and  Cave,  and  the  bibliographi- 

cal works  of  Fabkicius  [Biblioth.  Groeca,  and  Bibl.  Latina) ;  espe- 
cially the  Histoire  Gtiierale  des  auteurs  sacres  eccldsiasiiqnes  by  the 
Benedictine  Dom  Remy  Ceillier  (1688-1761),  first  ed.,  1729-63, 
in  23  vols. ;  revised  ed.  by  Abbe  Bauzon,  Paris,  1857-"62,  in  14  vols. 
4to.  This  ed.  comes  down  to  St.  Bernard  and  Peter  the  Lombard. 
Tom.  XL,  XII.  and  XIII.  cover  the  6th  century  to  the  11th. 

A.  H.  L.  Heeren  (Prof,  in  Gottingen) :  Geschichte  der  classischen  Lite- 
ratur  im  Mittelalter.  Gottingen,  1822.  2  Parts.  The  first  part  goes 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Middle  Age  to  the  15th  century. 

Henry  Hallam  :  State  of  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Ch.  IX.  (New 
York  ed.  of  1880,  vol.  III.  254  sqq.);  and  his  Introduction  to  the 
Literature  of  Europe  in  the  15th,  16th  and  17th  Centuries.  Part  I., 
Ch.  1  (N.  York  ed.  of  1880,  vol.  L,  p.  25-103). 

Hermann  Reuter  :  Geschichte  der  relig.  Aufkldrung  im  Mittelalter. 
Berlin,  1875,  2  vols. 

III.  Special  works. 

(1)  Learning  and  Literature  in  the  East:  Leo  Allatius:  GracicB  ortho- 
doxcB  Scriptores.  Rom.,  1652-59,  2  vols.  The  Byzantine  Historians, 
ed.  by  Niebuhr  and  others,  Gr.  and  Lat.  Bonn,  1828-78,  50  vols., 
8vo.  Monographs  on  Photius,  especially  Hergenrother  (the  third 
volume),  and  on  John  of  Damascus  by  Langen  (1879),  etc.;  in  part 
also  Gass:  Sijmbolik  der  griech.  Kirche  (1872). 

(2)  Literature  in  the  Latin  church:  Johann  Christ.  Felix  Bahr: 

Geschichte  der  romischen  Liferatur.  Carlsruhe,  1836  sqq. ;  4th  revised 
ed.,  1868-72,  4  vols.  The  4th  vol.  embraces  the  Christian  Roman  lite- 
rature to  the  age  of  Charlemagne.  This  formerly  appeared  in  three 
eupplementary  vols.,  1836,  1837  and  1840,  the  third  under  the  title : 
Oesch.  der  rom.  Lit.  im  karolingischen  Zeitalter  (619  pages). — WlL- 
HELM  S.  Teuffel:  Geschichte  der  romischen  Literatur.  Leipzig, 
1870,  4th  ed.  edited  by  L.  Schwabe,  1882.  Closes  with  the  middle 
of  the  eighth  century.  Adolph  Ebert  :  Geschichte  der  Literatur 
des  Mittelalters  im  Abendlande.    Leipzig,  1874-'80,  2  vols. 


584  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

Comp.  also  Leon  Maitee  :  Les  dcoles  episcopates  et  monastiques  de  V acci- 
dent depuis  Charlemagne  Jusqu'  a  Fhilippe-Auguste,  18G6.  H.  Jos. 
SCHMITZ:  Das  Volksschulwesen  im  Miltelalier.     Fran kf.  a.  M.,  1881. 

(3)  For  Italy:  Muratori:  Antiquitates  italicannedli  ceci  [^le(i\o\.,nZS- 
'42,  6  vols,  fol.),  and  Rerum  italicarum  Scriptores  pTcecipui  ab  anno 
D.  ad  MD.  (Mediol.,  1723-'51,  29  vols.  fol.).  TiRiiBOSCHi  (a  very 
learned  Jesuit):  Storia  della  letteratura  italiana,  antica  e  moderna. 
Modena,  1771-82,  and  again  1787-94;  another  ed.  Milan,  1822-26, 
16  vols.  Gregorovius  :  Geschichte  der  Stadt  Bom.  im  Mlttelalter. 
Stuttgart,  1859  sqq.,  3rd  ed.  1874  sqq.,  8  vols. 

(4)  For  France:  the  Benedictine  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France.  Paris, 
1733-63,  12  vols.  4to.,  continued  by  members  of  the  Academic  des 
inscriptions  et  belles-lettres,  1814  sqq. — Bouquet  :  Eecueil  des  hi^to- 
riens  des  Gaules  et  de  la  France.  Paris,  1738-1865,  22  vols,  fol.;  new 
ed.  1867  sqq.  GuizOT:  Histoire  g6n6rale  de  la  cicilisation  en  Europe 
et  en  France  depuis  la  chide  de  V empire  romain  jusqu''  u  la  revolution 
frangaise.  Paris,  1830,  6  vols.,  and  many  editions,  also  two  English 
translations. — Ozanam  :  La  civilisation  chretienne  chez  les  F-ancs. 
Paris,  1849. 

(5)  For  Spain:  The  works  of  Isidore  of  Seville.  Comp.  Balmez: 
European  Civilization,  in  Spanish,  Barcelona,  1842-'44,  in  4  vols. ; 
transl,  into  French  and  English  (against  Guizot  and  in  the  interest 
of  Romanism). 

(6)  For  England:  The  works  and  biographies  of  Bede,  Alcuin,  Al- 

fred. Monumenta  HiMorica  Brittannica,  ed.  by  Petrie,  Sharpe, 
and  Hardy.  Lond.,  1848  (the  first  vol.  extends  to  the  Norman 
conquest).  Rerum  Britannicarum  medii  cevi  Scriptores,  or  Chronicles 
and  3Iemorials  of  Great  Britain.  London,  1858-1865,  55  vols.  8vo. 
Comp.  J.  R.  LuMBY :  Greek  Learning  in  the  Western  Church  during 
the  Seventh  and  Eighth  Centuries.     Cambridge,  1878. 

(7)  For  Germany :  The  works  and  biographies  of  Bonifacius,  Charle- 

magne, Rabanus  Maurus.  The  Scriptores  in  the  Monumenta  Ger- 
manice  historica,  ed.  Pertz  and  others,  Han.,  1826  sqq.  (from  500  to 
1500);  also  in  a  small  ed.  Scriptores  rer.  Germ,  in  usum  scholarum, 
1840-1866,  16  vols.  8vo.  Wilhelm  Wattenbach  :  Deutschlands 
Geschichtsquellen  im  Mittelalter  bis  zur  Mitte  des  13.  Jahrhunderts. 
Berlin,  1858,  4th  ed.,  1877-78,  2  vols. 

(8)  On  the  era  of  Charlemagne  in  particular:  J.  J.  Ampere:  IFistoire 

liit('raire  de  la  France  avant  Charlemagne  (second  ed.,  1867,  2  vols.), 
and  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France  sous  Charlemagne  et  durant  les 
Xe  et  XI"  siecles.  Paris,  1868. — Baiir:  De  litter,  sfudiis  a  Carolo 
M.  revocatis  ac  schola  Palafina.  Pleidelb.,  1856. — J.  Bass  Mullin- 
GER:  Tlie  Schools  of  Charles  the  Great,  and  the  Restoration  of  Educa- 
tion in  the  Ninth  Century.    London,  1877. — Ebert:  Die  liter.  Bewe- 


§  135.  LITERARY  CHAEACTEE  OF  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.    585 

gung  zur  Zeit  Karls  des  Gr.,  in  "Deutsche  Rundschau,"  XI.  1877. 
Comp.  also  Rettberg:  Kirchengeschichte  Deutschlands,  I.  427  sqq., 
and  the  works  quoted  on  p.  23G.  The  poetry  of  the  Carolingian  age 
is  collected  in  two  magnificent  volumes  by  E.  Dummler:  Foiicv- 
Latini  JEvi  Carolini.  Berlin,  2  vols,  in  3  parts,  1880-'84  (in  the 
Scriptorum  series  of  the  Mon.  Germania). 

§  135.  Literary  Character  of  the  Early  Middle  Ages. 

The  prevailing  character  of  this  period  in  sacred  learning  is 
a  faithful  traditionalism  which  saved  the  remains  of  the  ancient 
classical  and  Christian  literature,  and  transferred  them  to  a  new 
soil.  The  six  centuries  which  intervene  between  the  downfall 
of  the  West  Roman  Empire  (476)  and  the  age  of  Hildebrand 
(1049-1085),  are  a  period  of  transition  from  an  effete  heathen 
to  a  new  Christian  civilization,  and  from  patristic  to  scholastic 
theology.  It  was  a  period  of  darkness  with  the  signs  of  ap- 
proaching daylight.  The  fathers  were  dead,  and  the  schoolmen 
were  not  yet  born.  The  best  that  could  be  done  was  to  pre- 
serve the  inheritance  of  the  past  for  the  benefit  of  the  future. 
The  productive  power  was  exhausted,  and  gave  Avay  to  imita- 
tion and  compilation.  Literary  industry  took  the  place  of 
independent  investigation. 

The  Greek  church  kept  up  the  connection  with  classical  and 
patristic  learning,  and  adhered  closely  to  the  teaching  of  the 
Nicene  fathers  and  the  seven  oecumenical  councils.  The  Latin 
church  bowed  before  the  authority  of  St.  Augustin  and  St.  Je- 
rome. The  East  had  more  learning;  the  West  had  more 
practical  energy,  which  showed  itself  chiefly  in  the  missionary 
field.  The  Greek  church,  with  her  head  turned  towards  the 
past,  tenaciously  maintains  to  this  day  the  doctrinal  position  of 
the  eighth  century ;  the  Latin  church,  looking  to  the  future, 
passed  through  a  deep  night  of  ignorance,  but  gathered  new 
strength  from  new  blood.  The  Greek  church  presents  ancient 
Christianity  at  rest;  while  the  Latin  church  of  the  middle  ages 
is  Christianity  in  motion  towards  the  modern  era. 


586  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590  1049. 

§  136.  Learning  in  the  Eastern  Church. 

The  Eastern  church  had  the  advantage  over  the  Western  in 
the  knowledge  of  the  Greek  language,  which  gave  her  direct 
access  to  the  Greek  Testament,  the  Greek  classics,  and  the 
Greek  fathers;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  she  had  to  suifer  from 
the  Mohammedan  invasions,  and  from  the  intrigues  and  inter- 
meddling of  a  despotic  court. 

The  most  flourishing  seats  of  patristic  learning,  Alexandria 
and  Antioch,  were  lost  by  the  conquests  of  Islam.  The  im- 
mense library  at  Alexandria  was  burned  by  order  of  Omar 
(638),  who  reasoned :  "  If  these  writings  of  the  Greeks  agree 
with  the  book  of  God  (the  Koran),  they  are  useless  and  need 
not  be  preserved;  if  they  disagree,  they  are  pernicious  and 
ought  to  be  destroyed."  •  In  the  eighth  century,  however,  the 
Saracens  themselves  began  to  cultivate  learning,  to  translate 
Greek  authors,  to  collect  large  libraries  in  Bagdad,  Cairo,  and 
Cordova.  The  age  of  Arabic  learning  continued  about  five 
hundred  years,  till  the  irruption  of  the  Moguls.  It  had  a 
stimulating  effect  upon  the  scholarship  of  the  church,  especially 
upon  the  development  of  scholastic  philosophy,  through  the 
writings  of  Averroes  of  Cordova  (d.  1198),  the  translator  and 
commentator  of  Aristotle. 

Constantinople  was  the  centre  of  the  literary  activity  of  the 
Greek  church  during  the  middle  ages.  Here  or  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  (Chalcedon,  Niesea)  the  oecumenical  councils  were 
held ;  here  were  the  scholars,  the  libraries,  the  imperial  patron- 
age, and  all  the  facilities  for  the  prosecution  of  studies.  Many 
a  library  was  destroyed,  but  always  replaced  again.^     Thessalo- 

1  Gibbon  (ch.  50)  doubts  this  fact,  related  by  Abulpharagiiis  and  other 
Mohammedan  authorities;  but  Von  Hammer,  Silv.  de  Sacy,  and  other  Ori- 
ental scholars  accept  it  as  well  authenticated.  See  the  note  of  Smith  in  his 
edition  of  Gibbon  (vol.  V.  358  sq.).  The  library  was  variously  estimated  as 
containing  from  four  to  seven  hundred  thousand  volumes. 

'  A  library  of  120,000  volumes,  begun  by  Constantius  and  .Julian  the  Apos- 
tate, was  burned  by  accident  under  Basiliscus  (478).     Another  Constantino- 


2  136.  LEAENING  IN  THE  EASTEEN  CHUECH.  587 

nica  and  Mount  Athos  were  also  important  seats  of  learning, 
especially  in  the  twelfth  century. 

The  Latin  was  the  oJBBcial  language  of  the  Byzantine  court, 
and  Justinian,  who  regained,  after  a  divorce  of  sixty  years,  the 
dominion  of  ancient  Rome  through  the  valor  of  Belisarius 
(536),  asserted  the  proud  title  of  Emperor  of  the  Romans,  aud 
published  his  code  of  laws  in  Latin.  But  the  Greek  always 
was  and  remained  the  language  of  the  people,  of  literature,  phi- 
losophy, and  theology. 

Classical  learning  revived  in  the  ninth  century  under  the 
patronage  of  the  court.  The  reigns  of  Csesar  Bardas  (860-866), 
Basilius  I.  the  Macedonian  (867-886),  Leo  VI.  the  Philosopher 
(886-911),  who  was  himself  an  author,  Constantine  VII.  Por- 
phyrogenitus  (911-959),  likewise  an  author,  mark  the  most 
prosperous  period  of  Byzantine  literature.  The  family  of  the 
Comneni,  who  upheld  the  power  of  the  sinking  empire  from 
1057  to  1185,  continued  the  literary  patronage,  and  the  Em- 
press Eudocia  and  the  Princess  Anna  Comnena  cultivated  the 
art  of  rhetoric  and  the  study  of  philosophy. 

Even  during  the  confusion  of  the  crusades  and  the  disasters 
which  overtook  the  empire,  the  love  for  learning  continued ; 
and  when  Constantinople  at  last  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Turks,  Greek  scholarship  took  refuge  in  the  West,  kindled  the 
renaissance,  and  became  an  important  factor  in  the  preparation 
for  the  Reformation. 

The  Byzantine  literature  presents  a  vast  mass  of  learning 
without  an  animating,  controlling  and  organizing  genius.  "The 
Greelis  of  Constantinople,"  says  Gibbon,*  with  some  rhetorical 
exaggeration,  "held  in  their  lifeless  hands  the  riches  of  the 
fathers,  without  inheriting  the  spirit  which  had  created  and 

politan  library  of  33,000  volnmes  perished  in  the  reign  of  the  iconoclastic 
Leo  the  Isaurian,  who  is  made  responsible  for  the  calamity  by  Cedrenus  and 
other  orthodox  historians. 

1  Decline  and  Fall,  Ch.  LIII.  (V.  529). 


588  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

improved  that  sacred  patrimony :  they  read,  they  praised,  they 
compiled ;  but  their  languid  souls  seemed  alike  incapable  of 
thought  and  action.  In  the  revolution  of  ten  centuries,  not  a 
single  discovery  was  made  to  exalt  the  dignity  or  promote  the 
happiness  of  mankind.  Not  a  single  idea  has  been  added  to 
the  speculative  systems  of  antiquity;  and  a  succession  of  patient 
disciples  became  in  their  turn  the  dogmatic  teachers  of  the  next 
servile  generation.  Not  a  single  composition  of  history,  philo- 
sophy or  literature  has  been  saved  from  oblivion  by  the  intrin- 
sic beauties  of  style  or  sentiment,  of  original  fancy,  and  even  of 
successful  imitation.  .  .  .  The  leaders  of  the  Greek  church  were 
humbly  content  to  admire  and  copy  the  oracles  of  antiquity, 
nor  did  the  schools  or  pulpit  produce  any  rivals  of  the  fame  of 
Athauasius  and  Chrysostom." 

The  theological  controversies  developed  dialectical  skill,  a 
love  for  metaphysical  subtleties,  and  an  over-estimate  of  theo- 
retical orthodoxy  at  the  expense  of  practical  piety.  The  Mono- 
theletic  controversy  resulted  in  an  addition  to  the  christological 
creed;  the  iconoclastic  controversy  determined  the  character  of 
public  worship  and  the  relation  of  religion  to  art. 

The  most  gifted  Eastern  divines  were  Maximus  Confessor  in 
the  seventh,  John  of  Damascus  in  the  eighth,  and  Photius  in 
the  ninth  century.  Maximus,  the  hero  of  Monotheletism,  was 
an  acute  and  profound  thinker,  and  the  first  to  utilize  the 
pseud o-Dyonysian  philosophy  in  support  of  a  mystic  ortho- 
doxy, John  of  Damascus,  the  champion  of  image- worship, 
systematized  the  doctrines  of  the  orthodox  fathers,  especially 
the  three  great  Cappadocians,  Basil,  Gregory  of  Nazianzum, 
and  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  and  produced  a  monumental  work  on 
theology  which  enjoys  to  this  day  the  same  authority  in  the 
Greek  church  as  the  "Summa"  of  Thomas  Aquinas  in  the 
Latin.  Photius,  the  antagonist  of  Pope  Nicolas,  was  the  great- 
est scholar  of  his  age,  who  read  and  digested  with  independent 
judgment  all  ancient  heathen  and  Christian  books  on  philology, 


§  137.  THE  PSEUDO-DIONYSIAN  WRITINGS.  589 

philosophy,  theology,  canon  law,  history,  medicine,  and  general 
literature.  In  extent  of  information  and  fertility  of  pen  he  had 
a  successor  in  Michael  Psellus  (d.  1106). 

Exegesis  was  cultivated  by  CEcumenius  in  the  tenth,  Theo- 
phylact  in  the  eleventh,  and  Euthymius  Zygabenus  in  the 
twelfth  century.  They  compiled  the  valuable  exegetical  col- 
lections called  "Catense."^  Simeon  Metaphrastes  (about  900) 
wrote  legendary  biographies  and  eulogies  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-two  saints.  Suidas,  in  the  eleventh  century,  prepared  a 
Lexicon,  which  contains  much  valuable  philological  and  his- 
torical information.^  The  Byzantine  historians,  Theophanes, 
Syncellus,  Cedrenus,  Leo  Grammaticus,  and  others,  describe  the 
i)olitical  and  ecclesiastical  events  of  the  slowly  declining  empire. 
The  most  eminent  scholar  of  the  twelfth  century  was  Eusta- 
thius.  Archbishop  of  Thessalonica,  best  known  as  the  commen- 
tator of  Homer,  but  deserving  a  high  place  also  as  a  theologian, 
ecclesiastical  ruler,  and  reformer  of  monasticism. 

§  137.  Christian  Platonism  and  the  Pseudo-Dionysian  Writings. 

LITERATURE. 

I.  Best  ed.  of  Pseudo-Dionysius  in  Greek  and  Latin  by  Balthasar  Corde- 
rius  (Jesuit),  Antwerp,  1634;  reprinted  at  Paris,  1644;  Venice,  1755; 
Brixiffi,  1854;  and  by  Migne,  in  "Patrol.  Gr.,"  Tom.  III.  and  IV., 
Paris,  1857,  with  the  scholia  of  Pacbymeres,  St.  Maximus,  and  va- 

^  So  called  from  being  connected  like  chains,  aecpai,  catena.  Other  terms 
are:  kmrofiai  or  avXXoyal  ip/iTjvcioyv,  glosscE,  postillce.  Among  Latin  collections 
of  that  kind,  the  Catena  ^urca  of  Thomas  Aqninas  on  the  Gospels  is  the  most 
famous.  See  Fauricius,  BlhUoth.  Grceca,  vol.  VI I-,  and  Nce?sclt,  De  Catenis 
Patrum  Grcecorum  in  N.  T.  Hal.,  1762.  What  these  Catenas  did  for  patristic 
exegesis,  the  Oritici  Sa^ri  (London,  1660  sqq.;  Frankfort,  1695  sqq.;  Amster- 
dam, 1698-1732,  with  supplements,  13  vols.),  and  Matthew  Poole'a  Synopsis 
(London,  1669  sqq.,  an  abridgment  of  the  former)  did  for  the  exegesis  of  the 
reformers  and  other  commentators  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 

*  Still  indispensable  to  Greek  scholars,  and  important  to  theologians  and 
historians  for  the  biblical  glosses,  the  explanations  of  theological  terms,  and 
the  biographical  and  literary  notices  of  ecclesiastical  writers.  Best  editions 
by  Gaisford  (Oxford,  1834),  and  Bernhardy  (Halle,  1853,  4  vols.). 


590  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

rious  dissertations  on  the  life  and  writings  of  Dionysius.  French 
translations  by  Darboy  (1845),  and  Dulac  (1865).  German  transl. 
by  Engelhardt  (see  below).  An  English  transl.  of  the  Mystical 
Theology  in  Everard's  Gospel  Treasures,  London,  1653. 

II.  Older  treatises  by  Launoy:  De  Areopagiticis  Hilduini  (Paris,  1641); 

and  De  duabus  Dionysiis  (Par.,  1660).  Pere  Sirmond:  Dissert,  in 
qua  ostenditur  Dion.  Paris,  et  Dion.  Areop.  discrimen  (Par.,  1641).  J. 
Daille:  De  scriptis  quce  sub  Dionys.  Areop.  et  Ignatii  Aiitioch.  no- 
minibus  circumferuntur  (Geneva,  1666,  reproduced  by  Engelhardt). 

III.  Engelhardt  :  Die  angeblichen  Schriften  des  Areop.  Dion,  iibersetzt 
und  mit  Abhandl.  hegleitet  (Sulzbach,  1823);  De  Dion.  Platonizante 
(Erlangen,  1820) ;  and  De  Origine  script.  Dion.  Areop.  (Erlangen, 
1823).  \ogt:  Neuplatonismus  und  Christenthum.  Berlin,  1836.  G. 
A.Meyer:  Dionys.  Areop.  Halle,  1845.  L.  Montet:  Les  livres  du 
Pseudo- Dionys.,  1848.  Neander:  III.  169  sqq.;  466  sq.  Gieseler: 
I.  468 ;  II.  103  sq.  Baur:  Gesch.  der  Lehre  v.  der  Dreieinigkcit  und 
Menschwerdung  Gottes,  II.  251-263.  Dorxer:  Entw.  Gesch.  der  L. 
V.  d.  Pers.  Christi,  II.  196-203.  Fr.  Hipler:  Dionys.  der  Areopagite. 
Regensb.,  1861.  E.  Bohmer:  Dion.  Areop.,  I^Q'^l.  Westcott:  Dion. 
Areop.  in  the  "Contemp.  Review"  for  May,  1867  (with  good  trans- 
lations of  characteristic  passages).  JoH.  Niemeyer:  Dion.  Areop. 
docirina  philos.  et  theolog.  Halle,  1869.  Dean  Colet:  On  the  Hie- 
rarchies of  Dionysius.  1869.  J.  Fowler  :  On  St.  Dion,  in  relation 
to  Christian  Art,  in  the  "Sacristy,"  Febr.,  1872.  Kanakis:  Dionys. 
der  Areop.  nach  seincm  Character  als  Philosoph.  Leipz.,  1881.  ]\IOL- 
LER  in  "Herzog"*  III.  617  sqq.;  and  Lupton  in  "Smith  &  Wace," 
I.  841  sqq.  Corap.  the  Histories  of  Philosophy  by  Ritter,  II.  514 
sqq.,  and  Ueberweg  (Am.  ed.),  II.  349-352. 

THE   REAL   AND   THE   FICTITIOUS   DIONYSIUS. 

The  tendency  to  mystic  speculation  was  kept  up  and  nour- 
ished chiefly  through  the  writings  which  exhibit  a  fusion  of 
Neo-Platonism  and  Christianity,  and  which  go  under  the  name 
of  Dionysius  Areopagita,  the  distinguished  Athenian  convert 
of  St.  Paul  (Acts  17:  34).  He  was,  according  to  a  tradition  of 
the  second  century,  the  first  bishop  of  Athens.'     In  the  ninth 

'  Dionysius  of  Corinth  (d.  170)  in  Euseb.,  Hist.  Feci  HI.  4;  IV.  23.  So 
also  in  Covst.  Apost.  VII.  46.  Nothing  is  said  in  these  passages  of  his  mar- 
tyrdom, which  is  an  uncertain  tradition  of  later  date.  Qiiadratus,  the  oldest 
Christian  writer  of  Athens,  makes  no  mention  of  him.  Suidas  (eleventh  cen- 
tury), in  his  Lexicon,  svJ>  Aioviaiog  6  ' Apeuirayhrjq  (Kuster's  ed,,  Cambridge, 


§  137.  THE  PSEUDO-DIONYSIAN  WETTINGS.  591 

century,  when  the  French  became  acquainted  with  his  supposed 
writings,  he  was  confounded  with  St.  Denis,  the  first  bishop  of 
Paris  and  patron  saint  of  France,  who  lived  and  died  about  tM'O 
hundred  years  after  the  Areopagite.'  He  thus  became,  by  a 
glaring  anachronism,  the  connecting  link  between  Athens  and 
Paris,  between  Greek  philosophy  and  Christian  theology,  and 
acquired  an  almost  apostolic  authority.  He  furnishes  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  examples  of  the  posthumous  influence  of 
unknown  authorship  and  of  the  power  of  the  dead  over  the 
living.  For  centuries  he  was  regarded  as  the  prince  of  theolo- 
gians.    He  represented  to  the  Greek  and  Latin  church  the  eso- 

1705,  vol.  I.  598-600),  says  that  Dionysius  visited  Egypt  in  the  reign  of  Tibe- 
rius, witnessed  with  a  friend  at  Heliopolia  the  extraordinary  eclipse  of  the 
sun  which  occurred  at  the  time  of  the  crucifixion  (comp.  the  7th  Ep.  of  Dion.) ; 
that  he  was  converted  by  Paul  and  elected  bishop  of  the  Athenians;  that  he 
excelled  in  all  secular  and  sacred  learning,  and  was  so  profound  that  his  works 
seem  to  be  the  productions  of  a  celestial  and  divine  faculty  rather  than  of  a 
human  genius.    He  knows  nothing  of  the  French  Dionysius. 

1  According  to  the  oldest  authorities  (Sulpicius  Severus,  d.  410,  and  Gregory 
of  Tours,  d.  595,  see  his  Hist.  Franc.  I.  28),  the  French  Dionysius  belongs  to  the 
middle  of  the  third  century,  and  died  a  martyr  either  under  Decius  (249-251) 
or  under  Aurelian  (270-273).  Afterwards  he  was  put  back  to  the  first  century. 
The  confusion  of  the  French  martyr  with  the  Areopagite  of  the  same  name  is 
traced  to  Hilduin,  abbot  of  St.  Denis,  A.  D.  835,  who  at  the  request  of  the 
Emperor  Louis  the  Pious  compiled  an  uncritical  collection  of  the  traditions 
concerning  Dionysius  {Areopagitica} .  Gieseler  (II.  103)  traces  it  further  back 
to  the  age  of  Charlemagne  and  the  Acta  Dionys.,  which  were  first  printed  in 
the  Acta  Sanct.  mens.  Oct.  IV.  792.  After  that  time  it  was  currently  believed 
that  Dionysius  was  sent  by  Pope  Clement  of  Rome  to  Gaul  with  twelve  com- 
panions, or  (according  to  another  tradition)  with  a  presbyter  Rusticus,  and  a 
deacon  Eleutherius,  and  that  he  suffered  martyrdom  with  them  under  Domi- 
tian.  His  identity  with  the  Areopagite  became  almost  an  article  of  faith;  and 
when  Ab^lard  dared  to  call  it  in  question,  he  was  expelled  from  St.  Denis  as  a 
dangerous  heretic.  It  has  been  conclusively  disproved  by  Launoy,  Sirmond, 
Morinus,  Le  Nourry,  Daill4;  and  yet  it  still  finds  defenders  among  French 
Catholics,  e.g.ihe  Archbishop  Darboy  of  Paris,  who  was  shot  by  the  Commune 
in  May,  1871.  The  Abb^  Dulac  thus  epigrammatically  expresses  this  ex- 
ploded tradition  (CEuvres  de  Saint  Denis,  1865,  p.  13):  "iVe  dans  AtMnes,  Lu- 
t^ce  d'  Orient,  il  meurt  d,  Lut^ce,  Ath^nes  d^  Occident ;  succemvement  epoux  de  deux 
iglises,  dont  Vune  possedera  son  borceau,  et  Vavire  sa  tombe.  Montmarire  vavdra 
la  colling  de  Mars." 


592  FOUETH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

teric  wisdom  of  the  gospel,  and  the  mysterious  harmony  between 
faith  and  reason  and  between  the  celestial  and  terrestrial  hier- 
archy. 

Pseudo-Dionysius  is  a  philosophical  counterpart  of  Pseudo- 
Isidor :  both  are  pious  frauds  in  the  interest  of  the  catholic  sys- 
tem, the  one  with  regard  to  theology,  the  other  with  regard  to 
church  polity ;  both  reflect  the  uncritical  character  of  mediaeval 
Christianity;  both  derived  from  the  belief  in  their  antiquity  a 
fictitious  importaace  far  beyond  their  intrinsic  merits.  Doubts 
were  entertained  of  the  genuineness  of  the  Areopagitica  by  Lau- 
rentius  Valla,  Erasmus,  and  Cardinal  Cajetan  ;  but  it  was  only 
in  the  seventeenth  century  that  the  illusion  of  the  identity  of 
Pseudo-Dionysius  with  the  apostolic  convert  and  the  patron- 
saint  of  France  was  finally  dispelled  by  the  torch  of  historical 
criticism.  Since  that  time  his  writings  have  lost  their  authority 
and  attraction ;  but  they  will  always  occupy  a  prominent  place 
among  the  curiosities  of  literature,  and  among  the  most  remark- 
able systems  of  mystic  philosophy. 

AUTHORSHIP. 

Who  is  the  real  author  of  those  productions?  The  writer 
is  called  simply  Dionysius,  and  only  once.^  He  repeatedly 
mentions  an  unknown  Hierotheos,  as  his  teacher;  but  he  praises 
also  ''the  divine  Paul,"  as  the  spiritual  guide  of  both,  and  ad- 
dresses persons  who  bear  apostolic  names,  as  Timothy,  Titus, 
Caius,  Polycarp,  and  St.  John.  He  refers  to  a  visit  he  made 
with  Hierotheos,  and  with  James,  the  brother  of  the  Lord  {d.dtX- 
<p6dso(:),  and  Peter,  "the  chief  and  noblest  head  of  the  inspired 
apostles,"  to  gaze  upon  the  (dead)  body  of  her  (Mary)  who  was 
"the  beginning  of  life  and  the  recipient  of  God;"  on  which 
occasion  Hierotheos  gave  utterance  to  their  feelings  in  ecstatic 
hymns.  It  is  evident  then  that  he  either  lived  in  the  apostolic 
age  and  its  surroundings,  or  that  he  transferred  himself  back  m 

*  In  Ep.  VII.  3,  where  AgoUophanes  addresses  him:  "O  Dionysius." 


§  137.  THE  PSEUDO-DION YSIAN  WETTINGS.  593 

imagination  to  that  age.^  The  former  alternative  is  impossible. 
The  inflated  style,  the  reference  to  later  persons  (as  Ignatius  of 
Antioch  and  Clement  of  Alexandria),  the  acquaintance  with 
Neo-Platonic  ideas,  the  appeal  to  the  *'old  tradition"  {ai)ja1a 
Ttapddoac^)  of  the  church  as  well  as  the  Scriptures,  and  the 
elaborate  system  of  church  polity  and  ritual  which  he  presup- 
poses, clearly  prove  his  post-apostolic  origin.  He  was  not 
known  to  Eusebius  or  Jerome  or  any  ecclesiastical  author  be- 
fore 533.  In  that  year  his  writings  were  first  mentioned  in  a 
conference  between  orthodox  bishops  and  heretical  SevQfians  at 
Constantinople  under  Justinian  I.^  The  Severians  quoted  them 
as  an  authority  for  their  Monophysitic  Christology  and  against 
the  Council  of  Chalcedon;  and  in  reply  to  the  objection  that 
they  were  unknown,  they  asserted  that  Cyril  of  Alexandria  had 
used  them  against  the  Nestorians.  If  this  be  so,  they  must 
have  existed  before  444,  when  Cyril  died ;  but  no  trace  can  be 
found  in  Cyril's  writings.  On  the  other  hand,  Dionysius  pre- 
supposes the  christological  controversies  of  the  fifth  century,  and 
shows  a  leaning  to  Monophysitic  views,  and  a  familiarity  with 
the  last  and  best  representatives  of  Neo-Platonism,  especially 
with  Proclus,  who  died  in  Athens,  A.  D.  485.  The  resem- 
blance is  so  strong  that  the  admirers  of  Dionysius  charged 
Proclus  with  plagiarism.^  The  writer  then  was  a  Christian 
Neo-Platonist  who  wrote  towards  the  close  of  the  fifth  or  the 
beginning  of  the  sixth  century  in  Greece  or  in  Egypt,  and  who 
by  a  literary  fiction  clothed  his  religious  speculations  with  the 
name  and  authority  of  the  first  Christian  bishop  of  Athens.* 

^  Hipler  and  Bohmer  assume  that  those  names  do  not  refer  to  the  well-known 
apostolic  characters,  but  this  is  untenable. 

*  See  the  Collatio  Catholicorum  cum  Severianis  in  Mansi,  VIII.  817  sqq.,  and 
an  account  of  the  conference  in  Walch's  Ketzergeschichte,  VII.  134  sqq. 

3  Weatcott  asserts  (p.  6)  that  the  coincidences  with  Daraascius,  the  second  in 
succession  from  Proclus,  and  the  last  Platonic  teacher  at  Athens,  are  even 
more  remarkable.     He  was  of  Svrian  origin. 

*  Different  conjectures  as  to  the  author,  time  and  place  of  composition  :  1)  A 
pseudonymous  Dionvsius  (of  Egypt)  at  the  end  of  the  fifth  century.     Gieseler, 

38 


594  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

In  the  same  way  the  pseudo-Clementine  writings  were  assigned 
to  the  first  bishop  of  Rome. 

THE   FORTUNES   OF   PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS. 

Pseudo-Diouysius  appears  first  in  the  interest  of  the  heretical 
doctrine  of  one  nature  and  one  will  in  the  person  of  Christ.^ 
But  he  soon  commended  himself  even  more  to  orthodox  theolo- 
gians. He  was  commented  on  by  Johannes  Scythopolitanus  in 
the  sixth  century,  and  by  St.  Maxinms  Confessor  in  the  seventh. 
John  of  Damascus  often  quotes  him  as  high  authority.  Even 
Photius,  who  as  a  critic  doubted  the  genuineness,  numbers  him 
among  the  great  church  teachers  and  praises  his  depth  of 
thought.^ 

In  the  West  the  writings  of  Pseudo-Dionysius  were  first 
noticed  about  590  by  Pope  Gregory  I.,  who  probably  became 
acquainted  with  them  while  ambassador  at  Constantinople. 
Pope  Hadrian  I.  mentions  them  in  a  letter  to  Charlemagne. 

Engelhardt,  Dorner,  and  others.  2)  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  d.  265.  Bara- 
tier.  3)  Another  Dionysius  of  the  fourth  century.  4)  During  the  Eutychian 
and  Nestorian  controversies.  Le  Nourry.  5)  A  Pseudo-Dionysius  of  tlie  third 
century,  who  wished  to  introduce  the  Eleusynian  mysteries  into  the  church. 
Baumgarten  Crusius.  6)  Apollinaris  the  elder,  d.  360.  7)  Apollinaris  the 
younger,  d.  370.  Laurentius  Valla.  8)  Synesius  of  Ptolemais,  c.  410.  La 
Croze.  9)  Peter  Gnapheus  or  Fullo,  patriarch  of  Constantinople.  Le  Quien. 
10)  A  writer  in  Edessa,  or  under  the  influence  of  the  Edessene  school,  between 
480  and  520.  Westcott.— See  the  Prolegomena  of  Le  Nourry,  De  Rubeis, 
CorderiuP,  in  the  first  vol.  of  Migne's  ed.,  and  Lnpton,  I.  c. 

1  The  Monothelites  appealed  to  a  passage  in  Ep.  IV.  ad  Caium.  See  Hefele, 
III.  127  sq.  Dorner  (II.  196  sqq.)  correctly  represents  the  mystic  Christology 
of  Pseudo-Dionysius  as  a  connecting  link  between  Monophysitism  and  the 
orthodox  dogma. 

2  The  first  book  which  he  notices  in  his  "Bibliotheca"  (about  845)  is  a  de- 
fense of  the  genuinene?s  of  the  Dionysian  writings  by  a  presbyter  Theodorus, 
who  mentions  four  objections:  1)  they  were  unknown  to  the  earlier  fathers;  2) 
tbey  are  not  mentioned  in  the  catalogues  of  writings  by  Ensebius;  3)  they  are 
filled  with  comments  on  church  traditions  which  grew  by  degrees  long  after 
the  apostolic  age;  4)  Ihey  quote  an  epistle  of  Ignatius,  written  on  his  way  to 
martyrdom  imder  Trajan.  Photius  seems  to  think  that  the  objections  are 
stronger  than  the  answers  of  Theodorus.  See  Neander,  III.  170;  Westcott, 
I.  c,  p.  4,  and  ITergonrother,  Photius,  III.  29  and  331. 


?  137.  THE  PSEUDO-DIONYSIAN  WRITINGS.  695 

The  Emperor  Michael  II.  the  Stammerer,  sent  a  copy  to  Louis 
the  Pious,  827.  Their  arrival  at  St.  Denis  on  the  eve  of  the 
feast  of  the  saint  who  reposed  there,  was  followed  by  no  less 
than  nineteen  miraculous  cures  in  the  neighborhood.  They 
naturally  recalled  the  memory  of  the  patron-saint  of  France, 
and  were  traced  to  his  authorship.  The  emperor  instructed 
Hilduin,  the  abbot  of  St.  Denis,  to  translate  them  into  Latin; 
but  his  scholarship  was  not  equal  to  the  task.  John  Sco- 
tus  Erigena,  the  best  Greek  scholar  in  the  West,  at  the  re- 
quest of  Charles  the  Bald,  prepared  a  literal  translation  with 
comments,  about  850,  and  praised  the  author  as  "venerable 
alike  for  his  antiquity  and  for  the  sublimity  of  the  heavenly 
mysteries"  with  which  he  dealt.^  Pope  Nicolas  I.  complained 
that  the  work  had  not  been  sent  to  him  for  approval,  "accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  the  church"  (861);  but  a  few  years  later 
Anastasius,  the  papal  librarian,  highly  commended  it  (c.  865). 

The  Areopagitica  stimulated  an  intuitive  and  speculative  bent 
of  mind,  and  became  an  important  factor  in  the  development  of 
scholastic  and  mystic  theology.  Hugo  of  St.  Victor,  Peter  the 
Lombard,  Albertus  Magnus,  Thomas  Aquinas,  Robert  Grosse- 
teste,  and  Dionysius  Carthusianus  wrote  commentaries  on  them, 
and  drew  from  them  inspiration  for  their  own  writings.^  The 
Platonists  of  the  Italian  renaissance  likewise  were  influenced 
by  them. 

Dante  places  Dionysius  among  the  theologians  in  the  heaven 
of  the  sun : 

"Thou  seest  next  the  lustre  of  that  taper, 
Which  in  the  flesh  below  looked  most  within 
The  angelic  nature  and  its  ministry.'" 

^  Other  Latin  versions  were  made  afterwards  by  Johannes  Sarracinns  in  the 
twelfth  century,  by  Ambrosius  Camaldulensis  in  the  fifteenth,  by  Corderius  in 
the  seventeenth. 

^  St.  Thomas,  the  "Angelic  Doctor,"  is  so  full  of  quotations  from  Dionysius 
that  Corderius  says,  he  drew  from  him  "totamfere  doctrinam  iheologicam."  See 
Migne  T.  96. 

=>  Paradiso,  X.  115. 


696  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A. D.  590-1049. 

Luther  called  him  a  dreamer,  and  this  was  one  of  his  hereti- 
cal views  which  the  Sorbonne  of  Paris  condemned. 

THE   SEVERAL.   WEITIXGS. 

The  Dionjsian  writings,  as  far  as  preserved,  are  four  treatises 
addressed  to  Timothy,  his  "fellow-presbyter,"  namely:  1)  On 
the  Celestial  Hierarchy  {7:£pi  zr^z  o'jpai^ia;  Upaoyja^).  2)  On 
the  Ecclesiastical  Hierarchy  {Tzspc  rr^z  ixxlr^acaazr/r^-  Izoaoyiai). 
3)  On  the  Divine  Xames  {~zpi  ^stcov  di^oudzoj)^).  4)  On  Mys- 
tic Theology  (~spi  p'jar'.xr^-  ^tokojiaz).  To  these  are  added 
ten  letters  addressed  to  various  persons  of  the  apostolic  age.* 

THE  SYSTEM   OF    DIOXYSIUS. 

These  books  reveal  the  same  authorship  and  the  same  system 
of  mvstic  symbolism,  in  which  Xeo-Platonism  and  Christianity 
are  interwoven.  The  last  phase  of  Hellenic  philosophy  which 
heretofore  had  been  hostile  to  the  church,  is  here  made  subser- 
vient to  it.  The  connecting  ideas  are  the  progressive  revelation 
of  the  infinite,  the  hierarchic  triads,  the  negative  conception  of 
evil,  and  the  striving  of  man  after  mystic  union  with  the  tran- 
scendent God.  The  system  is  a  counterpart  of  the  Graeco- 
Jewish  theology  of  PhUo  of  Alexandria,  who  in  similar  manner 
mingled  the  Platonic  philosophy  with  the  Mosaic  religion. 
The  Areopagite  and  Philo  teach  theology  in  the  garb  of  philo- 
sophy; both  appeal  to  Scripture,  tradition,  and  reason;  both  go 
behind  the  letter  of  the  Bible  and  the  facts  of  history  to  a 
deeper  symbolic  and  allegoric  meaning ;  both  adulterate  the 
revealed  truths  by  foreign  elements.  But  Philo  is  confined  to 
the  Old  Testament,  and  ignores  the  New,  which  was  then  not 
yet  written ;  while  the  system  of  the  Areopagite  is  a  sort  of 
philosophy  of  Christianity. 

The  Areopagite  reverently  ascends  the  heights  and  sounds 

*  An  eleventh  letter  which  exists  onlv  in  Latin  (said  to  have  been  written 
by  Scotus  Erigena\  and  a  Latin  Liturgy  of  Dionysius  (published  by  Benaadot 
and  in  Migne's  ed.  L  1123-1132^  are  spurious. 


?  137.  THE  PSEUDO-DION YSI AN  WRITINGS.  597 

the  depths  of  metaphysical  and  religious  speculation,  and  makes 
the  impression  of  profound  insight  and  sublime  spirituality; 
and  hence  he  exerted  such  a  charm  upon  the  great  schoolmen 
and  mystics  of  the  middle  ages.  But  he  abounds  in  repetitions; 
he  covers  the  poverty  of  thought  with  high-sounding  phrases ; 
he  uses  the  terminology  of  the  Hellenic  mysteries;^  and  his 
stjde  is  artificial,  turgid,  involved,  and  monotonous. 

The  unity  of  the  Godhead  and  the  hierarchical  order  of  the 
universe  are  the  two  leading  ideas  of  the  Areopagite.  He  de- 
scends from  the  divine  unity  through  a  succession  of  manifesta- 
tions to  variety,  and  ascends  back  again  to  mystic  union  with 
God.  His  text,  we  may  say,  is  the  sentence  of  St.  Paul :  "  From 
God,  and  through  God,  and  unto  God,  are  all  things"  (Rom. 

11:36). 

He  starts  from  the  Neo-Platonic  conception  of  the  Godhead, 
as  a  being  which  transcends  all  being  and  existence,"  and  yet  is 
the  beginumg  and  the  end  of  all  existence,  as  unknowable  and 
yet  the  source  of  all  reason  and  knowledge,  as  nameless  and 
inexpressible  and  yet  giving  names  to  all  things,  as  a  simple 
unity  and  yet  causing  all  variety.  He  describes  God  as  "a 
unity  of  three  persons,  who  with  his  loving  providence  pene- 
trates to  all  things,  from  super-celestial  essences  to  the  last 
things  of  earth,  as  being  the  beginning  and  cause  of  all  beings, 
beyond  all  beginning,  and  enfolding  all  things  transcendental ly 
in  his  infinite  embrace."  If  we  would  know  God,  we  must  go 
out  of  ourselves  and  become  absorbed  in  Him.  All  being  pro- 
ceeds from  God  by  a  sort  of  emanation,  and  tends  upward  to 
him. 

The  world  forms  a  double  hierarchy,  that  is,  as  he  defines  it, 
"  a  holy  order,  and  science,  and  activity'  or  energy,  assimilated 

1  As  for  the  three  stages  of  spiritual  ascent,  Kd'&apfftg,  iivricir,  re/.eiuct^,  and 
the  verb  eTroTTTevea^ai,  i.  e.  to  be  admitted  to  the  highest  grade  at  mysteries,  to 
become  an  k-udnTTig  or  fiva-riq.  For  other  rare  words  see  the  vocabulary  of 
Dion,  in  Migne,  I.  1134  sqq.,  and  II.  23  sqq. 

1  TO  ov  v~Epovaiov,  das  iiberseiende  Sein. 


598  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

as  far  as  possible  to  the  godlike  and  elevated  to  the  imitation  of 
God  in  proportion  to  the  divine  illuminations  conceded  to  it." 
There  are  two  hierarchies,  one  in  heaven,  and  one  on  earth,  each 
with  three  triadic  degrees. 

The  celestial  or  supermundane  hierarchy  consists  of  angelic 
beings  in  three  orders :  1)  thrones,  cherubim,  and  seraphim,  in 
the  immediate  presence  of  God ;  2)  powers,  mights,  and  domi- 
nions; 3)  angels  (in  the  narrower  sense),  archangels,  and  prin- 
cipalities.^ The  first  order  is  illuminated,  purified  and  perfected 
by  God,  the  second  order  by  the  first,  the  third  by  the  second. 

The  earthly  or  ecclesiastical  hierarchy  is  a  reflex  of  the  hea- 
venly, and  a  school  to  train  us  up  to  the  closest  possible  com- 
munion with  God.  Its  orders  form  the  lower  steps  of  the 
heavenly  ladder  which  reaches  in  its  summit  to  the  throne  of 
God.  It  requires  sensible  symbols  or  sacraments,  which,  like 
the  parables  of  our  Lord,  serve  the  double  purpose  of  revealing 
the  truth  to  the  holy  and  hiding  it  from  the  profane.  The  first 
and  highest  triad  of  the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy  are  the  sacra- 
ments of  baptism  which  is  called  illumination  {(pwrcajjia),  the 
eucharist  (trtiva^rc,  gathering,  communion),  w4iich  is  the  most 

^  Or,  in  the  descending  order,  they  are : 

(a)  aepacplu,  x^pov(3i/i,  ■&p6voi. 

(6)   KvpidTTjTEQ,  SvvafiEtc,  e^ovoiai. 

(c)  apxal,  apxayyETioi,  ayyEloi. 

Five  of  these  orders  a^-e  derived  from  St.  Paul,  Eph.  1 :  21  {apx^,  t^ovala, 
6vva[iiq,  kvpl6tj]q),  and  Col.  1 :  16  {-dpovoi,  KvpiOTTjveg,  apxal,  E$ovaiai) ;  the  other 
four  {aepattiifi,  xf^povjiifj.,  apxdyyE'Koi,  ayyeTioi)  are  likewise  biblical  designations 
of  angelic  beings,  but  nowhere  mentioned  in  this  order.  Thomas  Aquinas,  in 
his  doctrine  of  angels,  closely  follows  Dionysius,  quoting  him  literally,  or 
more  frequently  interpreting  his  meaning.  Dante  introduced  the  three  celes- 
tial triads  into  his  Divina  Commedia  (Paradiso,  Canto  XXVIII.  97  sqq.): 

"These  orders  upward  all  of  them  are  gazing, 
And  downward  so  prevail,  that  unto  God 
They  all  attracted  are  and  all  attract. 
And  Dionysius  with  so  great  desire 
To  contemplate  these  orders  set  himself, 
He  named  them  and  distinguished  them  as  I  do." 

(Longfellotu's  translation.) 


r 


§  137.  THE  PSEUDO-DION YSI AN  WRITINGS.  599 

sacred  of  consecrations,  and  the  holy  unction  or  chrism  which 
represents  our  perfecting.  Three  other  sacraments  are  men- 
tioned: the  ordination  of  priests,  the  consecration  of  monks, 
and  the  rites  of  burial,  especially  the  anointing  of  the  dead. 
The  three  orders  of  the  ministry  form  the  second  triad.^  The 
third  triad  consists  of  monks,  the  holy  laity,  and  the  catechu- 
mens. 

These  two  hierarchies  with  their  nine-fold  orders  of  heavenly 
and  earthly  ministrations  are,  so  to  speak,  the  machinery  of 
God's  government  and  of  his  self-communication  to  man.  They 
express  the  divine  law  of  subordination  and  mutual  dependence 
of  the  different  ranks  of  beings. 

The  Divine  Names  or  attributes,  which  are  the  subject  of  a 
long  treatise,  disclose  to  us  through  veils  and  shadows  the  foun- 
tain-head of  all  life  and  light,  thought  and  desire.  The  good- 
ness, the  beauty,  and  the  loveliness  of  God  shine  forth  upon  all 
created  things,  like  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  attract  all  to  Him- 
self. How  then  can  evil  exist?  Evil  is  nothing  real  and  posi- 
tive, but  only  a  negation,  a  defect.  Cold  is  the  absence  of  heat, 
darkness  is  the  absence  of  light ;  so  is  evil  the  absence  of  good- 
ness. But  how  then  can  God  punish  evil?  For  the  answer  to 
this  question  the  author  refers  to  another  treatise  which  is  lost.^ 

The  Mystic  Theology  briefly  shows  the  way  by  which  the 
human  soul  ascends  to  mystic  union  with  God  as  previously  set 
forth  under  the  Divine  Names.  The  soul  now  rises  above 
signs  and  symbols,  above  earthly  conceptions  and  definitions  to 
the  pure  knowledge  and  intuition  of  God. 

Dionysius  distinguishes  between  cataphatic  or  affirmative  theo- 
logy,^ and  apophatie  or  negative  theology.*  The  former  descends 
from  the  infinite  God,  as  the  unity  of  all  names,  to  the  finite 

»  They  are  not  called  bishop,  priest,  and  deacon,  but  lipapxm,  lepek,  and 
XeiTovpydg.    Yet  Dionysius  writes  to  Timothy  as  npeal3vTEpog  t^  av/nrpeapvTepit}. 

2  Ilepi  dcKalov  kqI  i?f/ov  diKaiuTr/plov. 

3  KaradaTiKdc,  affirmative,  from  KaracpdaKU  {KaTdcj)r;/n),  to  affirm. 
*  anocpariKdc,  negative,  from  aTzocpdaKU  {dnSdTj/u),  to  deny. 


600  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

and  manifold ;  the  latter  ascends  from  the  finite  and  manifold 
to  God,  until  it  reaches  that  height  of  sublimity  where  it  be- 
comes completely  passive,  its  voice  is  stilled,  and  man  is  united 
with  the  nameless,  unspeakable,  super-essential  Being  of  Beings. 
The  ten  Letters  treat  of  separate  theological  or  moral  topics, 
and  are  addressed,  four  to  Caius,  a  monk  (d-spaTi^ur/j^:),  one  to 
Dorotheus,  a  deacon  [haoupyoc;),  one  to  Sosipater,  a  priest 
(lepe'j(;),  one  to  Demophilus,  a  monk,  one  to  Polycarp  (called 
hpdfj^T^^j  no  doubt  the  well-known  bishop  of  Smyrna),  one  to 
Titus  [UpdfJXYji:,  bishop  of  Crete),  and  the  tenth  to  John,  "the 
theologian,"  i.  e.  the  Apostle  John  at  Patmos,  foretelling  his 
future  release  from  exile. 

DIONYSIAN    LEGENDS. 

Two  legends  of  the  Pseudo-Dionysian  writings  have  passed 
in  exaggerated  forms  into  Latin  Breviaries  and  other  books 
of  devotion.  One  is  his  gathering  with  the  apostles  around  the 
death-bed  of  the  Virgin  Mary.^  The  other  is  the  exclamation 
of  Dionysius  when  he  witnessed  at  Heliopolis  in  Egypt  the 
miraculous  solar  eclipse  at  the  time  of  the  crucifixion  :^  "  Either 
the  God  of  nature  is  suffering,  or  He  sympathizes  with  a  suffer- 
ing God."^     No  such  sentence  occurs  in  the  writings  of  Diony- 

^  See  above  p.  592,  and  Uepl  -dEiuv  bvoiiaT.  cap.  III.  2.  (ed.  of  Migne,  I.  682 
sq.)  Corap.  the  lengthy  discussion  of  Baronius,  Annal.  ad  ann.  48.  In  this 
connection  St.  Peter  is  called  by  Dionysius /copu^ia/a /cat  lipeajivrdTri  tuv  ^eoXdyuv 
(iKpdTTjq  (suprema  ista  atque  antiquissima  summitas  theologorum).  Corderius  (see 
Migne  1,  GS6)  regards  this  as  "  firmissimum  argumenlum  pro  primatu  Petri  et 
consequenter  (f)  Pontificum  Romanorum  ejvsdem  saccessorum." 

'  Matt.  27 :  45 ;  Mark  15 :  33 ;  Luke  23 :  44.  See  the  notes  in  Lange,  on 
Matthew,  p.  525  (Am.  ed.). 

*  The  exclamation  is  variously  given :  o  ayvuarog  kv  capKl  Trdaxei-  i?f(5f  (by 
Syngelns);  or  ^  ro  -^eiov  izdaxsi,  fj  tL  rcdaxovri  av/nnnaxei  ("  Aut  Deits  patitur, 
aut  patienti  compatitur") ;  or,  as  the  Roman  Breviary  has  it:  "  Aut  Deus  naturce 
patitur,  autmundi  machina  dissolvitur,"  "Either  the  God  of  nature  is  suffering,  or 
the  fabric  of  the  world  is  breaking  up."  See  Corderius  in  his  annotations  to 
Ep.  VII.,  in  Mi-ne,  I.  1083,  and  Halloix,  in  Vita  S.  Dion.,  ibid.  II.  698.  The 
exclamation  of  Dionysius  is  sometimes  (even  by  .so  accurate  a  scholar  as  Dr. 
Westcott,  I.  c,  p.  8)  erroneously  traced  to  the  7th  Ep.  of  Dion.,  as  a  response 
to  the  exclamation  of  Apollophanes. 


§  138.  IGNOEANCE  IN  THE  WESTERN  CHUKCH.        601 

sius  as  his  own  utterance ;  but  a  similar  one  is  attributed  by  him 
to  the  sophist  Apollophanes,  his  fellow-student  at  Heliopolis.* 

The  Roman  Breviary  has  given  solemn  sanction,  for  devo- 
tional purposes,  to  several  historical  errors  connected  with 
Dionysius  the  Areopagite:  1)  his  identity  with  the  French  St. 
Denis  of  the  third  century;  2)  his  authorship  of  the  books 
upon  "The  Names  of  God,"  upon  "The  Orders  in  Heaven  and 
in  the  Church,"  upon  "The  Mystic  Theology,"  and  "divers 
others,"  which  cannot  have  been  written  before  the  end  of  the 
fifth  century;  3)  his  witness  of  the  supernatural  eclipse  at  the 
time  of  the  crucifixion,  and  his  exclamation  just  referred  to, 
which  he  himself  ascribes  to  Apollophanes.  The  Breviary  also 
relates  that  Dionysius  was  sent  by  Pope  Clement  of  Rome 
to  Gaul  with  Rusticus,  a  priest,  and  Eleutherius,  a  deacon ; 
that  he  was  tortured  with  fire  upon  a  grating,  and  beheaded 
with  an  axe  on  the  9th  day  of  October  in  Domitian's  reign, 
being  over  a  hundred  years  old,  but  that  "after  his  head  was 
cut  off,  he  took  it  in  his  hands  and  walked  two  hundred  paces, 
carrying  it  all  the  while  ! "  * 

§  138.  Prevailing  Ignorance  in  the  Western  Church. 

The  ancient  Roman  civilization  began  to  decline  soon  after 
the  reign  of  the  Anton ines,  and  was  overthrown  at  last  by  the 
Northern  barbarians.  The  treasures  of  literature  and  art  were 
buried,  and  a  dark  night  settled  over  Europe.  The  fev^^  scho- 
lars felt  isolated  and  sad.  Gregory  of  Tours  (540-594)  com- 
plains, in  the  Preface  to  his  Church  History  of  the  Franks, 

^  In  Ep.  VII.  2,  where  Dionysius  asks  Polycarp  to  silence  the  objections  of 
Apollophanes  to  Christianity  and  to  remind  him  of  that  incident  when  he 
exclaimed:  ravra,  u  Ka?.e  Arnvvcis,  -^eiuv  auoi^al  Tvpayfiaruv,  " Istce,  o  prceclare 
Dionysi,  divinarum  sunt  vicissitudines  rerum.''  The  same  incident  is  alluded  to 
in  the  spurious  eleventh  letter  addressed  to  Apollophanes  himself.  So  Suidas 
also  gives  the  exclamation  of  Apollophanes,  sub  verba  Aiov. 

'  Br€v.  Bom.  for  Oct.  9,  in  the  English  ed.  of  the  Marquess  of  Bute,  vol.  II. 
1311.  Even  Alban  Butler,  in  his  Lives  of  the  Sai7its  (Oct.  9),  rejects  the  fable 
of  the  identity  of  the  two  Dionysii. 


602  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

that  the  study  of  letters  had  nearly  perished  from  Gaul,  and 
that  no  man  could  be  found  who  was  able  to  commit  to  writing 
the  events  of  the  times.^ 

"Middle  Ages"  and  "Dark  Ages"  have  become  synonymous 
terms.  The  tenth  century  is  emjjhatically  called  the  iron  age, 
or  the  scecidum  obscurum?  The  seventh  and  eighth  were  no  bet- 
ter.^ Corruption  of  morals  went  hand  in  hand  with  ignorance. 
It  is  reported  that  when  the  papacy  had  sunk  to  the  lowest 
depth  of  degradation,  there  was  scarcely  a  person  in  Rome  who 
knew  the  first  elements  of  letters.  We  hear  complaints  of 
priests  who  did  not  know  even  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the 
Creed.  If  we  judge  by  the  number  of  works,  the  seventh, 
eighth  and  tenth  centuries  were  the  least  productive;  the  ninth 
was  the  most  productive;  there  was  a  slight  increase  of  pro- 
ductiveness in  the  eleventh  over  the  tenth,  a  much  greater  one 
in  the  twelfth,  but  again  a  decline  in  the  thirteenth  century.* 

'  In  Migne's  ed.,  Tom.  LXXIX.  159. 

'■'  According  to  the  terminology  of  Cave  and  others,  the  7th  century  is  called 
Scpculum  Monoiheleticum ;  the  eighth,  S.  Eiconoclasticum ;  the  ninth,  S.  Photia- 
num;  the  eleventh,  S.  Hildebrandinum ;  the  twelfth,  aS^.  Waldense ;  the  thir- 
teenth, S.  Scholasiicum;  the  fourteenth,  S.  Wicklevianum ;  the  fifteenth,  S. 
Synodale;  the  sixteenth,  iS".  Reformationis-  All  one-sided  or  wrong  except 
the  last.     Historical  periods  do  not  run  parallel  with  centuries. 

'  Hallam  (Lit.  of  Europe,  etc.,  ch.  1,  §  10)  puts  the  seventh  and  eighth  cen- 
turies far  beneatii  the  tenth  as  to  illuniinalion  in  France,  and  quotes  Meiners 
who  makes  the  same  assertion  in  regard  to  Germany.  Guizot  dates  French 
civilization  from  the  tenth  century;  but  it  began  rather  with  Charlemagne  in 
the  eighth. 

*  In  Migne's  Patrologia  Latina  the  number  of  volumes  which  contain  the 
works  of  Latin  writers,  is  as  follows: 

Writers  of  the  seventh  century,  Tom.  80-88 8  vols. 

"       "     "    eighth         "  "      89-96 7      '•' 

"       "     "    ninth  "  "      97-130 33    " 

"     "    tenth  "  "      131-138 7      " 

"       "     "    eleventh      "  "      139-151 12    " 

"       "     "    twelfth        "  "      152-191 39    " 

"       "     "    thirteenth  "  "      192-217 25    " 

None  of  these  centuries   comes  up  to  the  Nicene  and  post-Nicene  ages. 
Migne  gives  to  Augustine  alone  12,  and  to  Jerome  11  volumes,  and  both  of 


§  138.  IGNORANCE  IN  THE  WESTERN  CHURCH.        603 

But  we  must  not  be  misled  by  isolated  facts  iuto  sweeping 
generalities.  For  England  and  Germany  the  tenth  century  was 
in  advance  of  the  ninth.  In  France  the  eighth  and  ninth  cen- 
turies produced  the  seeds  of  a  new  culture  which  were  indeed 
covered  by  winter  frosts,  but  not  destroyed,  and  which  bore 
abundant  fruit  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth. 

Secular  and  sacred  learning  was  confined  to  the  clergy  and 
the  monks.  The  great  mass  of  the  laity,  including  the  nobility, 
could  neither  read  nor  write,  and  most  contracts  were  signed 
with  the  mark  of  the  cross.  Even  the  Emperor  Charlemagne 
wrote  only  with  difficulty.  The  people  depended  for  their 
limited  knowledge  on  the  teaching  of  a  poorly  educated  priest- 
hood. But  several  emperors  and  kings,  especially  Charlemagne 
and  Alfred,  were  liberal  patrons  of  learning  and  even  contribu- 
tors to  literature. 

SCARCITY  OF   LIBRARIES. 

One  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  prevailing  ignorance  was  the 
scarcity  of  books.  The  old  libraries  were  destroyed  by  ruthless 
barbarians  and  the  ravages  of  war.  After  the  conquest  of 
Alexandria  by  the  Saracens,  the  cultivation  and  exportation  of 
Egyptian  papyrus  ceased,  and  parchment  or  vellum,  which  took 
its  place,  was  so  expensive  that  complete  copies  of  the  Bible 
cost  as  much  as  a  palace  or  a  farm.  King  Alfred  paid  eight 
acres  of  land  for  one  volume  of  a  cosmography.  Hence  the 
custom  of  chaining  valuable  books,  which  continued  even  to 
the  sixteenth  century.  Hence  also  the  custom  of  erasing  the 
original  text  of  manuscripts  of  classical  works,  to  give  place  to 
worthless  monkish  legends  and  ascetic  homilies.  Even  the 
Bible  was  sometimes  submitted  to  this  process,  and  thus  "the 
word  of  God  was  made  void  by  the  traditions  of  men."^ 

these  were  no  compilers,  but  original  writers.  The  contrast  between  the  liter- 
ary poverty  of  the  middle  ages  and  the  exuberant  riches  of  the  sixteenth  or 
nineteenth  century  is  Ptill  greater ;  but  of  course  the  invention  of  the  art  of 
printing  and  all  the  modern  facilities  of  education  must  be  taken  into  account. 
*  One  of  the  most  important  uncial  manuscripts  of  the  Scriptures,  the  Codex 


604  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

The  libraries  of  conventual  and  cathedral  schools  were  often 
limited  to  half  a  dozen  or  a  dozen  volumes,  such  as  a  Latin 
Bible  or  portions  of  it,  the  liturgical  books,  some  works  of  St. 
Augustin  and  St.  Gregory,  Cassiodorus  and  Boethius,  the  gram- 
mars of  Donatus  and  Priscianus,  the  poems  of  Virgil  and 
Horace.  Most  of  the  books  had  to  be  imported  from  Italy, 
especially  from  Rome. 

The  introduction  of  cotton  paper  in  the  tenth  or  eleventh 
century,  and  of  linen  paper  in  the  twelfth,  facilitated  the  mul- 
tiplication of  books.^ 

§  139.  Educational  Efforts  of  the  Church. 

The  mediaeval  church  is  often  unjustly  charged  with  hostility 
to  secular  learning.  Pope  Gregory  I.  is  made  responsible  for 
the  destruction  of  the  Bibliotheca  Palatiua  and  the  classical 
statues  in  Rome.  But  this  rests  on  an  unreliable  tradition  of 
very  late  date.^  Gregory  was  himself,  next  to  Isidore  of  Seville 
(on  whom  he  conferred  the  pall,  in  599),  the  best  scholar  and 
most  popular  writer  of  his  age,  and  is  lauded  by  his  biographers 
and  Gregory  of  Tours  as  a  patron  of  learning.  If  he  made 
some  disparaging  remarks  about  Latin  grammar  and  syntax,  in 
two  letters  addressed  to  bishops,  they  must  be  understood  as  a 
protest  against  an  over-estimate  of  these  lower  studies  and  of 

Ephrsem  (C),  is  a  palimpsest  (codex  reseriptus),  but  the  original  text  can  with 
difficulty  be  deciphered,  and  has  been  published  by  Tischendorf  (Lipsise, 
1843).  See  Sciiaff's  Companion  to  the  Greek  Testament,  p.  120  sq.,  and  Gre- 
gory's Prolegomena  to  Tischendorf's  eighth  critical  ed.  of  the  Gr.  Test.  (Leip- 
zig, 1884),  I.  366  sq. 

>  The  oldest  manuscript  on  cotton  paper  in  the  British  Museum  is  dated 
1049  ;  the  oldest  in  the  National  Library  of  Paris,  1050.  The  oldest  dated 
specimen  of  linen  paper  is  said  to  be  a  treaty  of  peace  between  the  kings  of 
Aragon  and  Castile  of  1177. 

"^  The  testimony  of  John  of  Salisbury  in  the  twelfth  century  (c.  1172)  is  more 
than  neutralized  by  opposite  contemporary  testimonies,  and  is  justly  rejected 
by  Bayle  (Diction.),  Heeren  (I.  66),  Gregorovius,  Neander  (III.  150  sq.),  Baur 
(Dogmengesch.  II.  4),  and  Ebert  (I.  525).  Gieseler  (I.  490  sq.)  speaks  of  "the 
monkish  contempt  of  Gregory  for  the  liberal  sciences;"  but  he  adds  that  "the 
later  traditions  of  his  hostility  to  all  literature  are  not  to  be  fully  believed." 


i  139.  EDUCATIONAL  EFFOETS  OF  THE  CHURCH.      605 

heathen  writers,  as  compared  with  higher  episcopal  duties,  and 
with  that  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  Bible  which  he  car- 
ried to  arbitrary  excess  in  his  own  exposition  of  Job.  in  the 
Commentary  on  Kings  ascribed  to  him,  he  commends  the 
study  of  the  liberal  arts  as  a  useful  and  necessary  means  for 
the  proper  understanding  of  the  Scriptures,  and  refers  in  sup- 
port to  the  examples  of  Moses,  Isaiah,  and  St.  Paul.  We 
may  say  then  that  he  was  an  advocate  of  learning  and  art,  but 
in  subordination  and  subserviency  to  the  interests  of  the  Ca- 
tholic church.     This  has  been  the  attitude  of  the  papal  chair 


ever  since. 


'er  since.  .         , 

The  preservation  and  study  of  ancient  literature  during  he 
entire  medieval  period  are  due  chiefly  to  the  clergy  and  monks 
and  a  few  secular  rulers.     The  convents  were  the  nurseries  of 

manuscripts.  , 

The  connection  with  classical  antiquity  was  never  entirely 
broken  Boethius  (beheaded  at  Pavia,  c.  525),  and  Cassio- 
DORUS  (who  retired  to  the  monastery  of  Viviers,  and  died  there 
about  570),  both  statesmen  under  Theodoric,  the  Ostrogothic 
king  of  Italy,  form  the  connecting  links  between  ancient  and 
medieval  learning.  They  were  the  last  of  the  old  Romans ; 
they  dipped  the  pen  of  Cicero  and  Seneca  in  barbaric  ink,  and 
stimuJed  the  rising  energies  of  the  Romanic  and  Germanic 
nations:  Boethius  by  his  "  Consolation  of  Philosophy     (written 

I  Ep.  ad  Leandrura,  prefixed  to  his  Expos,  of  Job.  and  Ep.  ad  Besiderium, 
XI.  54(Oj3em,  ed.  Migne,  HI.  1171).  .,      •  •. 

^  The  author  of  this  commentary  represents  it  as  a  device  of  the  evil  spm 
to  dissuade  Christians  from  liberal  studies,  "ut  et  secularra  nesaant  et  ad  sub 
Hmitatem  spiritualium  non  pertingant." 

3  The  Vatican  library,  which  can  be  traced  back  to  Pope  Nicolas  V    is  per^ 

haps  the  most  valuable  in  the  world  ^"^ --"-"P^^  ^^^'f  ^.^^r'nhrm^^^^^^ 
Greek  Bible)  and  important  ecclesiastical  documents,  but  also  one  of  the  most 
f;accesle;o  outsiders.     The  present  Pope  Leo  XHL  has  libera^i^^^^^^^^^^ 
management,  but  under  the  exclusive  direction  of  cardinals  and  in  the 
reslof  the  Roman  church  (1883). 

4  -Boetius  barbara  verba  mismU  Lalinis."     Opera,  ed.  Migne,  II.  578. 


606  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

in  prison)/  Cassiodorus  by  his  encyclopaedic  "Institutes  of  Divine 
Letters/'  a  brief  introduction  to  the  profitable  study  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures."  The  former  looked  back  to  Greek  philosophy ;  the 
latter  looked  forward  to  Christian  theology.  The  influence  of 
their  writings  was  enhanced  by  the  scarcity  of  books  beyond 
their  intrinsic  merits. 

Boethius  has  had  the  singular  fortune  of  enjoying  the  reputa- 
tion of  a  saint  and  martyr  who  w'as  put  to  death,  not  for  alleged 
political  treason,  but  for  defending  orthodoxy  against  the  Arian- 
ism  of  Theodoric.  He  is  assigned  by  Dante  to  the  fourth  heaven 
in  company  with  Albertus  Magnus,  Thomas  Aquinas,  Gratian, 
Peter  the  Lombard,  Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  and  other  great 
teachers  of  the  church : 

''The  saintly  soul  that  maketh  manifest 

The  world's  deceitfulness  to  all  who  hear  well, 
Is  feasting  on  the  sight  of  every  good. 
The  body,  whence  it  was  expelled,  is  lying 
Down  in  Cieldauro,  and  from  martyrdom 
And  exile  rose  the  soul  to  such  a  peace."' 

1  De  Consolatione  Philosophice  Libri  V.,  first  printed,  Venice,  1497 ;  best  ed. 
by  Theod.  Obbariiis,  Jenee,  1843,  in  Migne's  ed.,  I.  578-862.  Boethius  trans- 
lated also  works  of  Aristotle,  and  wrote  books  on  arithmetic,  geometry,  rheto- 
ric, and  music;  but  the  theological  works  which  bear  his  name,  De  sancta 
Trinitate,  De  duabus  naturis  et  una  persona  Christi,  Fidei  Confessio  seu  Brevis 
Institutio  religionis  Christiance,  based  upon  the  Aristotelian  categories  and  drawn 
in  great  part  from  St.  Augustin,  are  not  mentioned  before  Alcuin  and  Hinc- 
mar,  three  centuries  after  his  death,  and  are  probably  the  production  of  an- 
other Boethius,  or  of  the  martyr  St.  Severinus,  with  whom  he  was  confounded. 
The  most  complete  edition  of  his  works  is  that  of  Migne  in  two  voIp.  (in  the 
"  Patrol.  Lat.,"  Tom.  63  and  64).  Comp.  Fr.  Nitzsch,  Das  System  des  Boethius 
und  die  ihm  zugeschriebenen  theol.  Schriften  (Berlin,  1860) ;  Dean  Stanley's  arti- 
cle in  Smith's  "  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Biography,"  I.  496;  and 
Jourdain,  De  Vorigine  des  traditions  sur  le  christianisme  de  Boece,  Paris,  1861. 

^  De  Tnstitufione  Divinarum  Literarum,  in  33  clips.,  in  Migne,  Tom.  70,  col. 
1106-1150.  Cassiodorus  wrote  also  a  work  on  the  Liberal  Arts,  twelve  books 
of  Varieties  (letters,  edicts,  and  rescripts),  a  Tripartite  Ghurch-HiMory  from 
Constantine  to  his  time  (an  epitome  of  Sozomen,  Socrates,  Theodoret),  and 
commentaries.  Best  edition  is  that  of  Migne,  "Patrol.  Lat."  in  2  vols.  (vols. 
69  and  70.)     He  will  be  more  fully  discussed  in  the  next  chapter,  §  153. 

2  Paradiao,  X.  125-129.     Cieldauro  or  Cieldoro  is  the  church  San  Pietro  in 


§  139.  EDUCATIONAL  EFFORTS  OF  THE  CHURCH.      607 

And  yet  it  is  doubtful  whether  Boethius  was  a  Christian  at  all. 
He  was  indeed  intimate  with  Cassiodorus  and  lived  in  a  Christian 
atmosphere,  which  accounts  for  the  moral  elevation  of  his  philo- 
sophy. But,  if  we  except  a  few  Christian  phrases,^  his  "  Con- 
solation" might  almost  have  been  written  by  a  noble  heathen 
of  the  school  of  Plato  or  Seneca.  It  is  an  echo  of  Greek  philo- 
sophy; it  takes  an  optimistic  view  of  life;  it  breathes  a  beauti- 
ful spirit  of  resignation  and  hope,  and  derives  comfort  from  a 
firm  belief  in  God,  in  an  all-ruling  providence,  and  in  prayer, 
but  is  totally  silent  about  Christ  and  his  gospel.'^  It  is  a  dia- 
logue partly  in  prose  and  partly  in  verse  between  the  'author 
and  philosophy  in  the  garb  of  a  dignified  woman  (who  acts  as 
his  celestial  guide,  like  Dante's  Beatrice).  The  work  enjoyed 
an  extraordinary  popularity  throughout  the  middle  ages,  and 
was  translated  into  several  languages,  Greek,  Old  High  Ger- 
man (by  Notker  of  St.  Gall),  Anglo-Saxon  (by  King  Alfred), 
Norman  English  (by  Chaucer),  French  (by  Meun),  and  He- 
brew (by  Ben  Banshet).  Gibbon  admires  it  all  the  more 
for  its  ignoring  Christianity,  and  calls  it  "a  golden  volume 
not  unworthy  of  the  leisure  of  Plato  or  Tully,  but  which  claims 
incomparable  merit  from  the  barbarism  of  the  times  and  the 
situation  of  the  author.  The  celestial  guide  whom  he  had  so 
long  invoked  at  Rome  and  Athens,  now  condescended  to  illu- 
mine his  dungeon,  to  revive  his  courage,  and  to  pour  into  his 
wounds  her  salutary  balm.  . . .  From  the  earth  Boethius  ascended 
to  heaven  in  search  of  the  Supreme  Good  ;  explored  the  meta- 
physical labyrinth  of  chance  and  destiny,  of  prescience  and  free- 
will, of  time  and  eternity;  and  generously  attempted  to  recon- 

Ciel  d'oro  at  Pavia,  where  Liutprand,  King  of  the  Lombards,  erected  a  monu- 
ment to  Boethius,  about  726.  So  says  Karl  Witte,  in  Dante  AlUghierts  GoUliche 
Komodie  (1865),  p.  676. 

1  As  angelica  virtua,  coceternus.  purgatoria,  dementia. 

'  Some  suppose  that  he  reserved  this  for  a  sixth  book  which  he  was  pre- 
vented from  writing;  others  read  Cl)rii=tianity  into  the  work  by  allegorical 
interpretation,  or  supplement  it  by  theological  works  falsely  ascribed  to  him. 


608  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

cile  the  perfect  attributes  of  Deity  with  the  apparent  disorders 
of  his  moral  and  physical  government."  ^ 

GREEK   AND    HEBREW   LEARNING. 

The  original  languages  of  the  Scriptures  were  little  under- 
stood in  the  West.  The  Latin  took  the  place  of  the  Greek  as 
a  literary  and  sacred  language,  and  formed  a  bond  of  union 
among  scholars  of  diiferent  nationalities.  As  a  spoken  language 
it  rapidly  degenerated  under  the  influx  of  barbaric  dialects,  but 
gave  birth  in  the  course  of  time  to  the  musical  Romanic  lan- 
guages of  Southern  Europe. 

The  Hebrew,  which  very  few  of  the  fathers  (Origen  and 
Jerome)  had  understood,  continued  to  live  in  the  Synagogue, 
and  among  eminent  Jewish  grammarians  and  commentators  of 
the  Old  Testament;  but  it  was  not  revived  in  the  Christian 
Church  till  shortly  before  the  Reformation.  Very  few  of  the 
divines  of  our  period  (Isidore,  and,  perhaps,  Scotus  Erigena) 
show  any  trace  of  Hebrew  learning. 

The  Greek,  which  had  been  used  almost  exclusively,  even  by 
writers  of  the  Western  church,  till  the  time  of  Tertullian  and 
Cyprian,  gave  way  to  the  Latin.  Hence  the  great  majority  of 
Western  divines  could  not  read  even  the  New  Testament  in  the 

1  Decline  and  Fall,  Ch.  39  (vol.  IV.  138).  Ebert  (Gesch.  der  christl.  lat.  Lit. 
I.  472)  assumes  a  partial  influence  of  Christianity  upon  this  work.  " Boetius," 
he  says,  "war  nur  ein  Namenehrist,  aber  dock  immerhin  ein  solcher;  die  erste 
christliche  Erziehung  war  keineswegs  spurlos  an  ihm  voriibergegangen-  Sein  Werk 
ruht  zwar  seinem  ganzen  Gehalt  nach  aiif  der  heidnisch-anliken  Fhilomphie,  haupt- 
sdchlich  dem  Plafonismus,  und,  zwar  in  der  neiiplatonischen  Form,  wie  schon  eine 
sehr  fliichdge  Kenntniss  desselben  alsbald  zeigt,  und  in  alien  Einzelheiten,  freilich 
nicht  ohne  einige  Ueberireibung,  von  Nitzsch  nachgewiesen  warden  ist ;  aber  das 
Werk  erhdlt  nicht  bloss  durch  das  starke  Hervortreten  stoischromischer  Ethik  einen 
christlichen  Anachein.  sondern  diese  nimmt  hier  auch  mitunler  in  der  That  eine 
specifisch  christliche  Fdrbung  an,  wie  es  denn  selbst  auch  an  Reminiscenzen  aus  der 
Bibel  nicht  ganAfehlt.  Hochst  merkwiirdig  ist,  wie  in  diesem  Werke  des  letzten  der 
romischen  PhilAophen,  wie  Zeller  ihn  mit  Recht  nennt,  diese  verschiedenen,  zum 
Theil  ganz  heterogenen  Elemente  sich  dvrchdringen  zu  einer  doch  einigen  Gesammt- 
wirkung  in  Folge  des  sitllichen  Moments,  worin  seine,  wie  iiberhaupt  des  romischen 
Eklekticismus  Starke  beruht." 


§  139.  EDUCATIONAL  EFFOETS  OF  THE  CHURCH.      COO 

original.  Pope  Gregory  did  not  know  Greek,  although  he 
lived  several  years  as  papal  ambassador  in  Constantinople.  The 
same  is  true  of  most  of  the  schoolmen  down  to  the  sixteenth 
century. 

But  there  were  not  a  few  honorable  exceptions.*  The  Mono- 
theletic  and  Iconoclastic  controversies  brought  the  Greek  and 
the  Latin  churches  into  lively  contact.  The  conflict  between 
Photius  and  Nicolas  stimulated  Latin  divines  to  self-defence. 

As  to  Italy,  the  Greek  continued  to  be  spoken  in  the  Greek 
colonies  in  Calabria  and  Sicily  down  to  the  eleventh  century. 
Boethius  was  familiar  with  the  Greek  philosophers.  Cassiodo- 
rus  often  gives  the  Greek  equivalents  for  Latin  technical  terms.^ 
Several  popes  of  this  period  were  Greeks  by  birth,  as  Theo- 
dore L  (642),  John  VI.  (701),  John  VIL  (705),  Zachary  (741); 
while  others  were  Syrians,  as  John  V.  (685),  Sergius  I.  (687), 
Sisinnius  (708),  Constantine  I.  (708),  Gregory  III.  (731).— 
Zachary  translated  Gregory's  "Dialogues"  from  Latin  into 
Greek.  Pope  Paul  I.  (757—768)  took  pains  to  spread  a  know- 
ledo-e  of  Greek  and  sent  several  Greek  books,  including  a 
o-rammar.  some  works  of  Aristotle,  and  Dionysius  the  Areo- 
pagite,  to  King  Pepin  of  France.  He  provided  Greek  service 
for  several  monks  who  had  been  banished  from  the  East  by 
the  iconoclastic  emperor  Copronymus.  Anastasius,  librarian  of 
the  Vatican,  translated  the  canons  of  the  eighth  general  Coun- 

1  Comp.  Cramer,  De  Greeds  medii  oevi  studiis,  and  the  pamphlet  of  Lumby 
quoted  on  p.  584. 

«  E.  g.  in  De  Artibus,  etc.,  cap.  1  (in  Migne's  ed.  11.  1154)  :  "  Nominis  partes 
sunt: 

Qualitas,  noidTrj^. 

Comparatio,  ohyKpiai^, 

Genus,  yevog. 

Numerus,  api^/i6c. 

Figura,  oxv/aa. 

Casus,  TTTUGig.'* 

In  the  same  work  he  gives  the  divisions  of  philosophy  and  the  categories  of 
Aristotle  in  Greek  and  Latin,  and  uses  such  words  as  ^i9of,  na-^og,  Tvapenliaaig,  ava- 
KEtpaTui'ujGig,  oraaig,  avTEyKTiTjfia,  avriaTaaLQ,  TvpayfiartKri,  an6Sei^cg,  knixEiprjuara,  etc 
39 


610  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

ci]  of  Constantinople  (869)  into  Latin  by  order  of  Pope  Ha- 
drian 11.^ 

Isidore  of  Seville  (d.  636)  mentions  a  learned  Spanish  bishop, 
John  of  Gerona,  who  in  his  youth  had  studied  seven  years  in 
Constantinople.  He  himself  quotes  in  his  "Etymologies"  from 
many  Greek  authors,  and  is  described  as  "  learned  in  Latin, 
Greek,  and  Hebrew." 

Ireland  was  for  a  long  time  in  advance  of  England,  and  sent 
learned  missionaries  to  the  sister  island  as  well  as  to  the  Conti- 
nent. That  Greek  was  not  unknown  there,  is  evident  from 
Scotus  Erigena. 

England  derived  her  knowledge  of  Greek  from  Archbishop 
Theodore,  who  was  a  native  of  Tarsus,  educated  in  Athens 
and  appointed  by  the  pope  to  the  see  of  Canterbury  (A.  D. 
668).^  He  and  his  companion  Hadrian,^  an  Italian  abbot  of 
African  descent,  spread  Greek  learning  among  the  clergy.  Bede 
says  that  some  of  their  disciples  were  living  in  his  day  who 
were  as  well  versed  in  Greek  and  Latin  as  in  their  native 
Saxon.  Among  these  must  be  mentioned  Aldhelm,  bishop 
of  Sherborne,  and  Tobias,  bishop  of  Rochester  (d.  726).*  The 
Venerable  Bede  (d.  735)  gives  evidence  of  Greek  knowledge  in 
his  commentaries/  his  references  to  a  Greek  Codex  of  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  and  especially  in  his  book  on  the  Art  of  Poetry.^ 

In  France,  Greek  began  to  be  studied  under  Charles  the 
Great     Alcuin   (d.  804)  brought  some  knowledge  of  it  from 

1  See  Hefele,  IV.  385  sq. 

2  Bede  (Hist.  Eccl.  IV.  1)  calls  him  "vir  et  sceculari  et  divina  literatura  et 
Grace  instructus  et  Latine."  Pope  Zachary  speaks  of  Theodore  as  "Athenis 
eruditus"  and  "  Gneco-Latinus  philosophus." 

3  William  of  Malmesbury  calls  this  Hadrian  "a  fountain  of  letters  and  a 
river  of  arts.'' 

*  L.  c.  IV.  c.  2,  and  V.  8,  23. 

5  He  quotes  e.  g.  In  Luc.  6 :  2  the  Greek,  for  Sabbatum  secundum  primum 
{devTepdwpuTov).     Opera,  ed.  Migne,  III.  392. 

«  De  Arte  Metrica,  Opera,  1. 150-176.  He  explains  here  the  different  metres 
of  Greek  poetry. 


2  139.  EDUCATIONAL  EFFOETS  OF  THE  CHURCH.      611 

his  native  England,  but  his  references  may  all  have  been  de- 
rived from  Jerome  and  Cassiodorus.'  Paulus  Diaconus  fre- 
quently uses  Greek  words.  Charlemagne  himself  learned  Greek, 
and  the  Libri  CaroUni  show  a  familiarity  with  the  details  of 
the  image-controversy  of  the  Greek  Church.  His  sister  Giesela, 
who  was  abbess  of  Challes  near  Paris,  uses  a  few  Greek  words 
in  Latin  letters,^  in  her  correspondence  with  Alcuin,  though 
these  may  have  been  derived  from  the  Latin. 

The  greatest  Greek  scholar  of  the  ninth  century,  and  of  the 
whole  period  in  the  West  was  John  Scotus  Erigena  (850),  who 
was  of  Irish  birth  and  education,  but  lived  in  France  at  the 
court  of  Charles  the  Bald.  He  displays  his  knowledge  in  his 
Latin  books,  translated  the  pseudo-Dionysian  writings,  and  at- 
tempted original  Greek  composition. 

In  Germany,  Rabanus  Maurus,  Haymo  of  Halberstadt,  and 
Walafrid  Strabo  had  some  knowledge  of  Greek,  but  not  sufficient 
to  be  of  any  material  use  in  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures. 

THE   COURSE   OF  STUDY.^ 

Education  was  carried  on  in  the  cathedral  and  conventual 
schools,  and  these  prepared  the  way  for  the  Universities  which 
began  to  be  founded  in  the  twelfth  century. 

The  course  of  secular  learning  embraced  the  so-called  seven 
liberal  arts,  namely,  grammar,  dialectics  (logic),  rhetoric,  music, 
arithmetic,  geometry,  and  astronomy.  The  first  three  consti- 
tuted the  Trlvium,  the  other  four  the  Quadrivium.'  Seven, 
three,  and   four  were  all  regarded   as  sacred   numbers.     The 

1  Lumby  {I.  c,  p.  15)  mentions  his  allusions  to  Eusebins,  Athanasius,  and 
Chrysostom,  and  a  few  familiar  words,  as  emcKOTzo^,  napapdrng,  and  dvi?pw7rof. 

2  As  paradeigma,  gazophylacia,  paraditus. 

3  Corap.  besides  the  lit.  already  quoted  on  p.  584,  the  following:  Heppe: 
J)as  Schulwesen  des  Mittdalters.  Marburg,  1860.  Kammel:  Mittelallerliches 
Schulwesen,  in  Schmid's  "  Encykl.  des  gesammten  Erziehungs  und  Unter 
richswesens."     Gotha.  Bd.  IV.  (1865),  p.  766-826. 

*  The  division  is  expressed  in  the  memorial  lines: 
"  Orammatica  loquitur,  Dialectka  verba  docet,  Bhetorica  verba  colorat; 
Muma  canit,  Arithmetica  numeral,  Geometria  ponderat,  Astronomia  colit  aztrar 


C12  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

division  is  derived  from  St.  Augustin/  and  was  adopted  by 
Boetbius  and  Cassiodorus.  Tbe  first  and  most  popular  cora- 
pend  of  the  middle  ages  was  tbe  book  of  Cassiodorus,  De  Septem 
DiscipUnis} 

Tbese  studies  were  preparatory  to  sacred  learning,  wbicb  was 
based  upon  tbe  Latin  Bible  and  the  Latin  fathers. 

THE   CHIEF    THEOLOGIANS. 

A  few  divines  embraced  all  the  secular  and  religious  know- 
ledge of  their  age.  In  Spain,  Isidore  of  Seville  (d.  636) 
was  the  most  learned  man  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  and  the  beo^in- 
ning  of  the  seventh  century.  His  twenty  books  of  "  Origins" 
or  "  Etymologies"  embrace  the  entire  contents  of  the  seven 
liberal  arts,  together  with  theology,  jurisprudence,  medicine, 
natural  histoiy,  etc.,  and  show  familiarity  with  Plato,  Aristotle, 
Boetbius,  Demosthenes,  Homer,  Hesiod,  Pindar,  Anacreon, 
Herodotus,  Cicero,  Horace,  Virgil,  Ovid,  Terence,  Juvenal, 
Csesar,  Livy,  Sallust.^  The  Veneeable  Bede  occupied  the 
same  height  of  encyclopaedic  knowledge  a  century  later. 
Alcuin  was  the  leading  divine  of  tbe  Carolingian  age. 
From  his  school  proceeded  Rabanus  Maueus,  the  founder  of 
learning  and  higher  education  in  Germany.^  Scotus  Eeigena 
(d.  about  877)  was  a  marvel  not  only  of  learning,  but  also  of 
independent  thought,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Bald,  and 
showed,  by  prophetic  anticipation,  the  latent  capacity  of  tbe 
Western  church  for  speculative  theology.^     With  Berengar  and 

1  De  Ordine,  II.,  c.  12  sqq.,  in  Migne's  ed.  of  Augnstln,  Tom.  I.  1011  sqq. 
Augustin  connects  poetica  with  musica. 

^Or,  De  Artibns  ae  Disciplinis  Liberalium  Literarum,  in  Migne's  ed.  of  Cas- 
eiodori  Opera,  II.  1150-1218.  It  is  exceedingly  meagre  if  judged  by  the  stan- 
dard of  modern  learning,  but  very  useful  for  the  middle  ages. 

'  "However  we  may  be  disposed  to  treat  the  labors  of  Isidore  with  something 
of  contempt,  it  is  probably  not  possible  to  overrate  the  value  and  usefulness  of 
this  treatise  to  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  and  indeed  for  many  ages  it  was  the 
most  available  handbook  to  which  the  world  had  access."  Smith  &  Wace  III.  308. 
Comp.  below  §  155. 

*  See  below  §  169.  *  Comp.  U  123  and  175. 


§  139.  EDUCATIONAL  EFFORTS  OF  THE  CHURCH.      613 

Lan franc,  in  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  dialectical 
skill  was  applied  in  opposing  and  defending  the  dogma  of  tran- 
substantiation/  The  doctrinal  controversies  about  adoption- 
ism,  predestination,  and  the  real  presence  stimulated  the  study 
of  the  Scriptures  and  of  the  fathers,  and  kept  alive  the  intel- 
lectual activity. 

BIBLICAL   STUDIES. 

The  literature  of  the  Latin  church  embraced  penitential 
books,  homilies,  annals,  translations,  compilations,  polemic  dis- 
cussions, and  commentaries.  The  last  are  the  most. impor- 
tant, but  fall  far  below  the  achievements  of  the  fathers  and 
reformers. 

Exegesis  was  cultivated  in  an  exclusively  practical  and  homi- 
letical  spirit  and  aim  by  Gregory  the  Great,  Isidore,  Bede, 
Alcuin,  Claudius  of  Turin,  Paschasius  Radbertus,  Rabauus  Mau- 
rus,  Haymo,  Walafrid  Strabo,  and  others.  The  Latin  Vulgate 
was  the  text,  and  the  Greek  or  Hebrew  seldom  referred  to. 
Aua:ustin  and  Jerome  were  the  chief  sources.  Charlemagne 
felt  the  need  of  a  revision  of  the  corrupt  text  of  the  Vulgate, 
and  entrusted  Alcuin  with  the  task.  The  theory  of  a  verbal 
inspiration  was  generally  accepted,  and  opposed  only  by  Ago- 
bard  of  Lyons  who  confined  inspiration  to  the  sense  and  the 
arguments,  but  not  to  the  ^'ipsa  corporalia  verba.'' 

The  favorite  mode  of  interpretation  was  the  spiritual,  that 
is,  allegorical  and  mystical.  The  literal,  that  is,  grammatico- 
historical  exegesis  was  neglected.  The  spiritual  interpretation 
was  again  divided  into  three  ramifications  :  the  allegorical 
proper,  the  moral,  and  the  anagogical,^  corresponding  to  the 
three  cardinal  virtues  of  the  Christian  :  the  first  refers  to  faith 
{credenda),  the  second  to  practice  or  charity  {agenda),  the  third 
to  hope  {speranda,-  desideranda).     Thus  Jerusalem  means  lite- 

iSee  ??  128-130. 

*  From  nva-yuyiKSc,  exalting,  lifting  up;  avayuyv,  a  leading  up,  is  used  in 
ecclesiastical  Greek  for  higher,  spiritual  interpretation. 


614  FOURTH  PEEIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

rally  or  historically,  the   city  in   Palestine ;   allegorically,  the 

church  ;  morally,  the  believing  soul ;  anagogically,  the  heavenly 

Jerusalem.     The  fourfold  sense  was  expressed  in  the  memorial 

verse : 

"  Utera  GESTA  docet ;  quid  CRED AS,  Allegoria; 
Moralis,  quid  agas;  quo  tendas,  Anagogia.'" 

NOTES. 

St.  Eucheeius,  bishop  of  Lyons,  who  was  first  (like  Cyprian,  and 
Ambrose)  a  distinguished  layman,  and  father  of  four  children,  before  he 
became  a  monk,  and  then  a  bishop,  wrote  in  the  middle  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury (he  died  c.  450)  a  brief  manual  of  mediaeval  hermeneutics  under 
the  title  Liber  Formularum  Spiritalis  Intelligentice  (Rom.,  1564,  etc.,  in 
Migne's  "  Patrol."  Tom.  50,  col.  727-772).  This  work  is  often  quoted  by 
Bede  and  is  sometimes  erroneously  ascribed  to  him.  Eucherius  shows 
an  extensive  knowledge  of  the  Bible  and  a  devout  spirit.  He  anticipates 
many  favorite  interpretations  of  mediaeval  commentators  and  mystics. 
He  vindicates  the  allegorical  method  from  the  Scripture  itself,  and  from 
its  use  of  anthropomorphic  and  anthropopathic  expressions  which  can  not 
be  understood  literally.  Yet  he  allows  the  literal  sense  its  proper  place 
in  history  as  well  as  the  moral  and  mystical.  He  identifies  the  Finger 
of  God  {Digitus  Dei)  with  the  Spirit  of  God  (cap.  2 ;  comp.  Luke  11 :  20 
with  Matt.  12  :  28),  and  explains  the  several  meanings  of  Jerusalem 
{ecclesia,  vel  anima,  cap.  10),  ark  {caro  Dominica,  corda  sanctorum  Deo 
plena,  ecclesia  intra  quam  salvanda  clauduntur),  Babylon  {inundus,  Roma, 
inimici),  fures  {hceretici  et pseudoprophetce,  gentes,  vitia),  chirographum,  pac- 
tum, prceputium,  circum,cisio,  etc.  In  the  last  chapter  he  treats  of  the  sym- 
bolical significance  of  numbers,  as  l=Divine  Unity ;  2=the  two  cove- 
nants, the  two  chief  commandments ;  3=the  trinity  in  heaven  and  on 
earth  (he  quotes  the  spurious  passage  1  John  5:7);  4=the  four  Gospels, 
the  four  rivers  of  Paradise ;  5=the  five  books  of  Moses,  five  loaves,  five 
wounds  of  Chnist  (John  20  :  25) ;  6=the  days  of  creation,  the  ages  of 
the  world  ;  7=the  day  of  rest,  of  perfection  ;  8==the  day  of  resurrection  ; 
10=the  Decalogue ;  12=the  Apostles,  the  universal  multitude  of  be- 
lievers, etc. 

The  theory  of  the  fourfold  interpretation  was  more  fiiUy  developed  by 
Rabanus  Maurus  (776-856),  in  his  curious  book,  Allegoria;  in  Univer- 
sam  Sacram  Scripturam  [Opera,  ed.  Migne,  Tom.  VI.  col. 849-1088).  He 
calls  the  four  senses  the  four  daughtersof  wisdom,  by  whom  she  nourishes 
her  children,  giving  to  beginners  drink  in  lacte  historiee,  to  the  believers 
food  in  pane  allegorice,  to  those  engaged  in  good  works  encouragement  in 
refectione  tropologies,  to   those  longing  for  heavenly  rest  delight  in  vino 


i  140.  PATEONAGE  OF  LETTERS  BY  CHARLEMAGNE.  615 

anagogioB.  He  also  gives  the  following  definition  at  the  beginning  of  the 
treatise  :  "  Historia  ad  aptam  rerum  gestarum  narrationem  pertinet,  quos 
et  in  superjicie  Utterce  continetur,  et  sic  intelligitur  sicut  legitur.  Allegoria 
vero  aliquid  in  se  plus  continet,  quod  per  hoc  quod  locus  [loquens^  de  rei 
veritate  ad  quiddam  dat  intelligendum  de  Jidei  puritate,  ei  sancice  JEcclesice 
mysferia,  sive  proesentia,  sive  futura,  aliud  dicens,  aliud  significans,  semper 
autern  figmentis  et  velatia  ostendit.  Tropoloqia  quoque  et  ipsa,  sicut  allego- 
ria, in  figuraiis,  sivedictis,  sivefactis,  constat:  sed  in  hoc  ah  allegoria  distat 
quod  ALLEGORIA  quidem  fideni,  tropologia  vero  cedificat  moralitem. 
Anagogia  autem,  sive  velatis,  sive  apertis  dictis,  de  ceternis  supernce  patrice 
gaudiis  constat,  et  quae  merces  vel  fidem  rectam,  vel  vitam  maneat  sanctam, 
verbis  vel  opertis,  vel  apertis  demonstrat.  Historia  namque  perfectorum 
exempla  quos  narrat,  legentem  ad  imitationem  sanctitatis  excitat,  allegoria 
in  fidei  revelatione  ad  cognitionem  veritatis;  tropologia  in  instructione 
■morum  ad  amorem  virtutis ;  anagogia  in  manifestatione  sempiternorum 
gaudlorum  ad  desiderium  ceternce  felicitatis.  In  nostrce  ergo  anhnce  domo 
HISTORIA  fundamentum  po?iit  /  AL,l,egoria  parietes  erigit ;  anagogia  tec- 
tum  supponit ;  TROPOLOGIA  vero  tarn  interius  per  affectum  quam  exterius 
per  effectum  honi  operis,  variis  ornatibus  depingit." 

§  140.  Patronage  of  Letters  by  Charles  the  Cheat,  and  Charles 

the  Bald. 
Comp.  U  56,  90,  134  (pp.  236,  390,  584). 

Charlemagne  stands  out  like  a  far-shining  beacon-light  in  the 
darkness  of  his  age.  He  is  the  founder  of  a  new  era  of  learn- 
ing, as  well  as  of  a  new  empire.  He  is  the  pioneer  of  French 
and  German  civilization.  Great  in  war,  he  M^as  greater  still  as 
a  legislator  and  promoter  of  the  arts  of  peace.  He  clearly  saw 
that  religion  and  education  are  the  only  solid  and  permanent 
basis  of  a  state.  In  this  respect  he  rose  far  above  Alexander 
the  Great  and  Caesar,  and  is  unsurpassed  by  Christian  rulers. 

He  invited  the  best  scholars  from  Italy  and  England  to  his 
court, — Peter  of  Pisa,  Paul  Warnefrid,  Paulinus  of  Aquileia, 
Theodulph  of  Orleans,  Alcuin  of  York.*  They  formed  a  sort  of 
royal  academy  of  sciences  and  arts,  and  held  literary  symposiacs. 
Each  member  bore  a  nom  de  'plume  borrowed  from  the  Bible  or 
classic  lore:    the   king  presided  as  "David"  or  "Solomon"; 

1  *'  Toutes  les  provinces  de  I  'Occident,"  says  Ozanam,  "  coneoururent  au  gravd 
ouvrage  des  ecoles  carlovingiennes." 


1516  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Alcuin,  a  great  admirer  of  Horace  and  Virgil,  was  "  Flaccus  "  ; 
Ano-ilbert  (his  son-in-law)  was  "Homerus";  Einhard  (his  biog- 
rapher), "  Bezaleel,"  after  the  skilful  artificer  of  the  Tabernacle 
(Ex.  31 :  2  );  Wizo,  "  Candidas  " ;  Arno,  "Aquila  ";  Fredcgisus, 
"  Nathanael  "  ;  Richbod,  "  Macarius,"  etc.  Even  ladies  were 
not  excluded :  the  emperor's  sister,  Gisela,  under  the  name 
"  Lucia "  ;  his  learned  cousin,  Gundrad,  as  "  Eulalia  ;  "  his 
daughter,  Rotrude,  as  "  Columba."  He  called  Alcuin,  whom 
he  first  met  in  Italy  (781),  his  own  "  beloved  teacher,"  and  he 
was  himself  his  most  docile  pupil.  He  had  an  msatiable  thirst 
for  knowledge,  and  put  all  sorts  of  questions  to  him  in  his  let- 
ters, even  on  the  most  difficult  problems  of  theology.  He 
learned  in  the  years  of  his  manhood  the  art  of  writing,  the  Latin 
grammar,  a  little  Greek  (that  he  might  compare  the  Latin  Tes- 
tament with  the  original),  and  acquired  some  knowledge  of  rhe- 
toric, dialectics,  mathematics  and  astronomy.  He  delighted  in 
reading  the  poets  and  historians  of  ancient  Rome,  and  Augustin's 
"  City  of  God."  He  longed  for  a  dozen  Jeromes  and  Augustins, 
but  Alcuin  told  him  to  be  content  since  the  Creator  of  heaven 
and  earth  had  been  pleased  to  give  to  the  world  only  two  such 
giants.  He  had  some  share  in  the  composition  of  the  Libri 
CaroUni,  which  raised  an  enlightened  protest  against  the  super- 
stition of  image-worship.  Poems  are  also  attributed  to  him  or 
to  his  inspiration.  He  ordered  Paul  Warnefrid  (Paulus  Diaco- 
nus)  to  prepare  a  collection  of  the  best  homilies  of  the  Latin 
fathers  for  the  use  of  the  churches,  and  published  it  with  a 
preface  in  which  he  admonished  the  clergy  to  a  diligent  study  of 
the  Scriptures.  Several  Synods  held  during  his  reign  (813)  at 
Rheims,  Tours,  Chalons,  Mainz,  ordered  the  clergy  to  keep  a 
Homiliarium  and  to  translate  the  Latin  sermons  clearly  into 
rustieam  Romanam  llnguam  aut  Theotiscam,  so  that  all  might 
understand  them. 

Charles  aimed  at  the  higher  education  not  only  of  the  clergy, 
but  also  of  the  higher  nobility  and  state  officials.     His  sons  and 


g  140.  PATRONAGE  OF  LETTERS  BY  CHARLEMAGNE.     617 

daughters  were  well  informed.  He  issued  a  circular  letter  to  all 
the  bishops  and  abbots  of  his  empire  (787),  urging  them  to 
establish  schools  in  connection  with  cathedrals  and  convents. 
At  a  later  period  he  rose  even  to  the  grand  but  premature  scheme 
of  popular  education,  and  required  in  a  capitulary  (802)  that 
every  parent  should  send  his  sons  to  school  that  they  might 
learn  to  read.  Theodulph  of  Orleans  (who  died  821)  directed 
the  priests  of  his  diocese  to  hold  school  in  every  town  and  vil- 
lage/ to  receive  the  pupils  with  kindness,  and  not  to  ask  pay, 
but  to  receive  only  voluntary  gifts. 

The  emperor  founded  the  Court  or  Palace  School' (Schola 
Palatina)  for  higher  education  and  placed  it  under  the  direction 
of  Alcuin.^  It  was  an  imitation  of  the  Pcedagogium  ingenuorum 
of  the  Roman  emperors.  It  followed  him  in  his  changing  resi- 
dence to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Worms,  Frankfurt,  ISIainz,  Kegeus- 
burg,  Ingelheim,  Paris.  It  was  not  the  beginning  of  the  Paris 
University,  which  is  of  much  later  date,  but  the  chief  nursery 
of  educated  clergymen,  noblemen  and  statesmen  of  that  age.  It 
embraced  in  its  course  of  study  all  the  branches  of  secular  and 
sacred  learning."  It  became  the  model  of  similar  schools,  old 
and  new,  at  Tours,  Lyons,  Orleans,  E-heims,  Chartres,  Troyes, 
Old  Corbey  and  New  Corbey,  Metz,  St.  Gall,  Utrecht,  Liittich.'' 

The  rich  literature  of  the  Carolingian  age  shows  the  fruits  of 
this  imperial  patronage  and  example.  It  was,  however,  a  for- 
eign rather  than  a  native  product.  It  was  neither  French  nor 
German,  but  essentially  Latin,  and  so  far  artificial.  Nor  could 
it  be  otherwise  ;  for  the  Latin  classics,  the  Latin  Bible,  and  the 
Latin  fathers  were  the  only  accessible  sources  of  learning,  and 

^  "per  villas  et  vicos." 

''■  A  similar  school  had  existed  before  under  the  Merovingians,  but  did  not 
accomplish  much. 

"  Comp.  Oebeke,  De,  academia  Caroli  M.  Aachen,  1847.  Philips,  Karl  der 
Gr.  im  Kreise  der  Gelehrten.     Wien,  1856. 

*The  Histoire  litteraire  de  France,  Tom.  III.,  enumerates  about  twenty  epis- 
copal schools  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Franks. 


618  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

the  French  and  German  languages  were  not  yet  organs  of  liter- 
ature. This  fact  explains  the  spfeedy  decay,  as  well  as  the  sub- 
sequent revival  in  close  connection  with  the  Roman  church. 

The  creations  of  Charlemagne  were  threatened  with  utter 
destruction  during  the  civil  wars  of  his  weak  successors.  But 
Charles  the  Bald,  a  son  of  Louis  the  Pious,  and  king  of  France 
(843-877),  followed  his  grandfather  in  zeal  for  learning,  and 
ffave  new  lustre  to  the  Palace  School  at  Paris  under  the  direction 
of  John  Scotus  Erigena,  whom  he  was  liberal  enough  to  protect, 
notwithstanding  his  eccentricities.  The  predestinarian  contro- 
versy, and  the  first  eucharistic  controversy  took  place  during  his 
reign,  and  called  forth  a  great  deal  of  intellectual  activity  and 
learning,  as  shown  in  the  writings  of  Rabanus  Maurus, 
Hincraar,  Remigius,  Prudentius,  Servatus  Lupus,  John  Scotus 
Erigena,  Paschasius  Radbertus,  and  Ratraranus.  We  find 
among  these  writers  the  three  tendencies,  conservative,  liberal, 
and  speculative  or  mystic,  which  usually  characterize  periods  of 
intellectual  energy  and  literary  productivity. 

After  the  death  of  Charles  the  Bald  a  darker  night  of  igno- 
rance and  barbarism  settled  on  Europe  than  ever  before.  It 
lasted  till  towards  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  when  the 
Bercngar  controversy  on  the  eucharist  roused  the  slimibering 
intellectual  energies  of  the  church,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the 
scholastic  philosophy  and  theology  of  the  twelfth  century. 

The  Carolingian  male  line  lasted  in  Italy  till  875,  in  Germany 
till  911,  in  France  till  987. 

§  141.  Alfred  the  Great,  and  Education  in  England. 

Comp.  the  Jubilee  edition  of  the  Whole  TVorks  of  Alfred  the  Great, 
with  Preliminary  Essays  illustrative  of  the  History,  Arts  and  Manners 
of  the  Ninth  Century.  London,  1858,  2  vols.  The  biographies  of 
Alfred,  quoted  on  p.  395,  and  Freeman's  Old  English  History  1859. 

In  England  the  beginning  of  culture  was  imported  with 
Christianity  by  Augustin,  the  first  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
who  brought  with  him  the  Bible,  the  church  books,  the  writings 


5  141.  ALFEED  THE  GREAT.— EDUCATION  IN  ENGLAND.  619 

of  Pope  Gregory  and  the  doctrines  and  practices  of  Roman  Chris- 
tianity ;  but  little  progress  was  made  for  a  century.  Among 
his  successors  the  Greek  monk,  Theodore  of  Tarsus  (668-690), 
was  most  active  in  promoting  education  and  discipline  among  the 
clergy.  The  most  distinguished  scholar  of  the  Saxon  period  is 
the  Venerable  Bede  (d.  735),  who,  as  already  stated,  represented 
all  historical,  exegetical  and  general  knowledge  of  his  age. 
Egbert,  archbishop  of  York,  founded  a  flourishing  school  in 
York  (732),  from  which  proceeded  Alcuin,  the  teacher  and 
friend  of  Charlemagne. 

Durinjr  the  invasion  of  the  heathen  Danes  and  l^formans 
many  churches,  convents  and  libraries  were  destroyed,  and  the 
clergy  itself  relapsed  into  barbarism  so  that  they  did  not  know 
the  meaning  of  the  Latin  formulas  which  they  used  in  public 
worship. 

In  this  period  of  wild  confusion  King  Alfhed  the  Great 
(871-901),  in  his  twenty-second  year,  ascended  the  throne.  He 
is  first  in  war  and  first  in  peace  of  all  the  Anglo-Saxon  rulers. 
What  Charlemagne  was  for  Germany  and  France,  Alfred  was 
for  England.  He  conquered  the  forces  of  the  Danes  by  land 
and  by  sea,  delivered  his  country  from  foreign  rule,  and  intro- 
duced a  new  era  of  Christian  education.  He  invited  scholars 
from  the  old  British  churches  in  Wales,  from  Ireland,  and  the 
Continent  to  influential  positions.  He  made  collections  of  choice 
sentences  from  the  Bible  and  the  fathers.  In  his  thirty-sixth 
year  he  learned  Latin  from  Asser,  a  monk  of  Wales,  who  after- 
wards wrote  his  biography.  He  himself,  no  doubt  with  the  aid 
of  scholars,  translated  several  standard  works  from  Latin  into 
the  Anglo-Saxon,  and  accompanied  them  with  notes,  namely  a 
part  of  the  Psalter,  Boethius  on  the  Consolation  of  Philosophy, 
Bede's  English  Church  History,  Pope  Gregory's  Pastoral  Theo- 
logy, Augustin's  Meditations,  the  Universal  History  of  Orosius, 
and  ^sop's  Fables.  He  sent  a  copy  of  Gregory's  Pastoral 
Theology  to  every  diocese  for  the  benefit  of  the  clergy.     It  is 


620  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

due  to  his  influence  cliiefly  that  the  Scriptures  and  service-books 
at  this  period  were  illustrated  by  so  many  vernacular  glosses. 

He  stood  in  close  connection  with  the  Roman  see,  as  the  centre 
of  ecclesiastical  unity  and  civilization.  He  devoted  half  of  his 
income  to  church  and  school.  He  founded  a  school  in  Oxford 
similar  to  the  Schola  Palatina ;  but  the  University  of  Oxford, 
like  those  of  Cambridge  and  Paris,  is  of  much  later  date  (twelfth 
or  thirteenth  century).  He  seems  to  have  conceived  even  the 
plan  of  a  general  education  of  the  people.^  Amid  great  physical 
infirmity  (he  had  the  epilepsy),  he  developed  an  extraordinary 
activity  during  a  reign  of  twenty-nine  years,  and  left  an  endu- 
ring fame  for  purity  and  piety  of  character  and  unselfish  devo- 
tion to  the  best  interests  of  his  people.^ 

His  example  of  promoting  learning  in  the  v^ernacular  lan- 
guage was  followed  by  ^lfric,  a  grammarian,  homilist  and 
hagiographer.  He  has  been  identified  with  the  archbishop 
iElfric  of  Canterbury  (996-1009),  and  with  the  archbishop 
^Ifric  of  York  (1023-1051),  but  there  are  insuperable  difii- 
culties  in  either  view.  He  calls  himself  simply  "  monk  and 
priest."  He  left  behind  him  a  series  of  eighty  Anglo-Saxon 
Homilies  for  Sundays  and  great  festivals,  and  another  series  for 
Anglo-Saxon  Saints'  days,  which  were  used  as  an  authority  in 
the  Anglo-Saxon  Church.^ 

^  In  the  preface  to  Gregory's  Pastoral,  he  expresses  his  desire  that  every 
freeborn  English  youth  might  learn  to  read  English.  The  work  has  also  great 
philological  importance,  and  was  edited  by  H.  Sweet  in  1872  for  the  "Early 
English  Text  Society." 

*  Freeman  calls  J^lfred  "the  most  perfect  character  in  history,"  a  saint 
without  superstition,  a  scholar  without  ostentation,  a  conqueror  whose  hands 
were  never  stained  by  cruelty.  History  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  I.  49,  third 
ed.  (1877) 

^  They  were  edited  by  Thorpe.  See  Wright's  Biograph.  Britan.  Lit.  (Anglo- 
Saxon  Period),  pp.  485,  4.%;  and  article  "yElfric"  in  Leslie  Stephen's  "Dic- 
tionary of  National  Biograpliy."  London  and  New  York,  1885,  vol.  I.  164- 
166. 


§  142.  CHRONOLOGICAL  LIST  OF  PRINCIPAL  WRITERS.     621 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES   OF   ECCLESIASTICAL   WRITERS. 

[This  chapter,  with  the  exception  of  the  Last  four  sections,  has  been 
prepared  under  my  direction  by  the  Eev.  Samuel  M.  Jackson,  M.A., 
from  the  original  sources,  w  th  the  use  of  the  best  modern  authori- 
ties, and  has  been  revised,  completed  and  adapted  to  the  plan  of  the 
work.— P.  S. 

§  142.  Chronological  List  of  the  Principal  Ecclesiastical  Writers 
from  the  Sixth  to  the  Twelfth  Century. 


I.   GREEK    AUTHORS. 


St.  Maximus  Confessor 
St.  John  of  Damascus 
Photius  . 

Simeon  Metaphrastes 
CEcumenius    . 
Theophylact  . 
Michael  Psellus     . 
Euthymius  Zigabenus. 
Eustathius  of  Thessalonica 
Nicetas  Acominatos 


II.    LATIN    AUTHORS, 


Cassiodorus    . 

St.  Gregory  of  Tours     . 

St.  Gregory  the  Great     . 

St.  Isidore  of  Seville 

The  Venerable  Bede  (Bseda) 

Paulus  Diaconus  (Paul  Warnefrid) 

St.  Pauliuus  of  Aquileia 

Alcuin    . 

Liudger  . 

Theodulph  of  Orleans 

Eigil 

Amalarius 

»  See  U  109-112,  pp.  495,  496,  498. 

"  See  U  94,  100-102,  pp.  405  sq.,  413,  450,  456. 

»  See  U  67,  70,  107  and  108,  pp.  304,  312  sqq.,  476  sqq. 

*  See  ?  'lO,  p.  30  sqq.,  and  U  50, 52,  pp.  211  sqq.  '  See  ?  13,  p.  40  sq. 

«  See  §  116,  p.  511  sqq. 


c.  580-662 » 
c.  676-754' 
c.  805-891 » 
10th  century. 
10th  century. 
11th  century. 

c.  1020-c.  1106 
12th  century. 
12th  century. 

d.  c.  1126 

c.  477-c.  580 
538-594 
c.  540-604* 
c.  560-636 
674-735^ 
c.  725-800 
c.  726-804 
735-804" 
c.  744-809 
-821 
-822 
-837 


622 


FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 


Claudius  of  Turin 

Agobard  of  Lyons 

Einhard  (Eginhard) 

Smaragdus     . 

Jonas  of  Orleans 

Rabanus  Maurus 

Haymo  . 

Walafrid  Strabo 

Floras  of  Lyons 

Servatus  Lupus 

Druthmar 

St.  Paschasius  Radbertus 

Ratramnus 

Hincmar  of  Rheims 

Johannes  Scotus  Erigena 

Anastasius 

Ratberius  of  Verona     . 

Pope  Sylvester  II.  (Gerbert) 

Fulbert  of  Chartres 

Peter  Damiani 

Berengar 

Lan  franc 


-839  * 

779-840 2 
c  770-840 

-c.  840 

-844 
c.  776-856' 
c.  778-853 
c.  809-849 

-c.  860 
805-862 
c.  860 
c.  790-865* 

-c.  868* 
c.  806-882' 
c.  815-877  « 

-886 
c.  890-974 

-10038 
c.  950-1029 
1007-1072 
c.  1000-1088* 
1005-10891" 


§  143.  St.  Maximus  Confessor. 

I.  Maximus  Confessor  :  Opera  in  Migne,  Patrol.  Gr.  Tom.  XC,  XCI., 

reprint  of  ed.  of  Fr.  Combefis,  Paris,  1673  (only  the  first  two  vol- 
umes ever  appeared),  with  a  few  additional  treatises  from  other 
sources.     There  is  need  of  a  complete  critical  edition. 

II.  For  his  life  and  writings  see  his  Acta  in  Migne,  XC.  col.  109-205 ; 

Vita  Maximi  (unknown  authorship)  col.  67-110;  Acta  Sanctorum, 
under  Aug.  13  ;  Du  Pin  (Eng.  transl.,  Lond.  1693  sqq.),  VI.  24-58; 
Ceillier  (second  ed.,  Paris,  1857  sqq.),  XI.  760-772. 

III.  For  his  relation  to  the  Monotheletic  controversy  see  C.  W.  Franz 
Walch:  Uistorie  der  Kezcreien,  etc.,  IX.  60-499,  sqq. ;  Neander  : 
III.  171  sqq.;  this  History,  IV.  409,  496-498.  On  other  aspects 
see  J.  N.  Huber:  Die  PMlosopMe  der  Kirchenvriter.  Miinchen,  1859. 
Josef  Bach  :  Die  Dogmenge.ichichte  des  Mittelalfers.  Wien,  1873-75, 
2  parts,  I.  15-49.  Cf.  Weser  :  Ma.rimi  Confessoris  de  incarnatione 
et  deificatione  dodrina.     Berlin,  1869. 

1  See  ?  105,  p.  472  sqq. 

3  See  I  96,  p.  426,  and  ?  120,  p.  525  sq. 

6  See?  126,  p.  546  sqq. 

1  See  ?  121,  p.  528  sqq.  8 

«  See  II  128  and  129,  p.  554  sqq.;  564  sqq. 


2  See  §  105,  p.  471  sq. 
*  See  I  127,  p.  549. 
6  See  §  123,  p  529  sqq. 
64  and  65,  pp.  292  and  295. 
10  See  §  130,  p.  567  sqq. 


2  143.  ST.  MAXIMUS  CONFESSOR.  623 

As  a  sketch  of  St.  Maximus  Confessor  (c.  580-Aug.  13,  662) 
has  been  elsewhere  given/  it  is  only  necessary  in  this  place  to 
pass  in  review  his  literaiy  activity,  and  state  briefly  his  theo- 
logical position. 

Notwithstanding  his  frequent  changes  of  residence,  Maximus 
is  one  of  the  most  prolific  writers  of  the  Greek  Church,  and  by 
reason  of  his  ability  stands  in  the  front  rank.  Forty-eight  of 
his  treatises  have  been  printed,  others  exist  in  MS.,  and  some 
are  lost.  By  reason  of  his  pregnant  and  spiritual  thoughts 
he  has  always  been  popular  with  his  readers,  notwithstanding 
his  prolixity  and  frequent  obscurity  of  which  even  Photius  and 
Scotus  Erigena  complain. 

His  Wo7'ks  may  be  divided  into  five  classes.  I.  Exegetical. 
A  follower  of  the  Alexandrian  school,  he  does  not  so  much  an- 
alyze and  expound  as  allegorize,  and  make  the  text  a  starting 
point  for  theological  digressions.  He  wrote  (1)  Questions  [and 
Answers]  ujoon  difficult  Scripture  passages^  sixty-five  in  number, 
addressed  to  Thalassius,  a  friend  who  had  originally  asked  him 
the  questions.  The  answers  are  sometimes  very  short,  sometimes 
rich  speculative  essays.  Thus  he  begins  with  a  disquisition 
upon  evil.  Unless  one  is  expert  in  allegorical  and  mystical 
writings,  the  answers  of  Maximus  will  be  hard  reading.  He 
seems  to  have  felt  this  himself,  for  he  added  explanatory  notes 
in  different  places.^  (2)  Questions,  seventy-five  in  number, 
similar  to  the  preceding,  but  briefer  and  less  obscure.  (3)  Ex- 
position of  Psalm  LIX*  (4)  The  Lord's  Prayer.^  Both  are 
very  mystical. 

II.  Scholia  upon  Dionyslus  Areopagita  and  Gregory  Nazian- 
zen,  which  were  translated  by  Scotus  Erigena  (864).® 

III.  Dogmatical  and  polemical.  (1)  Treatises.^  The  first 
twenty-five  are  in  defense  of  the  orthodox  dyotheletic  doctrine 

^  See  pp.  409,  496-498.  «  Migne,  XC.  col.  244-785. 

»  I.  c.  col.  785-856.  *  /.  c.  col.  856-872. 

*  I.  c.  col  872-909.  «  XCI.  col.  1032-1417. 
^  /.  c.  col.  9-285. 


624  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

(i.  e.  that  there  are  in  Christ  two  perfect  natures,  two  wills 
and  two  operations)  against  the  Severians.  One  treatise  is  on 
the  Holy  Trinity;  another  is  on  the  procession  of  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  the  rest  are  upon  cognate  topics.  (2)  Debate  with 
Pyrrhus  (held  July,  645)  upon  the  Person  of  Christ,  in  favor 
of  two  wills.^  It  resulted  in  Pyrrhus'  retraction  of  his  Mo- 
notheletic  error.  This  work  is  easier  to  read  than  most  of  the 
others.     (3)  Five  Dialogues  on  the  Trinity.^     (4)   On  the  Soul.^ 

IV.  Ethical  and  ascetic.  (1)  On  asceticism,^  a  dialogue  be- 
tween an  abbot  and  a  young  monk,  upon  the  duties  of  the  mo- 
nastic life.  A  famous  treatise,  very  simple,  clear  and  edifying 
for  all  Christians.  It  insists  upon  love  to  God,  our  neighbors 
and  our  enemies,  and  the  renunciation  of  the  world.  (2)  Chap- 
ters upon  Charity,^  four  in  number,  of  one  hundred  aphorisms 
each,  ascetic,  dogmatic  and  mystical,  added  to  the  preceding,  but 
not  all  are  upon  charity.  There  are  Greek  scholia  upon  this 
book.  (3)  Two  Chapters,  theological  and  oeconomical,^  each  of 
one  hundred  aphorisms,  upon  the  principles  of  theology.  (4) 
Catena,^  five  chapters  of  one  hundred  aphorisms  each,  upon 
theology. 

V.  Miscellaneous.  (1)  Initiation  into  the  mysteries^  an  alle- 
gorical exposition  of  the  Church  and  her  worship.  Incidentally 
it  2)roves  that  the  Greek  liturgy  has  not  changed  since  the 
seventh  century.  (2)  Commonplaces^  seventy-one  sections,  con- 
taining texts  of  Scripture  and  quotations  from  the  Fathers, 
arranged  under  heads.  (3)  Letters^^  forty-five  in  number,  on 
theological  and  moral  matters ;  several  are  on  the  Severiaa 
heresy,  others  supply  biographical  details.  Many  of  his  let- 
ters exist  in  MS.  only.     (4)  Hymns,^^  three  in  number. 

1 1,  c.  col.  288-353.  a  Migne,  XXVIII.  col.  1116-1285. 

'  XCI.  col.  353-361.  *  XC.  col.  912-956. 

5  I.  c.  cols.  960-1080.  «  I.  c.  cols.  1084-1176. 

T  I.  c.  cols.  1177-1392.  »  XCI.  cols.  657-717. 

»  I.  c.  cols.  721-1017.  1"  I.  c.  cols.  364-649. 

"  I.  e.  cols.  1417-1424,  and  this  vol.,  p.  409. 


g  143.  ST.  MAXIMUS  CONFESSOR.  625 

Maximus  was  the  pupil  of  Dionysius  Areopagita,  and  the 
teacher  of  John  of  Damascus  and  John  Scotus  Erigena,  in  the 
sense  that  he  ehicidated  and  developed  the  ideas  of  Dionysius, 
and  in  turn  was  an  inspiration  and  guide  to  the  latter.  John  of 
Damascus  has  perpetuated  his  influence  in  the  Greek  Church  to 
the  present  day.  Scotus  Erigena  introduced  some  of  his  works 
to  Western  Europe.  The  prominent  points  of  the  theology  of 
Maximus  are  these  :^  Sin  is  not  a  positive  quality,  but  an  inborn 
defect  in  the  creature.  In  Christ  this  defect  is  supplied,  new 
life  is  imparted,  and  the  power  to  obey  the  will  of  God  is 
given.  The  Incarnation  is  thus  the  Divine  remedy  for  sin's 
awful  consequences  :  the  loss  of  free  inclination  to  good,  and  the 
loss  of  immortality.  Grace  comes  to  man  in  consequence  of 
Christ's  work.  It  is  not  the  divine  nature  in  itself  but  in  union 
with  the  human  nature  which  is  the  principle  of  atoning  and 
saving  grace.  God  is  the  fountain  of  all  being  and  life,  the 
alpha  and  omesra  of  creation.  By  means  of  the  Incarnation  he 
is  the  Head  of  the  kingdom  of  grace.  Christ  is  fully  Man, 
and  not  only  fully  God.  This  is  the  mystery  of  the  Incarna- 
tion. Opposed  to  the  Monophysites  and  Monothelites,  Maximus 
exerts  all  his  ingenuity  to  prove  that  the  difference  of  natures  in 
Christ  requires  two  wills,  a  human  and  a  divine  will,  not  sepa- 
rated or  mixed,  but  in  harmony.  Christ  was  born  from  eternity 
from  the  Father,  and  in  time  from  the  Virgin,  who  was  the 
veritable  Mother  of  God.  Christ's  will  was  a  natural,  human 
will,  one  of  the  energies  of  his  human  nature.  The  parallel  to 
this  union  of  the  divine  and  human  in  Christ  is  the  human  soul 
wrought  upon  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  divine  life  begins  in 
faith,  rules  in  love,  and  comes  to  its  highest  development  in  the 
contemplative  life.  The  Christian  fulfils  the  command  to  pray 
without  ceasine,  bv  constantly  directino;  his  mind  to  God  in 
true  piety   and   sincere  aspiration.     All   rational  essences  shall 


^  Cf.  Neander  and  Bach  in  loco. 
40 


62G  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

ultimately  be  re-united  with  God,  and  the  final  glorification  of 
God  will  be  by  the  complete  destruction  of  all  evil. 

An  interesting  point  of  a  humane  interest  is  his  declaration 
that  slavery  is  a  dissolution,  introduced  by  sin,  of  the  original 
unity  of  human  nature,  and  a  denial  of  the  original  dignity  of 
man,  created  after  the  image  of  God. 

§  144.  John  of  Damascus. 
Cf.  U  89  and  103. 

I.  JoAKNES  Damascexus:  Opera  omnia  in  Migne,  Patrol.   Gr.   Tom. 

XCIV.-XCVI.  (reprint,  with  additions,  of  Lequien's  ed.  Paris, 
1712.  2  vols.  fol.     2d  ed.  Venice,  1748). 

II.  John  of  Jerusalem :    Vita  Damasceni  (Migne,  XCIV.  col.  429-489) ; 

the  Prolegomena  of  Leo  Allatius  [l.  c.  118-192).  Pekrier:  Jean  Da- 
mascene, sa  vie  et  ses  Merits.  Paris,  1862.  F.  H.  J.  Grundlehner  : 
Johannes  Damascenus.  Utrecht,  1876  (in  Dutch).  Joseph  Langen 
(Old-Catholic  professor  at  Bonn) :  Johannes  von  Damaskus.  Gotlia, 
1879.  J.  H.  LuPTON :  St.  John  of  Damascus.  London,  1882.  Cf. 
Du  Pin,  V.  103-106 ;  Ceillier,  XII.,  67-99 ;  Schroeckh,  XX., 
222-230;  Neander,  iii.  passim;  Felix  Neve:  Jea7i  de  D.  et  son 
influence  en  Orient  sous  les  premiers  khalifs,  in  "  Revue  Beige  et 
etrangere,"  July  and  August,  1861. 

I.  Life.  John  of  Damascus,  Saint  and  Doctor  of  the 
Eastern  Church,  last  of  the  Greek  Fathers,^  was  born  in 
the  city  of  Damascus  in  the  fourth  quarter  of  the  seventh 
century.^  His  common  epithet  of  Chrysorrhoas  {streaming  with 
gold)  was  given  to  him  because  of  his  eloquence,  but  also  pro- 
bably in  allusion  to  the  river  of  that  name,  the  Abana  of  Scrip- 
ture, the  Barada  of  the  present  day,  which  flows  through  his 
native  city,  and  makes  it  a  blooming  garden  in  the  desert.  Our 
knowledge  of  his  life  is  mainly  derived  from  the  semi-legendary 
account  of  John  of  Jerusalem,  who  used  an  earlier  Arabic  biog- 
raphy of  unknown  authorship  and  date.^ 

1  Grundlehner,  p.  22;  Langen,  p.  20. 

»  The  usual  date  is  676.  Gruudlehner  says  (p.  19),  "probably  about  the 
year  680." 

3  This  Life  is  Huramarized  by  Lupton,  pp.  22-36. 


^  144.  JOHN  OF  DAMASCUS.  627 

The  facts  seem  to  be  these.  He  sprang  from  a  distinguished 
Christian  family  with  the  Arabic  name  of  Mansur  [ransomed). 
His  father,  Sergius,  was  treasurer  to  the  Saracenic  cah'ph, 
Abdulmeled  (685-705),  an  office  frequently  held  by  Christians 
under  the  caliphs.  His  education  was  derived  from  Cosmas, 
a  learned  Italian  monk,  w^iom  Sergius  had  ransomed  from 
slaveiy.  He  made  rapid  progress,  and  early  gave  promise  of 
his  brilliant  career.  On  the  death  of  his  father  he  was  taken 
by  the  caliph  into  his  service  and  given  an  even  higher  office 
than  his  father  had  held.^  When  the  emperor  Leo  the  Isaurian 
issued  his  first  edict  against  images  (726)^,  he  prepared  a  circular 
letter  upon  the  subject  which  showed  great  controversial  ability 
and  at  once  raised  him  to  the  position  of  leader  of  the  image 
worshippers.  This  letter  and  the  two  which  followed  made  a 
profound  impression.  They  are  classical,  and  no  one  has  put 
the  case  better.^  John  was  perfectly  safe  from  the  emperor's 
rage,  and  could  tranquilly  learn  that  the  letters  everywhere 
stirred  up  the  monks  and  the  clergy  to  fanatical  opposition  to 
Leo's  decrees.  Yet  he  may  well  have  found  his  position  at 
court  uncomfortable,  owing  to  the  emperor's  feelings  towards 
him  and  his  attempts  at  punishment.  However  this  may  be, 
shortly  after  730  John  is  found  as  a  monk  in  the  Convent 
of  St.  Sabas,  near  the  shore  of  the  Dead  Sea,  ten  miles  south- 
east from  Jerusalem.  A  few  years  later  he  was  ordained 
priest.*  His  last  days  were  spent  in  study  and  literary  labor. 
In  the  closing  decade  of  his  life  he  is  said  to  have  made  a 
journey  through  Palestine,  Syria,  and  even  as  far  as  Constanti- 

1  The  term  is  irpuTnavfijSovTioc,  "chief  councillor."  This  is  commonly  inter- 
preted "vizier,"  but  that  office  did  not  then  exist.  Langen  (p.  19)  thinks 
"chief  tax-gatherer"  a  more  likely  translation.     Cf.  Lupton,  p.  27. 

^  See  this  vol.  p.  456. 

'  See  analysis,  p.  630. 

*  Lequien  (i.  ?  452)  conjectures  that  he  was  ordained  before  the  iconoclastic 
controversy  broke  out,  because  in  a  sermon  he  alludes  to  the  peaceful  condition 
of  the  empire,  which  was  not  applicable  to  the  time  after  that  event.  Cf. 
Lupton,  p.  57. 


628  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

nople,  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  opposition  to  the  iconoclastic 
e^orts  of  the  Emperor  Copronymus.  He  died  at  St.  Sabas  ; 
the  exact  date  is  not  known,  probably  754.^  The  Greek  Church 
commemorates  him  upon  Dec.  4th  (or  Nov.  29  in  some  Meno- 
logies) ;  the  Latin  upon  May  6. 

Many  legends  are  told  of  him.  The  most  famous  is  that 
Leo  the  Isaurian,  enraged  at  his  opposition  to  the  iconoclastic 
edicts,  sent  to  the  caliph  a  letter  addressed  to  himself  which 
purported  to  have  come  from  John,  and  was  written  in  imita- 
tion of  his  hand  and  style,  in  which  the  latter  proposed  to  the 
emperor  to  capture  Damascus — a  feat  easily  accomplished,  the 
writer  said,  because  of  the  insufficient  guard  of  the  city.  More- 
over, in  the  business  he  could  count  upon  his  support.  The 
letter  was  of  course  a  forgery,  but  so  clever  that  when  the 
caliph  showed  John  the  letter  he  acknowledged  the  similarity 
of  the  Avriting,  while  he  denied  the  authorship.  But  the  caliph 
in  punishment  of  his  (supposed)  treachery  had  his  right  hand 
cut  oif,  and,  as  was  the  custom,  hung  up  in  a  public  place.  In 
answer  to  John's  request  it  was,  however,  given  to  him  in  the 
evening,  ostensibly  for  burial.  He  then  put  the  hand  to  the 
stump  of  his  arm,  prostrated  himself  before  an  image  of  the 
Virgin  Mary  in  his  private  chapel,  and  prayed  the  Virgin  to 
cause  the  parts  to  adhere.  He  fell  asleep :  in  a  vision  the 
Virgin  told  him  that  his  prayer  had  been  granted,  and  he  awoke 
to  find  it  true.  Only  a  scar  remained  to  tell  the  story  of  his 
mutilation.  The  miracle  of  course  convinced  the  caliph  of  the 
innocence  of  his  servant,  and  he  would  fain  have  retained  him 
in    office,  but  John  requested  his  absolute  dismission.^     This 

1  Grundlehner  (p.  55,  n.  1)  accepts  the  statement  of  the  Menaa  Grcpcorum 
that  John  of  Damascus  died  at  the  age  of  104,  and  sots  the  date  at  "about 
780." 

^  This  famous  tale  falls  of  its  own  weight.  Even  Roman  Catholics,  like 
Alzog  {Palrologie,  2d  ep.,  p,  405)  admit  that  it  lacks  support.  It  is  certainly- 
noteworthy  that  the  second  Nicene  council  apparently  knew  nothing  of  this 
miracle.     Cf.  Grundlehner,  p.  42  n.  ;  Langen,  p.  22. 


?  144.  JOHN  OF  DAMASCUS.  G29 

story  was  manifestly  invented  to  make  out  that  the  great  de- 
fender of  image-worship  deserved  a  martyr's  crown.^ 

Other  legends  which  have  more  of  a  basis  of  fact  relate  to 
his  residence  in  the  convent  of  St.  Sabas.  Here,  it  is  said,  he 
was  enthusiastically  received,  but  no  one  would  at  first  under- 
take the  instruction  of  so  famous  a  scholar.  At  length  an  old 
monk  undertook  it,  and  subjected  him  to  the  most  humiliating 
tests  and  vexatious  restrictions,  which  he  bore  in  a  very  saintly 
way.  Thus  he  sent  him  once  to  Damascus  to  sell  a  load  of 
convent-made  baskets  at  double  their  real  value,  in  order  that 
his  pride  might  be  broken  by  the  jeers  and  the  violence  of  the 
rabble.  He  was  at  first  insulted ;  but  at  last  a  man  who  had 
been  formerly  his  servant,  bought  out  of  compassion  the  baskets 
at  the  exorbitant  price,  and  the  saint  returned  victorious  over 
vanity  and  pride.  He  was  also  put  to  the  most  menial  ser- 
vices. And,  what  must  have  been  equally  trying,  he  was  for- 
bidden to  write  prose  or  poetry.  But  these  trials  ended  on  a 
hint  from  the  Virgin  Mary  who  appeared  one  night  to  the  old 
monk  and  told  him  that  John  was  destined  to  play  a  great  part 
in  the  church.  He  was  accordingly  allowed  to  follow  the  bent 
of  his  genius  and  put  his  immense  learning  at  the  service  of 
religion. 

II.  Writings.  The  order  of  his  numerous  writings^  is  a 
mere  matter  of  conjecture.  It  seems  natural  to  begin  with 
those  which  first  brought  their  author  into  notice,  and  upon 
which  his  fame  popularly  rests.  These  were  his  three  Ora- 
tionSy^  properly  circular  letters,  upon  image  worship,  univer- 
sally considered  as  the  ablest  presentation  of  the  subject  from 
the  side  of  the  image- worshippers.'  The  first*  appeared  proba- 
bly in  727,  shortly  after  the  Emperor  Leo  the  Isauriau  had 
issued  his  edict  forbidding  the  worship  of  "  images,"  by  which 

'  Langen,  p.  22. 

2  Carefully  analyzed  by  Lnptou  and  Langen. 

'  De  Imaginibus  Orationes  III.,  in  Migne,  XCIV.         *l.  c.  col.  1232-1284. 


630  FOURTH  PEEIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

term  was  meant  not  sculptures,  but  in  the  Greek  Church  pic- 
tures exclusively ;  the  second  ^  after  Leo's  edict  of  730  ordering 
the  destruction  of  the  images;  and  the  third'^  at  some  later  time. 
In  the  first  of  these  three  letters  John  advanced  these  argu- 
ments :  the  Mosaic  prohibitions  of  idolatry  were  directed  against 
representations  of  God,  not  of  men,  and  against  the  service  of 
images,  not  their  honor.  Cherubim  made  by  human  hands  were 
above  the  mercy-seat.  Since  the  Incarnation  it  is  allowable 
to  represent  God  himself.  The  picture  is  to  the  ignorant  what 
the  book  is  to  the  learned.  In  the  Old  Testament  there  are 
signs  to  quicken  the  memory  and  promote  devotion  (the  ark, 
the  rod  of  Aaron,  the  brazen  serpent).  Why  should  the  suffer- 
ings and  miracles  of  Christ  not  be  portrayed  for  the  same  pur- 
poses ?  And  if  Christ  and  the  Virgin  have  their  images,  why 
should  not  the  saints  have  theirs  ?  Since  the  Old  Testament 
Temple  contained  cherubim  and  other  images,  churches  may  be 
adorned  with  images  of  the  saints.  If  one  must  not  worship 
an  image,  then  one  must  not  worship  Christ,  for  he  is  the 
image  of  the  Father.  If  the  shadoAvs  ^nd  handkerchiefs  of 
apostles  had  healing  properties,  why  Cjan  one  not  honor  the 
representations  of  the  saints?  It  is  true  there  is  nothing  about 
such  worship  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  but  Church  ordinances 
depend  for  authority  on  tradition  no  less  than  on  Scripture. 
The  passages  against  images  refer  to  idols.  "The  heathens 
dedicate  their  images  to  demons,  whom  they  call  gods ;  we 
dedicate  ours  to  the  incarnate  God  and  his  friends,  through 
whom  we  exorcise  demons."  He  ends  his  letter  with  a  num- 
ber of  patristic  quotations  of  greater  or  less  relevancy,  to  each 
of  which  he  appends  a  comment.  The  second  letter,  which 
is  substantially  a  repetition  of  the  first,  is  characterized  by  a 
violent  attack  upon  the  Emperor,  because  of  his  deposition  and 
banishment  of  Germauus,  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople.     It 

^  L  e.  col.  1284-1317.  « I.  c.  col.  1317-1420. 


§  144.  JOHN  OF  DAMASCUS.  031 

closes  with  the  same  patristic  quotations,  and  a  few  new  ones. 
The  third  letter  is  almost  necessarily  a  repetition  of  the  prece- 
ding, since  it  goes  over  the  same  ground.  It  likewise  looks 
upon  the  iconoclasts  as  the  servants  of  the  devil.  But  it  bears 
marks  of  more  care  in  preparation,  and  its  proofs  are  more  sys- 
tematically arranged  and  its  quotations  more  numerous.^ 

For  his  writings  in  favor  of  images  he  was  enthusiastically 
lauded  by  the  second  Niceue  Council  (787).^ 

But  the  fame  of  John  of  Damascus  as  one  of  the  greatest  the- 
ologians of  history  rests  chiefly  on  his  Avork  entitle'd  the  Fount 
of  Ejiowledge}  It  is  made  up  of  three  separate  and  complete 
books,  which  yet  were  designed  to  go  together  and  constitute 
in  outline  a  cyclopaedia  of  Christian  theology  and  of  all  other 
kinds  of  knowledge.*  It  is  dedicated  to  Cosmas,  bishop  of 
Maiuma,  his  foster-brother  and  fellow-student  under  the  old 
monk.  Its  date  is  after  743,  the  year  of  Cosmas's  consecration. 
In  it  the  author  avows  that  he  has  introduced  nothing  which 
had  not  Ijeen  previously  said,  and  herein  is  its  value :  it  epito- 
mizes Greek  theology. 

The  first  part  of  the  trilogy,  "Heads  of  Philosophy,"^  com- 
monly called,  by  the  Latin  title,  Dialeetica,  is  a  series  of  short 
cha])ters  upon  the  Categories  of  Aristotle  and  the  Univei'sals  of 
Porphyry,  applied  to  Christian  doctrines.  The  Dialeetica  is 
found  in  two  forms,  one  with  sixty-eight,  and  the  other  with 
only  fifteen  chapters.  The  explanation  is  probably  the  well- 
known  fact  that  the  author  carefully  revised  his  works  before 
his  death.^  The  longer  form  is  therefore  probably  tiie  later. 
Its  principal  value  is  the  light  it  throws  upon  the  Church  ter- 

1  Langen,  p.  141.  '  Page  461. 

5  Yivyv  yvuaeuc,  in  Migne,  I.  c.  col.  521-1228. 
*  This  is  liis  own  statement,  I.  c.  col.  533. 

5  Kecpdlaia  (piloc!0(piKd,  I.  c.  col.  521-676.  Lupton,  pp.  67,  68 ;  Lanccn,  pp. 
46-52.  There  is  a  special  essay  by  Renoux,  entitled,  De  Dialeetica  Sancli 
Joannis  Damasceni  (1863). 

6  Langen,  p.  46. 


632  FOUETH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

minology  of  the  period,  and  its  proof  that  Christians  preceded 
the  Arabs  in  their  study  of  Aristotle,  by  one  hundred  years. 
The  second  part  of  the  trilogy,  the  "Compendium  of  Heresies,"^ 
is  a  description  of  one  Jiundred  and  three  heresies,  compiled 
mostly  from  Epiphanius,  but  with  two  sections,  on  the  Moham- 
medans and  Iconoclasts,  which  are  probably  original.  A  con- 
fession of  faith  closes  the  book.  The  third,  the  longest,  and  by 
far  the  most  important  member  of  the  trilogy  is  "  An  accurate 
Summary  of  the  Orthodox  Faith."  ^  The  authors  drawn  upon 
are  almost  exclusively  Greek.  Gregory  ^azianzen  is  the  chief 
source.  This  part  was  apparently  divided  by  John  into  one 
hundred  chapters,  but  when  it  reached  Western  Europe  in  the 
Latin  translation  of  John  Burgundio  of  Pisa,  made  by  order  of 
Pope  Eugenius  III.  (1150),^  it  was  divided  into  four  books  to 
make  it  correspond  in  outward  form  to  Peter  Lombard's  Sen- 
tences. Accepting  the  division  into  four  books,  their  contents 
may  be  thus  stated  :  Bk.  1,  Theology  proper.  In  this  he  main- 
tains the  Greek  Church  doctrine  of  the  single  procession  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Bk.  II.  Doctrines  of  Creation  (severally  of  angels, 
demons,  external  nature,  paradise,  man  and  all  his  attributes 
and  capacities);  and  of  Providence,  foreknowledge  and  predesti- 
nation. In  this  part  he  shows  his  ^yide  acquaintance  with  natural 
science.  Bk.  III.  Doctrine  of  the  Incarnation.  Bk.  TV.  Mis- 
cellaneous subjects.  Christ's  passion,  death,  burial,  resurrection, 
ascension,  session ;  the  two-fold  nature  of  Christ ;  faith ;  bap- 
tism;  praying  towards  the  East;  the  Eucharist;  images;  the 
Scriptures  ;  Manichreism  ;  Judaism  ;  virginity  ;  circumcision ; 
Antichrist;  resurrection. 

The  entire  work  is  a  notCAvorthy  application  of  Aristotelian 
categories  to  Christian  theology.     In  regard  to  Christology  he 

1  Uepl  aipeatuv  iv  cvvTo^iia.  I.  c.  col.  677-780. 

2'EK-(5oCT<f  aKf)i(ii)i  t^c  bp'dofiu^nv  Trlareug,  I.  c.  col.  789-1228. 

'  The  exact  date  rests  upon  the  statement  of  John  of  Brompton  that  the 
translation  was  made  in  the  same  year  in  which  the  Thames  was  frozen  over, 
I.  e.  in  the  Great  Frost  of  1150.     Cf.  Lupton,  p.  70. 


i  144.  JOHN  OF  DAMASCUS.  633 

repudiates  both  Nestorianism  and  Monophysitism,  and  teaches 
that  each  nature  in  Christ  possessed  its  peculiar  attributes  and 
was  not  mixed  with  the  other.  But  the  divine  in  Christ  .strongly 
predominated  over  the  human.  The  Logos  was  bound  to  the 
flesh  through  the  Spirit,  which  stands  between  the  purely  divine 
and  the  materiality  of  the  flesh.  The  human  nature  of  Jesus 
was  incorporated  in  the  one  divine  personality  of  the  Logos 
(Enhypostasia).  John  recognises  only  two  sacraments,  proj)erly 
so  called,  i.  e.  mysteries  instituted  by  Christ — Baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper,  In  the  latter  the  elements  are  at  the  moment 
when  the  Holy  Ghost  is  called  upon,  changed  into  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ,  but  how  is  not  known.  He  does  not 
therefore  teach  transubstantiation  exactly,  yet  his  doctrine  is 
very  near  to  it.  About  the  remaining  five  so-called  sacraments 
he  is  either  silent  or  vague.  He  holds  to  the  perpetual  virginity 
of  Mary,  the  Mother  of  our  Lord,  and  that  her  conception  of 
Christ  took  place  through  the  ear.  He  recognizes  the  Hebrew 
canon  of  twenty-two  books,  corresponding  to  the  twenty-two 
Hebrew  letters,  or  rather  twenty-seven,  since  five  of  these  letters 
have  double  forms  Of  the  Apocrypha  he  mentions  only 
Ecclesiasticus  and  Wisdom,  and  these  as  uncanonical.  To  the 
New  Testament  canon  he  adds  the  Apostolical  Canons  cf 
Clement.  The  Sabbath  Avas  made  for  the  fleshly  Jews- 
Christians  dedicate  their  whole  time  to  God,  The  true  Sabbath 
is  the  rest  from  sin.  He  extols  virginity,  for  as  high  as  angels 
are  above  men  so  high  is  virginity  above  marriage.  Yet 
marriage  is  a  good  as  preventive  of  unchastity  and  for  tiic  sake 
of  propagation.  At  the  end  of  the  world  comes  Antichrist, 
who  is  a  man  in  whom  the  devil  lives.  He  persecutes  the 
Church,  kills  Enoch  and  Elijah,  who  are  supposed  to  appear 
again  upon  the  earth,  but  is  destroyed  by  Christ  at  his  second 
coming,^     The  resurrection  body  is  like  Christ's,  in  that  it  is 

»  Migne,  I.  c.  col.  1217. 


634  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

immutable,  passionless,  spiritual,  not  held  in  by  material  limita- 
tion, nor  dependent  upon  food.  Otherwise  it  is  the  same  as  the 
furmer.  The  fire  of  hell  is  not  material,  but  in  what  it  consists 
God  alone  knows. 

His  remaining  works  are  minor  theological  treatises,  including 
a  brief  catechism  on  the  Holy  Trinity;  controversial  loritings 
against  ]\Iohammedanism  (particularly  interesting  because  of 
the  nearness  of  their  author  to  the  beginnings  of  that  religion), 
and  against  Jacobites,  Manichseans,  Nestorians  and  Iconoclasts; 
homilies^  among  them  an  eulogy  upon  Chrysostom ;  a  comment- 
ary on  Paul's  Epistles,  taken  almost  entirely  from  Chrysos- 
tom's  homilies ;  the  sacred  Parallels,  Bible  sentences  with 
patristic  illustrations  on  doctrinal  and  moral  subjects,  arranged 
in  alphabetical  order,  for  which  a  leading  word  in  the  sentence 
serves  as  guide.  He  also  wrote  a  number  of  hymns  which 
have  been  noticed  in  a  previous  section.^ 

Besides  these,  there  is  a  writing  attributed  to  him,  Tlie  Life 
of  Barlaam  and  Joasaph,^  the  story  of  the  conversion  of  the 
only  son  of  an  Indian  King  by  a  monk  (Barlaam).  It  is  a 
monastic  romance  of  much  interest  and  not  a  little  beauty.  It 
has  been  translated  into  many  languages,  frequently  reprinted, 
and  widely  circulated.^  AVhether  John  of  Damascus  wrote  it 
is  a  question.  ]Many  things  about  it  seem  to  deroand  an  affirm- 
ative answer.*  His  materials  were  very  old,  indeed  pre-Chris- 
tian, for  the  story  is  really  a  repetition  of  the  Lalita  Vistara, 
the  legendary  life  of  Buddha.^ 

Another  ^^Titing  of  dubious  authorship  is  the  Panegyric  on 

'  Lequien  gives  thirteen  and  the  fragment  of  a  fourteenth;  but  some,  if  not 
many,  of  them  are  not  genuine. 

^  See  p.  405. 

8  Migne,  vol.  XCVI.,  col.  860- 1240. 

*  Brunei  gives  the  titles  of  Latin,  French,  Italian,  Spanish,  German,  Danish, 
Norwegian  and  Bohemian  translations.  It  was  abridged  in  English  under  the 
title  Saint  Josapkat.  Lond.,  1711.  It  appears  in  the  Oolden  Legend.  The 
Greek  text  was  first  printed  in  1832. 

5  So  Langen,  pp.  251-254.  «  Lupton,  p.  217. 


?  144.  JOHN  OF  DAMASCUS.  635 

St.  Barbara,'^  a  marvellous  tale  of  a  suffering  saint.  Compe- 
tent judges  assign  it  to  liini.^  These  two  are  characteristic 
specimens  of  monastic  legends  in  which  so  much  pious  super- 
stition was  handed  down  from  sreneratiou  to  generation. 

III.  Position.  John  of  Damascus  considered  either  as  a 
Christian  office-holder  under  a  Mohammedan  Saracenic  Caliph, 
as  the  great  defender  of  image-worship,  as  a  learned  though 
credulous  monk,  or  as  a  sweet  and  holy  poet,  is  in  every  way  an 
interesting  and  important  character.  But  it  is  as  the  summarizer 
of  the  theology  of  the  Greek  fathers  that  he  is  most,  worthy  of 
attentive  study ;  for  although  he  seldom  ventures  upon  an  ori- 
ginal remark,  he  is  no  blind,  servile  copyist.  His  great  work, 
the  "  Fount  of  Knowledge,"  was  not  only  the  summary  of  the 
theological  discussions  of  the  ancient  Eastern  Church,  which 
was  then  and  is  to-day  accepted  as  authoritative  in  that  commu- 
nion, but  by  means  of  the  Latin  translation  a  powerful  stimulus 
to  theological  study  in  the  West.  Peter  Lombard,  Thomas 
Aquinas  and  other  schoolmen  are  greatly  indebted  to  it.  The 
epithets,  "Father  of  Scholasticism"  and  "Lombard  of  the 
Greeks,"  have  been  given  to  its  author.  He  was  not  a  scho- 
lastic in  the  proper  meaning  of  that  term,  but  merely  applied 
Aristotelian  dialects  to  the  treatment  of  traditional  theology. 
Yet  by  so  doing  he  became  in  truth  the  forerunner  of  scholasti- 
cism. 

An  important  but  incidental  service  rendered  by  this  great 
Father  was  as  conserver  of  Greek  learning.  "  The  numerous 
quotations,  not  only  from  Gregory  Naziauzen,  but  from  a  multi- 
tude of  Greek  authors  besides  would  provide  a  field  of  Hellenic 
literature  sufficient  for  the  wants  of  that  generation.  In  having 
so  provided  it,  and  having  thus  become  the  initiator  of  a  warlike 
but  ill-taught  race  into  the  mysteries  of  an  earlier  civilization, 
Damascenus  is  entitled  to  the  praise  that  the  elder  Lenormant 

>  I.  c.  col.  781-813.  *  Langen,  p.  238. 


636  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

awarded  him  of  being  in  the  front  rank  of  the  master  spirits 
from  wlioin  the  genius  of  the  Arabs  drew  its  inspiration."^ 

One  other  interesting  fact  deserves  mention.  It  was  to  John 
of  Damascus  that  the  Old  Catholics  and  Oriental  and  Anglo- 
Catholics  turned  for  a  definition  of  tiie  relation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  the  Father  and  Son  which  should  afford  a  solid  basis 
of  union.-  "  He  restored  unity  to  the  Triad,  by  following  the 
ancient  theory  of  the  Greek  church,  representing  God  the  Father 
as  the  d.pirjj  and  in  this  v'iew,  the  being  of  the  Holy  Spirit  no 
less  than  the  being  of  the  Son,  as  grounded  in  and  derived  from 
the  Father.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  from  the  Father,  and  the  Spirit 
of  the  Father  ;  not  from  the  Son,  but  still  the  Spirit  of  the  Son. 
He  proceeds  from  the  Father,  the  one  d,pyy^  of  all  being,  and  he 
is  communicated  through  the  Son  ;  through  the  Son  the  whole 
creation  shares  in  the  Spirit's  work  ;  by  himself  he  creates, 
moulds,  sanctifies  all  and  binds  all  together."  ^ 

§  145.  Photius,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople. 

I.  Photius:  Opera  omnia,  in  Migne,  "Patrol.  Gr."  Tom.  CI.-CIV.  (1860). 

Also  Monumenta  Grccca  ad  Fhofiufn  ejusque  historiam  pertinentia,  ed. 
Hergcnrother.     Eegensburg,  1869. 

II.  David  Nicetas  :  Vita  Ignatii,  in  Migne,  CV.,  488-573.  The  part 
which  relates  to  Photius  begins  with  col.  509;  partly  quoted  in  CI. 
iii.  P.  DE  H.  E.  (anonymous)  :  Histoire  de  Photius.  Paris,  1772. 
Jager:  Histoire  de  Photius.  Paris,  1845,  2d  ed.,  1854.  L.  TosTi: 
iStoria  dell'  orirjine  dello  scisma  greco.  Florence,  1856,  2  vols.  A. 
Piciiler:  Gesehichte  der  hirchlichen  Trennung  zwischen  Orient  und 
Occident.  Munich,- 1864-65,  2  vols.  J.  Hergenrother:  Photius, 
Patriarch  von  Constantinopel.  Sein  Leben,  seine  Sehriften  und  das 
griechische  Schisma.  Regensburg,  1 867-69,  3  vols.  (The  Monumenta 
mentioned  above  forms  part  of  the  third  vol.)  Cf.  Du  Pix,  VII., 
105-nO;  Ceillier,  XII.,  719-734. 

Photius  was  born  in  Constantinople  in  the  first  decade  of  the 
ninth  century.  He  belonged  to  a  rich  and  distinguished  family. 
He  had  an  insatiable  thirst  for  learning,  and  included  theology 

'  Liipton,  p.  212.  2  Sohaff,  Creeds,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  552-54. 

^  Neander,  vol.  iii.,  p.  554.     Com  p.  above,  p.  307  .sqq. 


§  145.  PHOTIUS,  PATKIARCH  OF  CONSTAXTINOPLE.     637 

among  his  studies,  but  he  was  not  originally  a  theologian. 
Rather  he  was  a  courtier  and  a  diploraate.  When  Bardas  chose 
him  to  succeed  Ignatius  as  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  he  was 
captain  of  the  Emperor's  body-guard.  Gregory  of  Syracuse,  a 
bitter  enemy  of  Ignatius,  in  five  days  hurried  him  through  the 
five  orders  of  monk,  lector,  sub-deacon,  deacon,  and  presbyter, 
and  on  the  sixth  consecrated  him  patriarcli.  He  died  an  exile 
in  an  Armenian  monastery,  891. 

As  the  history  of  Photius  after  his  elevation  to  the  patriarch- 
ate has  been  already  treated,*  this  section  will  be  confined  to  a 
brief  recital  of  his  services  to  literature,  sacred  and  secular.^ 

The  greatest  of  these  was  his  so-called  Library^  Avhich  is  a 
unique  work,  being  nothing  less  than  notices,  critiques  and  ex- 
tracts of  two  hundred  and  eighty  works  of  the  most  diverse  kinds, 
which  he  had  read.  Of  the  authors  quoted  about  eighty  are 
known  to  us  only  through  this  work.  The  Library  was  the  re- 
sponse to  the  wish  of  his  brother  Tarasius,  and  Avas  composed  while 
Photius  was  a  layman.  The  majority  of  the  works  mentioned 
are  theological,  the  rest  are  grammatical,  lexical,  rhetorical,  im- 
aginative, historical,  philosophical,  scientific  and  medical.  Xo 
poets  are  mentioned  or  quoted,  except  the  authors  of  three  or 
four  metrical  paraphrases  of  portions  of  Scripture.  The  works 
are  all  in  Greek,  either  as  originals  or,  as  in  the  case  of  a  few,  in 
Latin  translations.  Gregory  the  Great  and  Cassian  are  the  only 
Latin  ecclesiastical  writers  with  whom  Photius  betrays  any  inti- 
mate acquaintance.  As  far  as  profane  literature  is  concerned,  the 
Library  makes  the  best  exhibit  in  history,  and  the  poorest  in 
grammar.  Romances  are  mentioned,  also  miscellanies.  In  the 
religious  part  of  his  work  Chrysostom  and  Athanasius  are  most 
prominent.     Of  the  now  lost  works  mentioned  by  Photius  the 

1  Cf.  chapter  V.  pp.  312-317. 

2  Cf.  the  exhaustive  anal_vsis  of  his  works  by  Hergenrofher  (vol.  iii.  pp.  3- 
260. 

'  Bihliotheca  or  TAvpiojU^'kiov,  Migne,  CIII.,  CIV.  coh  9-356  ;  Hergenrother, 
III.  pp.  13-31. 


(338  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

most  important  is  by  an  anonymous  Constantinopolitan  author 
of  tlie  first  half  of  the  seventh  century,  who  in  fifteen  books 
presented  testimonies  in  favor  of  Christianity  by  different  Greek, 
Persian,  Thracian,  Egyptian,  Babylonian,  Chaldean  and  Jewish 
scholars. 

Unique  and  inyaluable  as  the  Library  is,  it  has  been  criticized 
because  more  attention  is  given  to  some  minor  works  than  to 
other  important  ones;  the  criticisms  are  not  always  fair  or 
worthy;  the  works  spoken  of  are  really  few,  while  a  much 
larger  anthology  might  have  been  made;  and  again  there  is  no 
order  or  method  in  the  selection.  It  is,  however,  to  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  object  of  the  work  was  to  mention  only  those 
books  which  had  been  read  in  the  circle  to  which  he  and  his 
brother  belonged,  during  the  absence  of  the  latter ;  that  it  was 
hastily  jirepared,  and  was  to  have  been  followed  by  a  second.^ 
Taking  these  facts  into  consideration  there  is  nothing  but  praise 
to  be  given  to  the  great  scholar  who  in  a  wholly  undesigned 
fashion  has  laid  posterity  under  heavy  obligation  by  jotting 
down  his  criticisms  upon  or  making  excerpts  of  the  more  im- 
portant works  Avhich  came  under  his  observation  dui'ing  a  com- 
paratively short  space  of  time. 

Among  the  Greek  fathers,  he  esteems  most  highly  Athanasius, 
Chrysostom,  Basil,  Gregory  Nazianzen,  Epiphanius,  Ephrsem, 
Cyril  of  Alexandria,  the  fictitious  Diouysius  the  Areopagite, 
and  Maximus;  among  the  Latin  fathers,  Leo.  I.  and  Gregory  I. 
He  recognizes  also  Ambrose,  Augustin,  and  Jerome  as  fathers, 
but  often  disputes  their  views.  Of  the  ante-Nicene  writers  he 
lias  a  rather  low  opinion,  because  they  did  not  come  up  to  his 
standard  of  orthodoxy;  he  charges  Origen  ^\•ith  blasphemous 
errors,  and  Eusebius  with  Arianism. 

One  of  the  earlier  works  of  Photius,  perhaps  his  earliest, 
was  his  Greek  Lexicon,^  Avhich  he  began  in  his  youth  and  com- 

>  Hergenrotlier,  p.  14,  28-31. 

'  Best  edition,   by  Dobrde,  ^uriov  U^eu\  awayuy?;.      Photii  Lexicon  e  codice 


§  145.  PHOTIUS,  PATRIAECH  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.     639 

pleted  before  tlie  Library,  although  he  revised  it  from  time  to 
time.  He  made  use  of  the  glossaries  and  lexica  of  former 
workers,  whose  names  he  has  preserved  in  his  Library,  and  has 
been  in  turn  used  by  later  lexicographers,  e.  g.  Suidas  (ninth 
century).  Photius  designed  to  remove  the  difficulties  in  the 
reading  of  the  earlier  and  classic  Greek  profane  and  sacred  lite- 
rature. To  this  end  he  paid  particular  attention  to  the  expla- 
nation of  the  old  Attic  expressions  and  figures  of  speech. 

The  most  important  of  the  theological  works  of  Photius  is 
the  'Amphilochian  Questions^ — so  called  because  these  questions 
had  been  asked  by  his  friend,  Amphilochius,  metropolitan  of 
Lyzikus.  The  work  consists  of  three  hundred  and  twenty-four 
discussions,  mostly  in  biblical  exegesis,  but  also  dogmatical, 
philosophical,  mythological,  grammatical,  historical,  medical, 
and  scientific.  Like  the  other  works  of  Photius  it  displays 
rare  learning  and  ability.  It  was  composed  during  his  first 
exile,  and  contains  many  complaints  of  lack  of  books  and  ex- 
cerpts. It  has  no  plan,  is  very  disjointed,  unequal,  and  evi- 
dently was  written  at  different  times.  Many  of  the  answers  are 
taken  literally  from  the  works  of  others.  The  same  question  is 
sometimes  repeatedly  discussed  in  different  ways.^ 

Although  it  is  doubtful  whether  Photius  composed  a  complete 
commentary  on  any  book  of  the  Old  Testament,  it  is  very  likely 
that  he  wrote  on  the  Gospels  and  on  Romans,  Corinthians  and 
Hebrews,  since  in  the  printed  and  unprinted  catence  upon  these 
books  there  are  found  many  citations  of  Photius.^  No  such 
commentary  as  a  unit,  however,  now  exists. 

Two  canonical  works  are  attributed  to  Photius,  "  A  Collection 

Galeano  descripsit  R.  Porsonus.  London.  1822,  2  vols.  ;  reprinted  1823  in 
Leipzio:. 

1  Migne,  CI.  col.  45-1172. 

2  Her^enrother  (vol.  iii.,  pp.  31  sqq.)  tells  at  length  the  curious  .storv  of  the 
sinjrnlar  wav  in  which  the  Amphilochia  has  gradually  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  modern  scholars. 

»  Collected  in  Migne,  I.  c.  col.  1189-1253 


640  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

of  Canons"  and  "A  Collection  of  Ecclesiastical  and  Civil  Laws."^ 
To  these  some  add  a  third.  The  second  of  these  works,  the 
Numocanon,  is  authoritative  on  canonical  law  in  the  Greek 
Church.^  The  word  "Nomocanon"  itself  is  the  Greek  name  for 
a  combination  of  ecclesiastical  laws  (/avov£7)  and  secular,  espe- 
cially imperial,  laws  [v6[iot).  Photius  made  such  a  collection  in 
883,  on  the  basis  of  earlier  collections.  It  contains  (1)  the 
canons  of  the  seven  universally  accepted  oecumenical  conncils 
(325-787),  of  the  TruHan  council  of  692  (Quinisexta),  the 
synods  of  861  and  879;  and  (2)  the  laws  of  Justinian  relative 
to  the  Greek  Church.  Photius  was  not  only  a  collector  of 
canonical  laws,  but  also  a  legislator  and  commentator.  The 
canons  of  the  councils  held  by  him  in  861  and  879,  and  his 
canonical  letters  or  decretals  had  a  great  and  jjermauent  influ- 
ence upon  Greek  canonical  law.  The  Nomocanon  was  enlarge<l 
and  commented  on  by  BaLsamon  in  the  twelfth  centuiy,  and  is 
usually  published  in  connection  with  these  commentaries.  It 
is  used  in  the  orthodox  church  of  Russia  under  the  name 
Konnczia  Kniga,  i.  e.,  "  The  Book  for  the  Pilot."  As  in  his 
other  works,  he  builded  upon  the  foundations  of  his  predecessors. 
The  historical  and  dogmatico-polemical  writings  of  Photius 
may  be  divided  into  two  classes,  those  against  the  Paulicians  or 
Manichseans,  and  tho.se  against  the  Roman  Church.  In  the  first 
class  are  four  books  Avhich  bear  in  the  editions  the  general  title 
"  Against  the  new  Manichseans."  ^  The  first  is  a  history  of  the  old 
and  new  Manichseans,  written  during  Photius'  first  patriarchate, 

'  Commonly  ciilled  Syntagma  Canonum,  Migne,  CIV.  col.  441-976,  and  No- 
mocanon, ibid.  col.  970-1217. 

■■'  The  Nomocanon  is  minutely  discussed  by  Hergenrother,  I.  c  iii.  92-128. 
See  also  F.  A.  Biener,  Geschichte  der  Novellen  Justinians,  Berlin,  1824;  and  De 
Collectionibus  canonum  ecclesice  Grcecce.  Schediasma  litlerarium.  Berlin,  1827. 
Card.  J.  B.  Pitra,  Juris  eccles.  Grcec.  historia  et  monnmenta.  Rome,  1868.  Her- 
genrother, Griech.  Kirchenrecht  bis  zum  Ende  des  9tcn.  Jahrhunderls.  Mainz, 
1870. 

*  Au/yrjaic  '"''pi  'vg  ruv  veo(pavTo)v  Uavixai(-iv  avafi^aaT/'/aeug,  in  Migne,  CII. 
col.  16-264.     Cf.  Hergenrother,  I.  c.  iii.  143-153. 


2  145.  PHOTIUS,  PATEIAECH  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.     G41 

and  apparently  largely  borrowed  from  a  contemporary  author ; 
the  remaining  three  are  polemical  treatises  upon  the  new  Man- 
ichaeans,  in  which  biblical  rather  than  philosophical  arguments 
are  relied  upon,  and  mostly  those  M^hich  had  already  been  used 
against  the  Manichseans. 

The  works  against  the  Latin  Church  embrace  (1)  The  Mys~ 
tagogia,  or  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  his  most  important 
writing  against  the  Latins.^  It  is  a  discussion  of  the  procession 
alone,  not  of  the  personality  and  divinity,  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  for 
upon  these  latter  points  there  was  no  difference  l)etween  the 
Latin  and  Greek  Churches.  It  appears  to  be  entirely  original 
with  Photius.^  It  is  characterized  by  acuteness  and  great  dia- 
lectical skill.  There  exists  an  epitome  of  this  book,'  but  it  is 
doubtful  whether  Photius  himself  made  it.  (2)  A  collection* 
of  ten  questions  and  answers  upon  such  matters  as,  "In  what 
respects  have  the  Romans  acted  unjustly?"  "How  many  and 
what  true  patriarchs  are  not  recognized  by  the  Romans,  except 
compromisingly?"  "Which  emperor  contends  for  the  peace  of 
the  Church?"  The  collection  has  great  historical  interest, 
since  it  embraces  materials  which  otherwise  would  bo  entirely 
lost.  (3)  Treatise  against  the  Roman  primacy.  (4)  Tractate 
against  the  Franks,  from  which  there  are  extracts  in  the  Korm- 
czaia  Knlga  of  the  Oriental  Slavs,  which  was  extensively  circu- 
lated in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  enjoys  among  the  Russians 
great  authority  as  a  book  of  canonical  law.  It  has  been  attrib- 
uted to  Photius,  but  in  its  present  shape  is  not  his.'*  (5)  His 
famous  Encyclical  Letter  to  the  Eastern  Patriarclis,  written  in 
867.« 

The  genuine  works  of  Photius  include  besides  those  already 

1  Liher  de  S.  Splritus  Mystagogia,  first  published  by  Hergenrotber  at  Regens- 
burg,  1857;  comp.  his  Photius,  III.  154-160,  and  Migne,  CII.  280-400.  The 
word  fivarayuyia  is  used  in  the  same  sense  as  kpnXo-yia  or  ^eoAoyla,  sacra  dodrina. 

2  Hergpnrolher,  Photius,  III.  157.  » Ibid.  lGO-165. 

*  ^vvayoyal  Kal  aTrdiei^Eiq  aKpi^elg,  in  Migne,  CIV.  col.  1220-1232. 

*  Hergenrother,  /.  c  p.  174.  *  See  above,  p.  314  sq. 

41 


642  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A. D.  590-1049. 

mentioned  three  books  of  letters  ^  of  different  contents,  private 
and  public,  written  generally  in  verbose  style ;  homilies,^  two 
printed  entire  and  two  in  fragments  and  twenty  unprinted ; 
several  ijoems^  and  moral  sentences,  probably  a  compilation. 
Several  other  works  attributed  to  Photius  are  only  of  doubtful 

genuineness. 

§  146.  Simeon  Iletaphrastes. 

I.  Simeon  Metaphrastes  :  Opera  omnia,  in  Migue,  Patrol.  Gr.  Tom. 

CXIV.-CXVI. 

II.  Panegyric  by  Psellus,  in  Migne,  CXIV.  col.  200-208 ;  Leo   Al- 

LATirs :  De  Symeonum  scriptis,  in  Migne,  CXIV.  col.  19-148 ;  and 
the  Preface  to  Migne's  ed.  Cf.  Du  Pm,  VIII.  3 ;  Ceillier,  XII. 
814-819. 

This  voluminous  author  probably  lived  in  Constantinople 
during  the  reigns  of  Leo  the  Philosopher  (886-911)  and  Con- 
stantine  Porphyrogenitus  (911-959).*  He  was  the  Imperial 
Secretary,  High  Chancellor  and  Master  of  the  Palace,  \yhen 
somewhat  advanced  in  years  he  was  sent  by  the  Emperor  Leo 
on  a  mission  to  the  Cretan  Arabs  for  the  purpose,  which  was 
aa-omplished,  of  turning  them  from  their  proposed  campaign 
againi;t  the  Thessalonians.  It  was  on  this  journey  that  he  met 
on  the  island  of  Pharos,  an  anchorite,  who  suggested  to  him 
the  writing  of  the  lives  of  the  saints  and  martyrs. 

To  this  collection  Simeon  owes  his  fame.^  He  apparently 
never  carried  out  his  original  plan,  which  was  to  cover  the  year, 
for  the  genuine  Lives  of  his  now  extant  are  nearly  all  of  Sep- 
tember (the  first  month  of  the  Greek  Church  year),  October,  No- 
vember and  December.  The  remaining  months  have  very  few. 
But  how  many  he  wrote  cannot  be  determined.  Allatius  credits 
him  with  only  one  hundred  and  twenty-two.     MSS.  attributed 

'  Migne,  CIL,  col.  585-989.    They  are  analyzed  by  Dn  Pin,  I.  c.  106-109. 

*  Migne.  CIL,  col.  548-576.  s  Ibid.  col.  577-584. 

*  Cf.  Gass  in  Herzog2  IX.  pp.  677-679. 

^  It  is  found  in  Migne,  and  utilized  in  the  great  hagiographies  of  A.  Lippo- 
mani  (Paris,  1551-60,  8  vols.),  Surius  (Cologne,  1570-79,  6  vole.)  and  the  Bol- 
landista  (1643-1675,  61  vols.). 


§2  147, 148.  CECUMENIUS  AND  THEOPHYLACT.  643 

to  him  are  found  in  the  libraries  of  Munich,  Venice,  Florence, 
Madrid,  Paris,  London  and  elsewhere.  The  character  of  his 
work  is  sufficiently  indicated  by  his  epithet  Simeon  the  Para- 
phraser,  given  to  him  because  he  turned  "  the  ancient  lives  of 
the  saints  into  another  sort  of  a  style  than  that  wherein  they 
were  formerly  written."  ^  He  used  old  material  in  most  cases, 
and  sometimes  he  did  no  more  than  edit  it,  at  other  times  he 
re-wrote  it,  with  a  view  to  make  it  more  accurate  or  attractive. 
Some  of  the  lives  are,  however,  original  compositions.  His 
work  is  of  very  unequal  value,  and  as  his  credulity  led  him 
to  admit  very  doubtful  matter,  it  must  be  used  with  caution. 
However,  he  deserves  thanks  for  his  diligence  in  rescuing  from 
obscurity  many  now  illustrious  names. 

Besides  the  Lives,  nine  Epistles,  several  sermons,  orations, 
hymns,  and  a  canonical  epitome  bear  his  name.^  The  Simeonis 
Chronicon  is  probably  the  work  of  a  Simeon  of  the  twelfth 
century. 

§  147.   (Eeumenius. 

I.  CEcuMENIlJS :  Opera  omnia,  in  Migne,  Patrol.  Gr.  Tom.  CXVIII., 
CXIX.,  col.  726,  reprint  of  ed.  of  Hentenius.  Paris,  1630-31,  2  vols, 
fol.    Ceillier,  XII.  913,  914. 

(EcuMENius  was  bishop  of  Tricca,  in  Thessaly,  toward  the 
close  of  the  10th  century,  and  wrote  a  commentary  upon  the 
Acts,  the  Epistles  of  Paul  and  the  Catholic  Epistles,  which  is 
only  a  catena,  drawn  from  twenty-three  Fathers  and  writers  of 
the  Greek  Church,^  with  an  occasional  original  comment.  The 
work  displays  taste  and  judgment. 

§  148.   Theophylact. 

I.  Theophylact  :  Opera  omnia,  in  Migne,  Patrol.  Gr.  Tom.  CXXIII.- 
CXXVI.,  reprint  of  ed.  of  DE  RuBEis.  Venice,  1754-63,  4  vols.  fol. 
Du  Pin,  IX.  108,  109;  Neander,  III.  584-^86 ;  Ceillier,  XIII. 

554r-558. 

1  Du  Pin,  in  loco.  ^  Migne,  CXI V.  col.  209-292. 

^  Their  names  are  given  in  Migne,  CXVIII.  col.  9. 


644  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Theophylact,  the  most  learned  exegete  of  the  Greek  Church 
in  his  day,  was  probably  born  at  Euripus, '  on  the  Island  of 
Euboea,  in  the  -^gcan  Sea.  Very  little  is  known  about  him. 
He  lived  under  the  Greek  Emperors  Roraanus  TV.  Diogenes 
(10G7-1071),  Michael  VII.  Ducas  Parapinaces  (1071-1078), 
Nicephorus  III.  Botoniates  (1078-1081),  Alexius  I.  Comnenus 
(1081-1118).  The  early  part  of  his  life  he  spent  in  Constan- 
tinople ;  and  on  account  of  his  learning  and  virtues  was  chosen 
tutor  to  Prince  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus,  the  son  of  Mi- 
chael Ducas.  From  1078  until  after  1107  he  was  archbishop 
of  Achrida  and  metropolitan  of  Bulgaria.  He  ruled  his  diocese 
in  an  independent  manner,  but  his  letters  show  the  difficulties 
he  had  to  contend  with.     It  is  not  known  when  he  died. 

His  fame  rests  upon  his  commentary^  on  the  Gospels,  Acts, 
Pauline,  and  Catholic  Epistles;  and  on  Hosea,  Jonah,  Nahum 
and  Ilabakkuk,  which  has  recently  received  the  special  com- 
mendation of  such  exegetes  as  De  Wette  and  Meyer.  It  is 
drawn  from  the  older  writers,  especially  from  Chrysostom,  but 
Theophylact  shows  true  exegetical  insight,  explaining  the  text 
clearly  and  making  many  original  remarks  of  great  value. 

Besides  his  commentary,  his  works  embrace  orations  on  the 
Adoration  of  the  Oross,^  the  Presentation  of  the  Virgin*  and  on 
the  Emperor  Alexius  Comnenus  ;^  a  treatise  on  the  Education 
of  Princes;^  a  History  of  Fifteen  Martyrdoms;'^  and  an  Ad- 
dress on  the  Errors  of  the  Latin  Church}  Two  of  these  call  for 
further  mention.  The  Education  of  Princes  is  addressed  to  Con- 
stantine Porphyrogenitus.  It  is  in  two  books,  of  which  the 
first  is  historical  and  discourses  upon  the  parents  of  the  prince, 
the  second  discusses  his  duties  and  trials.  It  was  formerly  a 
very  popular  work.     It  is  instructive  to  compare  it  with  the 

»  This  is  the  name  likewise  of  the  narrowest  part  of  tlie  Euboic  Sea. 
»  Migne,  CXXIII.-CXXVI.  col.  104. 

*  Migne,  CXXVI.  col.  105-129.  *  Ibid.  col.  129-144. 

6  J  but.  col.  288-305.  6  7^/^.  coi_  253-285. 

T  Ibid.  col.  152-2'.'l.  8  jificl.  col.  221-249. 


U  147,  148.  (ECUMENIUS  AND  THEOPHYLACT.  645 

similar  works  by  Paulinus,  Alcuin,  and  Smaragdus.^  The  Ad- 
dress is  the  most  interesting  work  of  Theophylact.  It  is  writ- 
ten in  a  singularly  conservative  and  moderate  strain,  although 
it  discusses  the  two  great  matters  in  dispute  between  the  Greek 
and  Latin  Churches, — the  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
the  bread  of  the  Eucharist.  Of  these  matters  Theophylact  con- 
sidered the  first  only  important,  and  upon  it  took  unhesitatingly 
the  full  Greek  position  of  hostility  to  the  Latins.  Yet  his  fair- 
ness comes  out  in  the  remark  that  the  error  of  the  Latins  may 
be  due  to  the  poverty  of  their  language  which  compelled  them 
to  "  employ  the  same  term  to  denote  the  causality  of  the  com- 
munication of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  causality  of  his  being. 
The  Latins,  he  observed,  moreover,  might  retain  the  less  ac- 
curate forms  of  expression  in  their  homiletic  discourses,  if  they 
only  guarded  against  misconception,  by  carefully  explaining 
their  meaning.  It  was  only  in  the  confession  of  faith  in  the 
symbol,  that  perfect  clearness  was  requisite."  ^  In  regard  to 
the  bread  of  the  Eucharist  the  Latins  held  that  it  should  be  un- 
leavened, the  Greeks  that  it  should  be  leavened.  Each  church 
claimed  to  follow  the  usage  of  Christ.  Theophylact  admitted 
that  Christ  used  unleavened  bread,  but  maintained  that  His 
example  in  this  respect  is  not  binding,  for  if  it  were  in  this 
then  it  would  be  in  everything  connected  Math  the  Supper,  and 
it  would  be  necessary  to  use  barley  bread  and  the  wine  of  Pales- 
tine, to  recline  at  table  and  to  hold  the  Supper  in  a  hall  or 
upper  room.  But  there  is  such  a  thing  as  Christian  liberty,  and 
the  kind  of  bread  to  be  used  is  one  of  the  things  which  this 
liberty  allows.  Upon  both  these  points  of  fierce  and  long  con- 
troversy he  counseled  continual  remembrance  of  the  common 
Christian  faith  and  the  common  Christian  fellowship. 

>  Viz.  Exhortations,  On  Virtues  and  Vices,  and  Way  of  the  King,  spoken  of 
farther  on. 
*  Neander,  /.  e.  p.  586. 


646  FOURTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

§  149.  Michael  Psellus. 

I.  Michael  Psellus:  Opera,  in  Migne,  Patrol.  Gr.,  Tom.  CXXIL,  col. 

477-1358.    His  Hist.  Byzant.  et  alia  opuscula,  ed.  by  Constantin  Sathas. 

Paris,  1874. 
n.  Leo  Allatius:   Diatriba  de  Psellis,  in  Migne,  I.  c,  col.  477-536. 

Ceillier,  XIII.  335-337. 

Michael  Psellus,  the  third  of  the  five  of  that  name 
mentioned  by  Allatius,  was  born  of  a  consular  and  patrician 
family  in  Constantinople  about  1020.  He  took  naturally  to 
study,  and  denied  himself  the  amusements  and  recreations  of 
youth  in  order  that  he  might  make  all  the  more  rapid  progress. 
Having  completed  his  studies  at  Athens,  he  returned  to  Con- 
stimtinople,  and  was  appointed  chief  professor  of  philosophy. 
Constantine  Monomachus  invited  him  to  his  court,  and  entrusted 
him  with  secular  business.  He  then  turned  his  attention  from 
philosophy  and  rhetoric  to  theology,  physics,  medicine,  mathe- 
matics, astronomy  and  military  science.  In  short,  he  explored  the 
entire  domain  of  knowledge,  and  as  his  memory  was  tenacious, 
he  was  able  to  retain  ever>i:hing  he  studied.  "  It  has  been  said 
that  in  him  human  nature  yielded  up  its  inmost  powers  in  order 
that  he  might  ward  oif  the  downfall  of  Greek  learning-."  ^  He 
was  made  the  tutor  of  Michael  Ducas,  the  future  emperor,  who 
when  he  came  to  the  throne  retained  him  in  his  councils. 
Psellus,  of  course,  took  the  Greek  position  upon  the  FUioque 
question,  and  thwarted  the  movement  of  Peter,  bishop  of 
Anagni,  to  establish  peace  between  the  Greek  and  Latin 
duin-hes.  When  Michael  Ducas  was  deposed  (1078),  he  was 
dcjirived  of  his  professorship,  and  so  he  retired  to  a  monastery, 
where  he  died.     The  last  mention  of  him  is  made  in  1105. 

Psellus  was  a  prolific  author,  but  many  of  his  writings  are 
unprintwl,  and  many  are  lost.^  Of  the  theological  works  which 
have  been  printed  the  most  important  are  : 

'  Ga88  in  Herzog,*  s.  r.  xii.  340. 

•  See  IiBlB  in  Allatius,  Diatriba,  in  Migne,  CXXII.  col.  498-532. 


2  149.  MICHAEL  PSELLUS.  647 

(1)  Exposition  of  the  Song  of  Songs, ^  a  paraphrase  in  verse 
with  a  coinmentary  and  excerpts  from  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  Nilus, 
and  Maximus. 

(2)  A  Learned  Miscellany^  in  157  paragraphs,  in  which  nearly 
everything  is  treated  of,  from  the  relations  of  the  persons  of  the 
Trinity  to  the  rise  of  the  Nile  and  the  changes  of  the  weather. 
It  is  one  of  those  prodigies  of  learning  which  really  indicate 
the  comparative  ignorance  of  the  past,  and  are  now  mere 
curiosities. 

(3)  The  Operations  of  Demons^  an  attack,  in  the  form  of  a 
dialogue,  upon  the  Euchites,  whom  he  charges  with  revolt- 
ing and  disgusting  crimes,  under  the  prompting  of  demons. 
But  he  passes  on  to  discuss  the  subject  more  broadly  and  rest- 
ing on  the  testimony  of  a  certain  monk  who  had  actually  seen 
demons  he  teaches  their  perpetual  activity  in  human  affairs  ; 
that  they  can  propagate  their  species ;  and  go  anywhere  at  will 
under  either  a  male  or  female  form.  From  them  come  diseases 
and  innumerable  woes.  The  book  is  very  curious,  and  has  per- 
manent value  as  a  contribution  to  the  demonology  of  the  Middle 
Ages. 

Twelve  letters  of  Psellus  have  been  printed.*  His  panegyric 
upon  Simeon  Metaphrastes  has  already  been  mentioned.^  He 
wrote  a  criticism  of  the  eloquence  of  Gregory  the  Theologian, 
Basil,  and  Chrysostom/  and  celebrated  these  Fathers  also  in 
verse,^ 

Besides  certain  legal  and  philosophical  treatises  he  wrote  a 
poem  on  Doctrine^  and  a  metrical  Synopsis  of  Law? 

1  '^pfirjvsia  Kara  napaippaciv  tov  aa/xaroc  ruv  da^aruv.     Ibid.  col.  537-685. 
'  i^idaaKokia  navrodairfj.     Ibid.  col.  688-784. 
'  Tlepl  evepyeiac  6aifi6vuv.     Ibid.  col.  820-876. 

*  'EntarolnL     Ibid.  col.  1161-1185.  6  See  p.  642. 
«  XapaKTvpec.     Migne,  CXXII.  col.  901-908. 

7  Ibid.  col.  908-910. 

8  Uepl  Soy/xaToc.     Ibid.  col.  812-817. 

*  j,vvofig  Tuv  v6[j.uv.    Ibid.  col.  925-974. 


648  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

§  150.  Euthymius  Zigabenus. 

I.  Euthymius  Zigabenus  :  Opera  omnia,  in  Migne,  Patrol.  Gr.,  Tom. 

CXXVIII.-CXXXI. 

II.  See  the  Prolegomena  in  Migne.     Ceillier,  XIV.  150-155. 

Euthymius  Zigabenus  (or  Zigadenus)  was  a  learned  and 
able  Greek  monk  of  the  order  of  St.  Basil  in  the  convent  of 
the  Virgin  Mary  near  Constantinople,  and  enjoyed  the  marked 
favor  of  the  emperor  Alexius  Comnenus  (1081-1118)  and  his 
wife  Anna.^  Being  requested  by  Alexius  to  refute  the  Bogo- 
miles,  who  had  become  alarmingly  numerous,  he  was  led  to 
prepare  an  extensive  work  upon  heresy,  entitled  The  Panoj^ly? 
Among  the  heretics  he  included  the  Pantheists,  Jews,  the  Pope 
and  the  Latins.  His  materials  were  the  decisions  of  councils 
and  the  Greek  Fathers  and  other  writers,  including  some  other- 
wise unknown.^  In  this  important  work  and  in  separate  treat- 
ises *  he  imparts  much  valuable  historical  information  respecting 
the  Bogomiles,  Massalians,  Armenians,  Paulicians,  and  even 
about  the  Jews  and  Mohammedans,  although  it  is  evident  that 
he  was  not  well  informed  about  the  last,  and  was  much  preju- 
diced against  them.  Like  other  Greeks,  he  finds  the  latter  here- 
tical upon  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  upon  the  bread 
of  the  Eucharist.  Besides  the  Panoply,  Euthymius  wrote  com- 
mentaries upon  the  Psalms,'  much  dependent  upon  Chrysostom, 
and  on  the  Gospels,^  more  independent  and  exhibiting  exegetical 
tact  which  in  the  judgment  of  some  puts  him  next  to  Theophy- 
lact. 

»  In  her  Alcxiad  (XV.  490,  Migne,  CXXXI.  col.  1176)  she  extols  his  learn- 
ing and  piety. 

••'  Migne,  CXXX. 

'  Mif^ne  gives  tlie  sources. 

*  Contra  Massalianos;  Contra  Boqnmiloa  ;  Disputatio  de  fide  eum  philosopho 
Saraceno ;  Dialogus  Christiani  cum  Ismaelua  (all  in  Migne,  CXXXI.  coh  40- 
48;  48-57;  20-37;  37-40). 

s  Migne,  CXXVIII.  col.  41-end. 

«  Migne,  CXXIX.  col.  107-end. 


5  151.  EUSTATHIUS  OF  THESSALONICA.  649 

§  151.  Eustaihius  of  Thessalonica. 

I.  EUSTATHITTS :  Opera  omnia  in  Migne,  Patrol.  Gr.  Tom.  CXXXV.  col. 

517;  CXXXVI.  col.  764  (reprint  of  L.  F.  Tafel's  ed.  of  the  Upuscula. 
Frankfort,  1832,  and  appendix  to  De  Thessalonica.  Berlin,  1839. 
Tafel  published  a  translation  of  Eustathius'  'ETriaKsfig  fiiov  fiovaxiKov. 
Betraddungen  iiber  den  Monchstand.  Berlin,  1847.  The  valuable 
De  capta  Thessalonica  narratio  was  reprinted  from  Tafel  in  a  vol.  of 
the  "Corpus  scriptorum  historiiB  Byzantinae"  (Bonn,  1842,  pp.  365- 
512),  accompanied  with  a  Latin  translation. 

II.  The  funeral  orations  by  Euthymius  of  Neopatria  and  Michael 

Choniates  in  Migne,  Patrol.  Gr.  CXXXVI.  col.  756-764,  and  CXL. 
col.  337-361.  Fabricius:  Bibliotheca  Grceca,  ed.  Harless,  XI.  282-84. 
Neander,  IV.  530-533,  and  his  essay,  Characteristic;  des  Eustathius 
von  Thessalonich  in  seiner  reformatorischen  Richtung,  1841,  reprinted 
in  his  "  Wissenschaftliche  Abhandlungen,"  Berlin,  1851,  pp.  6-21, 
trans,  in  Kitto's  "  Journal  of  Sacred  Literature,"  vol.  IV.,  pp.  101  sqq. 

Eustathius,  archbishop  of  Thessalonica  and  metropolitan, 
the  most  learned  man  of  his  day,  was  born  in  Constantinople, 
and  lived  under  the  Greek  emperors  from  John  Comnenus  to 
Isaac  II.  AngeluS;  i.  e.,  between  1118  and  1195.  His  proper 
name  is  unknown,  that  of  Eustathius  having  been  assumed  on 
taking  monastic  vows.  His  education  was  carried  on  in  the 
convent  of  St.  Euphemia,  but  he  became  a  monk,  in  the  convent 
of  St.  Florus.  He  early  distinguished  himself  for  learning, 
piety  and  eloquence,  and  thus  attracted  the  notice  of  the  Emperor 
Manuel,  who  made  him  successively  tutor  to  his  son  John,  dea- 
con of  St.  Sophia  and  master  of  petitions,  a  court  position.  In 
the  last  capacity  he  presented  at  least  one  petition  to  the  Empe- 
ror, that  from  the  Constantinopolitans  during  a  severe  drought.' 

To  this  period  of  his  life  probably  belong  those  famous 
commentaries   upon   the   classic   authors,^  by   which  alone   he 

*  Manuel  was  warlike  and  dissolute  and  ground  the  people  down  under 
heavy  taxes.  The  petition  alluded  to  is  given  in  Migne,  CXXXV.  col.  925- 
932.     Cf.  Gibbon,  Harpers'  ed.  V.  81,  82. 

*  Homer,  Dionysius  Periegetes  the  geographer,  Pindar  and  probably  Aristo- 
phanes. His  "  va=!t  commentary"  on  Homer  is  a  perfect  storehouse  of  classical 
learning  and  Homeric  criticism,  and  has  unique  value  from  its  numerous  ex- 
tracts of  lost  scholia.     It  was  first  published  and  beautifully  printed,  at  Rome, 


050  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

wtLs  known  until  Tafel  published  his  theological  and  histori- 
cal works.  But  Providence  designed  Eustathius  to  play  a  prom- 
incut  part  in  practical  affairs,  and  so  the  Emperor  Manuel 
appointed  him  bishop  of  Myra/  the  capital  of  Lycia  in  Asia 
Minor  and  ere  he  had  entered  on  this  office  transferred  him 
to  the  archbishopric  of  Thessalonica  (1175).  He  was  a  model 
bishop,  pious,  faithful,  unselfish,  unsparing  in  rebuke  and  wise 
in  counsel,  "  one  of  those  pure  characters  so  rarely  met  among 
the  Greeks — a  man  who  well  knew  the  failings  [superstition, 
mock-holiness  and  indecorous  frivolity]  of  his  nation  and  his 
times,  which  he  was  more  exempt  from  than  any  of  his  contem- 
poraries."^ His  courage  was  conspicuous  on  several  occasions. 
The  Emperor  Manuel  in  a  synod  at  Constantinople  in  1180 
attempted  to  have  abrogated  the  formula  of  adjuration,  "Ana- 
thema to  Mohammed's  God,  of  whom  he  says  that  he  neither 
be"i;at  nor  was  begotten,"  which  all  who  came  over  from  Moham- 
medanism  to  Christianity  had  to  repeat.  Manuel  argued  that 
this  formula  was  both  blasphemous  and  prejudicial  to  the  spread 
of  Christianity  in  Islam.  But  Eustathius  dared  to  brave 
the  emperor's  rage  and  deny  the  truth  of  this  argument.  The 
result  was  a  modification  of  the  formula.^  Although  Manuel 
threatened  to  impeach  Eustathius,  he  really  did  not  withdraw 
his  favor,  and  the  archbishop  was  summoned  to  preach  the 
sermon  at  the  emperor's  funeral.^     When  in  1185  Thessalonica 

1542-50,  4  vols.  Perhaps  tidings  of  its  prospective  issue  had  reached  Zwingli ; 
for  his  friend  Jnmes  Amman  writes  to  him  from  Milan  on  April  19,  1520, 
evidently  in  answer  to  his  queries  :  Commentaria  Eustathii  in  Homcrum  Medio- 
lani  non  extant,  nee  satis  compertum  haheo,  num  Romce  an  vel  alibi  excusa  sint  ; 
nemo  id  me  edocere  potest.  Zwingli,  Opera,  VII.  131.  The  Prooemium  to  Pin- 
dar, all  that  is  now  extant,  is  given  in  Migne,  CXXXVI.  col.  369-372  (Greek 
only).  The  commentary  on  Dionysius  Periegetes  was  first  printed  by  Eobert 
Stephens,  Paris,  1547. 

1  See  his  Allocutio  ad  Imperatorem  cum  esset  Myrorum  metropolita  eleciiis  in 
Migne,  CXXXV.  col.  933-973. 

«  Neander.  IV.  530-531.  s  Ibid.  535. 

*  Migne,  CXXXV.  col.  973-1032. 


§  151.  EUSTATHIUS  OF  THESSALONICA.  651 

was  sacked  by  Count  Alduin  acting  under  William  II.  of 
Sicily,  Eustathius  remained  in  the  city  and  by  direct  personal 
effort  procured  some  alleviation  of  the  people's  sufferings,  and 
defended  their  worship  against  the  fanatical  Latins.*  Again, 
he  interposed  his  influence  to  keep  the  Thessalonians  from  the 
rapacity  of  the  imperial  tax-gatherers.  But  notwithstanding 
his  high  character  and  unsparing  exertions  on  behalf  of  Thes- 
salouica  there  were  enough  persons  there  who  were  incensed 
against  him  by  his  plain  speaking  to  effect  his  banishment. 
This  probably  happened  during  the  reign  of  the  infamous  An- 
dronicus  (1180-1183),  who  was  unfriendly  to  Eustathius.  A 
brief  experience  of  the  result  of  his  absence  led  to  his  recall, 
and  he  ended  his  days  in  increased  esteem.  It  is  strange  indeed 
to  find  Eustathius  and  Calvin  alike  in  their  expulsion  and  re- 
call to  the  city  they  had  done  so  much  to  save. 

His  WRITINGS  upon  practical  religious  topics  have  great 
interest  and  value.  Besides  sermons  upon  Psalm  xlviii.,^  on 
an  auspicious  year,^  four  during  Lent,*  in  which  he  specially 
inveighs  against  the  lax  marital  customs,  and  five  on  different 
martyrs,^  he  wrote  an  enthusiastic  treatise  in  praise  of  raouasti- 
cism^  if  properly  used,  while  at  the  same  time  he  faithfully  re- 
buked the  common  faults  of  the  monks,  their  sloth,  their  hypoc- 
risy and  their  ignorance,  which  had  made  the  very  name  of 
monk  a  reproach.  To  the  Stylites,^  he  was  particularly  plain 
in  setting  forth  their  duty.  By  reason  of  their  supposed  sanc- 
tity they  were  sought  by  all  classes  as  oracles.  He  seeks  there- 
fore to  impress  them  with  their  responsibility,  and  tells  them 
always  to  speak  fearlessly,  irrespective  of  person  ;  not  flattering 
the  strong  nor  domineering  the  weak.     He  addressed  also  the 

1  He  wrote  a  valuable  history  of  this  siege,  Narratio  de  Thesscdonica  urbe  a 
Latinis  capta,  Migne,  CXXXVI.  col.  9-140. 

«  Migne,  CXXXV.  col.  520-540.         '  Ibid.  col.  540-560. 

*  Four  orations,  ibid.  col.  561-728.      *  CXXXVI.  col.  141-216 ;  264-301. 

6  Be  emendanda  vita  monachica,  CXXXV.  col.  729-909. 

^  Ad  Styliiam  quemdam  Thesscdonicensevi,  CXXXVI.  col.  217-264. 


652  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

laitv  not  only  in  the  sermons  already  mentioned,  but  in  sepa- 
rate treatises  *  and  with  great  earnestness  and  tenderness  exhorted 
them  to  obedience  to  their  lawful  rulers,  and  rebuked  them  for 
their  hypocrisy,  which  was  the  crying  sin  of  the  day,  and  for 
tlieir  vindictiveness.  He  laid  down  the  true  gospel  principle : 
love  is  the  central  point  of  the  Christian  life.  His  letters,^  of 
which  75  have  been  published,  give  us  a  vivid  picture  of  the 
time,  and  bear  unconscious  testimony  to  his  virtue.  To  his 
Intcrprdaiion  of  the  Pentecostal  hymn  of  John  of  Damascus 
Cardinal  Mai  accords  the  highest  praise.' 

§  152.  Nicetas  Acominatos. 

I.  Nicetas  Chontates:  Opera,  in  Migne,  Tom.  CXXXIX.,  col.  287 — 

CXL.,  col.  292.     His  History  was  edited  by  Immanuel  Bekker  in 
Scriptores  Byzanfince.     Bonn,  1835. 

II.  See  Allatius  in  Migne,  CXXXIX.,  col.  287-302.     Ceillier,  XIV. 

1176,  1177.   Karl  Ullmann:  Die  Dogmatik  der  griechischen  Kirche 
iml2.    JaJirhundert,  re-printed  from  the   "  Studien  und  Kritiken," 
1833. 
Nicetas  Acominatos,  also  called  Choniates,  to  denote  his 
birth  at  Chonaj,  the  old  CoIossjb  in  Phrygia,  was  one  of  the 
great  scholars  and  authors  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies.    He  was  educated  at  Constantinople,  studied  law  and 
early  rose  to  prominence  at  the  imperial  court.      He  married 
a  descendant  of  Belisarius ;  and  at  the  time  when  Constanti- 
nople was  taken  by  the  crusaders  (1204)  he  was  governor  of 
Philippopolis.    He  fled  to  Nicaea,  and  there  died  about  1216.    It 
was  during  this  last  period  of  his  life  that  he  composed  his 
Treasury  of  Orthodoxy*  for  the  consolation  and  instruction  of 
his   suifering  fellow-religionists.     This   Avork   was  in  twenty- 

^  Epialola  ad  Thmalonkenses,  CXXXV.  col.  1032-1060;  De  obedientia  mag- 
istratiu  ChriMiano  debita,  CXXXVI.  col.  301-357 ;  De  simulatione,  ibid.  col. 
373-408 ;  Adverms  imphicabililatis  accusationem  (or  Contra  injuriarum  memor- 
iam),  ibid.  col.  408-500. 

»  CXXXVI.  col.  1245-1334  (Greek  only). 

•  InterprekUio  hymni  Pentecost alis  Damasceni  in  Mai,  Spicilegium  Romanum,  V. 
(Rome,  1841)  pp.  xxiv.  161-383,  and  in  Migne,  CXXXVI,  col.  504-753. 

«  eriaavpbc  opdoSo^iac.    Migne,  CXXXIX.  col.  1093-CXL.  col.  292. 


2  153.  CASSIODORUS.  653 

seven  books,  but  only  five  have  been  published  complete,  and 
thai;  only  in  the  Latin  translation  of  Peter  Morel,  made  from 
the  original  MS.  brought  to  Paris  from  Mt.  Athos.^  Cardinal 
Mai  has,  however,  given  fragments  of  Books  vi.  viii.  ix.  x.  xii.  xv. 
xvii.  XX.  xxiii.  xxiv.  xxv.,  and  these  Migne  has  reprinted  with  a 
Latin  translation.  The  work  is,  like  the  Panoply  of  Euthy- 
mius,  a  learned  text-book  of  theology  and  a  refutation  of  heresy, 
but  it  has  more  original  matter  in  it,  and  being  written  by  a 
layman  and  a  statesman  is  more  popular. 

Book  1st  is  a  statement  of  Gentile  philosophy  and  of  the 
errors  of  the  Jews.  Book  2d  treats  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and 
of  anscels  and  men.  Book  3d  of  the  Incarnate  AVord.  From 
Book  4th  to  the  end  the  several  heresies  are  described  and 
combated.  Nicetas  begins  with  Simon  Magus  and  goes  down 
to  his  own  day. 

But  his  fame  really  rests  upon  his  History^  which  tells  the 
story  of  Byzantine  affairs  from  1117  to  1205  ;  and  is  an  able 
and  reliable  book.  The  closing  portions  interestingly  describe 
the  destruction  or  mutilation  of  the  monuments  in  Constanti- 
nople by  the  Latins. 

§  153.   Cassiodorus. 

I.  Magnus  AuEELiirs  Cassiodoeus  Senator  :  Opera  omnia,  in  Migne, 
"Patrol.  Lat."  Tom.  LXIX.  col.  421-LXX.  Reprint  of  ed.  of  the 
Benedictine  Jean  Garet,  Rouen,  1679,  2  vols.  2d  ed.,  Venice,  1729. 
The  Chronicon  was  edited  from  MSS.  by  Theodor  Mommsen,  Leip- 
zig, 1861,  separately  published  from  Abhandlungen  der  koniglich- 
sdchsischen  Gesellschaft  der  Whsenschaffen.  Historische  Klasse.  Bd.  III. 
The  Liber  de  rhetorica,  a  part  of  his  Institutiones,  was  edited  by  C. 
Halm,  Leipzig,  1863. 

n.  Vita,  by  Jean  Garet,  in  Migne,  LXIX.,  col.  437-484,  and  De  vita 
monasHca  dissertatio,  hy  the  same,  col.  483-498.  Denis  de  Sainte- 
Marthe:  Vie  de  Cassiodore.  Paris,  1694.  Olleris:  Cassiodore 
conservateur  des  livres  de  V antiquiti  latine.  Paris,  1841.  A.  Thor- 
BECKE:   Cassiodorus  Senator.     Heidelberg,  1867.     A.  Franz:  iJ/agr. 

»  So  Morel  believed.  See  the  interesting  story  in  Migne,  CXXXIX.  col.  295. 
«  'loTopia.     Ibid.  col.  309-1057. 


654  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

mts  Aurclius  Cassiodorius  Senator.  Breslau,  1872.  Ignazio  Ciampi  : 
/.  Cassiodori  nel  V.  e  nel  VI.  secolo.  Imola,  1876.  Cf.  Du  Pin,  V. 
43-44.  Ceilliee,  XI.  207-254.  Teuffel,  1098-1104.  A.  Ebert, 
I.  473^90. 

Magnus  Aueelius  Cassiodorus  Senator/  whose  services 
to  classical  literature  can  not  be  over-estimated,  was  descended 
from  an  old  Roman  family,  famous  for  its  efficiency  in  state 
affairs.  He  was  born  about  477,  at  Scyllacium  in  Bruttium,  the 
present  Squillace  in  Calabria,  the  extreme  southwest  division 
of  Italy.  His  father,  whose  name  was  Cassiodorus  also, 
was  pretorian  prefect  to  Theodoric,  and  senator.  The  son, 
in  recognition  of  his  extraordinary  abilities,  was  made  quaestor 
when  about  twenty  years  of  age,  and  continued  in  the  service 
of  Theodoric,  as  private  secretary  and  indeed  j^rirae  minis- 
ter, being  also  with  him  on  terms  of  friendship,  until  the 
latter's  death,  Aug.  30,  526.  He  directed  the  administration  of 
Amalasontha,  the  daughter  of  Theodoric,  during  the  minority  of 
her  son  Athalaric,  and  witnessed  her  downfall  (535),  but  retained 
his  position  near  the  throne  under  Theodatus  and  Vitiges.  He 
was  also  consul  and  three  times  pretorian  prefect.  He  labored 
earnestly  to  reconcile  the  Romans  to  their  conquerors. 

But  about  540  he  withdrew  from  the  cares  and  dangers 
of  office,  and  found  in  the  seclusion  of  his  charming  pater- 
nal domains  in  Bruttium  abundant  scope  for  his  activities  in  the 
pursuit  of  knowledge  and  the  preservation  of  learning.  He 
voluntarily  closed  one  chapter  of  his  life,  one,  too,  full  of  honor 
and  fame,  and  opened  another  which,  little  as  he  expected  it, 
was  destined  to  be  of  world-wide  importance.  Cassiodorus  the 
statesman  became  Cassiodorus  the  monk,  and  unwittingly  ex- 
changed the  service  of  the  Goths  for  the  service  of  humanity.  The 
place  of  his  retirement  was  the  monastery  of  Viviei-s  (Monaste- 
rium  Vivariense),  at  the  foot  of  Mt.  Moscius,^  in  southwestern 

1  Senator  was  a  part  of  his  proper  name.     Cassiodorius  is  a  variant  of  Cas- 
eiodoniH. 
»  Var.  xii.  15  (Migne,  LXIX.  col.  867). 


2  153.  CASSIODOEUS.  655 

Italy,  which  he  had  himself  founded  and  richly  endowed.  Upon 
the  mountain  he  built  another  monastery  (Castellense)  in  which 
the  less  accomplished  monks  seem  to  have  lived,  while  the  society 
of  Viviers  was  highly  cultivated  and  devoted  to  literature.  Those 
monks  who  could  do  it  were  employed  in  copying  and  correct- 
ing classical  and  Christian  MSS.,  while  the  others  bound  books, 
prepared  medicine  and  cultivated  the  garden.^  He  moved  his 
own  large  library  to  the  monastery  and  increased  it  at  great  ex- 
pense. Thus  Viviers  in  that  sadly  confused  and  degenerate 
time  became  an  asylum  of  culture  and  a  fountain  of  learning. 
The  example  he  set  was  happily  followed  by  other  monasteries, 
particularly  by  the  Benedictine,  and  copying  of  MSS.  was  added 
to  the  list  of  monastic  duties.  By  this  means  the  literature  of 
the  old  classical  world  has  come  down  to  us.  And  since  the 
initiation  of  the  movement  was  given  by  Cassiodorus  he  deserves 
to  be  honored  as  the  link  between  the  old  thought  and  the  new. 
His  life  thus  usefully  spent  was  unusually  prolonged.  The  year 
of  his  death  is  uncertain,  but  it  was  between  570  and  580. 

The  Works  of  Cassiodorus  are  quite  numerous.  They  are 
characterized  by  great  erudition,  ingenuity  and  labor,  but  disfig- 
ured by  an  incorrect  and  artificial  style.  Some  were  written 
while  a  statesman,  more  while  a  monk.^ 

1.  The  most  important  is  the  Miscellany^  in  twelve  books,  a 
collection  of  about  four  hundred  rescripts  and  edicts  issued  by 
Cassiodorus  in  the  King's  name  while  Qucesfor  and  Magister 
ojiciorum,  and  in  his  own  name  while  Pretorian  prefect.  He 
gives  also  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  books  a  collection  of  formulas 
for  the  different  offices,  an  idea  which  found  imitation  in  the 
Middle  Age.  From  the  3Iiseellany  a  true  insight  into  the  state 
of  Italy  in  the  period  can  be  obtained.  One  noticeable  feature 
of  these  rescripts  is  the  amount  of  animation  and  variety  which 

1  De  Instit.  div.  litt.  c.  28,  30,  31  (Migne,  LXX.  cols.  1141-1147). 

'  The  order  here  followed  is  that  of  Migne. 

^  Variarum  libri  duodecim,  in  Migne,  LXIX.  col.  501-880. 


656  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Cassiodorus  manages  to  give  their  naturally  stiff  and  formal  con- 
tents. This  he  does  by  ingeniously  changing  the  style  to  suit  the 
occasion  and  often  by  interweaving  a  disquisition  upon  some 
relevant  theme.  The  work  was  prepared  at  the  request  of 
friends  and  as  a  guide  to  his  successors,  and  published  between 

534  and  538. 

2.  His  Ecclesiastical  History,  called  Tripartita,^  is  a  compila- 
tion. His  own  part  in  it  is  confined  to  a  revision  of  the  Latin 
condensation  of  Sozomen,  Socrates  and  Theodoret,  made  by 
Epiphanius  Scholasticus.  It  was  designed  by  Cassiodorus  to 
supply  the  omissions  of  Rufinus'  translation  of  Eusebius,  and 
was  indeed  with  Rufinus  the  monastic  text-book  on  church  his- 
tory in  the  Middle  Age.  But  it  is  by  no  means  a  model  work, 
beiuir  obscure,  inaccurate  and  confused. 

3.  The  Chronicle^  the  earliest  of  his  productions,  dating  from 
519,  is  a  consular  list  drawn  from  different  sources,  with  occasional 
notes  of  historical  events.  Prefaced  to  the  list  proper,  which 
goes  from  Junius  Brutus  to  Theodoric,  is  a  very  defective  list  of 
Assyrian  (!),  Latin  and  Roman  Kings. 

4.  The  Computation  of  Easter,  written  in  562.' 

6.  Origin  and  History  of  the  Goths,  originally  in  twelve  books, 
but  now  extant  only  in  the  excerpt  of  Jordanis.*  In  it  Cassio- 
dorus reveals  his  great  desire  to  cultivate  friendship  between  the 
Goths  and  the  Romans.     It  dates  from  about  534. 

6.  Exposition  of  the  Psalter.^  This  is  by  far  the  longest,  as  it 
was  in  the  Middle  Age  the  most  influential,  of  his  works.  It 
was  prepared  in  Viviers,  and  was  begun  before  but  finished 
after  the  Institutes  ^  (see  below).     Its  chief  source  is  Augustin. 

'  Hislorica  ecclesiastica  vocaia  Tripartita,  ibid.  col.  879-1214. 
»  Chronicon,  ibid.  col.  1213-1248. 
»  Computus  Paschnlui,  ibid.  col.  1249,  1250. 

*  De  Getarum  sue  Golhorum  origins  et  rebus  gestis,  ibid.  1251-1296. 
'  Eiponlio  in  P.mlterium.     Migne,  LXX.  col.  9-1056. 

«  Inst.  I.  4. 1.  1.  (Migne,  LXX.  col.  1115)  Sequitur  Psdterium  codex  quartua, 
qui  Twbis  primus  est  in  eommentatorum  lahore. 


2  153.  CASSIODORUS.  657 

The  exposition  is  thorough  in  its  way.  Its  peculiarities  are  in 
its  mystic  use  of  numbers,  and  its  drafts  upon  profane  science, 
particularly  rhetoric.^ 

7.  Institutions  of  Sacred  and  Secular  Letters,'  from  644,  in 
tM'O  books,^  which  are  commonly  regarded  as  independent 
works.  The  first  book  is  a  sort  of  theological  encyclopEedia, 
intended  by  Cassiodorus  primarily  for  his  own  monks.  It 
therefore  refers  to  different  authors  which  were  to  be  found  in 
their  library.  It  is  in  thirty-three  chapters — a  division  pointing 
to  the  thirty-three  years  of  our  Lord's  life — which  treat  succes- 
sively of  the  books  of  the  Bible,  what  authors  to  read  upon 
them,  the  arrangement  of  the  books,  churcli  history  and  its 
chief  writers,  and  the  scheme  he  had  devised  for  usefully  em- 
ploying the  monks  in  coi^ying  MSS.,  or,  if  not  sufficiently  edu- 
cated, in  manual  labor  of  various  kinds.  In  the  second  book  he 
treats  in  an  elementary  way  of  the  seven  liberal  arts  (grammar, 
rhetoric,  dialectics,  arithmetic,  music,  geometry,  and  astronomy). 

8.  On  Orthograj^hy*  a  work  of  his  ninety-third  year,*  and  a 
mere  collection  of  extracts  from  the  pertinent  literature  in  his 
library. 

9.  The  Soul,^  written  at  the  request  of  friends  shortly  after 
the  publication  of  his  lliscellany.  It  is  rather  the  product 
of  learning  than  of  thought.  It  treats  of  the  soul,  its  nature, 
capacities  and  final  destiny. 

10.  Notes  upon  some  verses  in  the  Epistles,  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  and  Apocalypse.^     This  was  a  product  of  his  monastic 

^  The  Expositio  in  Canticiim,  which   comes  next  in   the   editions,    is   now 
thought  to  be  by  another  airhor.     So  Garet  (Migne,  LXX.  col.  1055). 

2  Institutiones  divinarum  et  secularium  lectionum.     Ibid.  col.  1105-1220. 

3  So  Ebert  I.  477.     Their  common  titles  are  (a)   De  instilutione  divinarum 
litterarum.  (b)  Be  artibus  et  discipUnis  Uberalium  litterarum. 

*  De  orthographia-     Migne,  LXX.,  col.  1239-1270- 
6  Pr>'fatio.     Ibid.  col.  1241,  1.  9. 
^Deanima.     /iiif/.  col.  1279-1308. 

T  Complexiones  in  Epistolas  et  Actus  apostolorum  necnon  in  Apocalypsim.     Ibid^ 
col.  1321-1418. 
42 


658  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

period,  strangely  forgotten  in  the  Middle  Age.  It  was  un- 
known to  Caret,  but  found  at  Verona  and  published  by  Maffei 
in  1702.  Besides  these  a  Commentarium  de  oratione  et  de  octo 
partibus  orationis  is  attributed  to  him  and  so  published.^  But 
its  authorship  is  doubtful. 

§  154.  St.  Gregory  of  Tours. 

I.  St.  Georgius  Florentius  Gregorius  :  Opera  omnia,  in  Migne,  Tom. 
LXXI.  (reprint  of  Ruinarfs  ed.  Paris,  1699).  Tlie  best  critical  edition 
of  Gregory's  great  work,  Historm  Francorum  libri  decern,  is  by  W. 
Arndt  and  Br.  Krusch.  Hannover,  1884  {Gregorii  Turonensis  opera 
pars  I.  in  "Scriptorum  rerum  Merovingicarum,"  T.  I.,  pars  I.  in  the 
great  "  Monumenta  Germanise  historica"  series),  and  of  his  other 
works  that  by  H.  L.  Bordier,  Libri  miraculorum  aliaque  opera 
minora,  or  with  the  French  title,  Les  livres  des  miracles  et  autres 
opuscules  de  Georges  Florent  Gregoire,  eveque  de  Tours.  Paris,  1857- 
64,  4  vols.,  of  which  the  first  three  have  the  Latin  text  and  a 
French  translation  on  opposite  pages,  and  the  last,  containing  the 
De  cursu  stellaruni  and  the  doubtful  works,  the  Latin  only.  There 
are  several  translations  of  the  Historia  Francorum  into  French 
(e.  g.,  by  Guizot.  Paris,  1823,  new  ed.  1861,  2  vols. ;  by  H.  L. 
Bordier,  1859-61,  2  vols.),  and  into  German  (e.  g.,  by  Giesebrecht, 
Berlin,  1851,  2  vols.,  2d  ed.,  1878,  as  part  of  Pertz,  "  Geschichts- 
schreiber  der  deutschen-Vorzeit").  The  De  cursu  stellarum  was 
discovered  and  first  edited  by  F.  Hasse,  Breslau,  1853. 

IL  The  Lives  of  Gregory,  by  Odo  of  Cluny  (d.  943,  valuable,)  Migne, 
1.  c,  and  by  Joannes  Egidius  (Jean  Gilles  of  Tours,  16th  cent.,  of 
small  account)  are  given  by  Bordier,  1.  c.  IV.  212-237.  Modern  bio- 
graphies and  sketches  of  Gregory  are:  C.  J.  Kries:  De  Gregorii 
Turonensis  Episcopi  vita  et  scriptis.  Breslau,  1839.  J.  W.  Lobell: 
Gregorvon  Tours.  Leipzig,  1839,  2d  ed.  1869.  Gabriel  MoxOD:  Gr^- 
gorie  de  Tours,  in  Tome  III.  "  BibliofMque  de  VEcole  des  hautes  etudes.''^ 
Paris,  1872  (pp.  21-146).  Cf.  Du  Pin,  V.  63.  Ceillier,  XI,  365- 
399.  Hist.  lit.  de  la  France,  III.  372-397.  Teuffel,  pp.  1109-10. 
Wattenbach,  L  70  sqq.  Ebert,  I.  539-51.  L.  vON  Ranke:  Welt- 
<7esc/HfAi!e,  4ter  Theil,  2te  Abtheilung  (Leipzig,  1883),  pp.  328-368, 
mainly  a  discussion  of  the  relation  of  Gregory's  Historia  to  Frede- 
gar's  Historia  Epitomata  and  to  the  Gestn  regum  Francorum.  He 
maintains  that  they  are  independent.  Cf.  W.  Arndt's  preface  (30pp.) 
to  edition  mentioned  above. 

Georgius  Fi.orentius,  or  as  he  called  himself  on  his  con- 

1  Ibid.  col.  1219-1240. 


§  154.  ST.  GREGORY  OF  TOURS.  659 

secration  Gregoeius,  after  his  mother's  grand-father,  the  sainted 
bishop  of  Laugres,  was  born  in  Arverna  (now  Clermont)/  the 
principal  city  of  Auvergne,  Nov.  30,  538.  His  family  was  of 
senatorial  rank  on  both  sides,  and  its  position  and  influence  are 
attested  by  the  number  of  bishops  that  belonged  to  it.  His 
father  (Florentius)  apparently  died  early,  and  his  mother 
(Armentaria)  removed  to  Burgundy,  her  native  country,  but 
his  uncle  Gallus,  bishop  of  Auvergne,  who  died  in  554,  and 
Avitus  the  successor  of  Gallus,  cared  for  his  education.  He 
entered  the  church  in  discharge  of  a  vow  made  at  the  shrine  of 
St.  Illidius,  the  patron  saint  of  Arverna,  during  a  severe  and 
supposed  fatal  illness.  In  563  he  was  ordained  deacon  by 
Avitus,  and  served  in  some  ecclesiastical  capacity  at  the  court 
of  Sigebert  king  of  Austrasia,  until  in  573,  at  the  unanimous 
request  of  the  clergy  and  people  of  that  city,  the  king  appointed 
him  bishop  of  Tours.  Although  loath  to  take  so  prominent 
and  responsible  a  position,  he  at  last  consented,  was  consecrated 
by  Egidius,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  and  welcomed  by  Fortunatus 
in  an  official,  which  yet  had  more  real  feeling  in  it  than  such 
productions  usually  have,  and  was  a  true  prophecy  of  Gregory's 
career. 

Tours  was  the  religious  centre  of  Gaul.  The  shrine  of 
St.  Martin  was  the  most  famous  in  the  land  and  so  fre- 
quented by  pilgrims  that  it  was  the  source  of  an  immense 
revenue.  In  Alcuin's  day  (eighth  century)  the  monastery  of 
Tours  owned  20,000  serfs,  and  was  the  richest  in  the  kingdom. 
Tours  was  also  important  as  the  frontier  city  of  Austrasia,  par- 
ticularly liable  to  attack.  The  influences  which  secured  the 
position  to  Gregory  were  probably  personal.  Several  facts 
operated  to  bring  it  about.  First,  that  all  but  five  of  the 
bishops  of  Tours  had  been  members  of  his  family  (Euphronius 
whom   he   succeeded   was   his   mother's   cousin),   and  further, 

1  The  birth-place  of  Pascal,  in  the  department  of  Puy  de  Dome,  220  miles 
S.  by  E.  from  Paris. 


6G0  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

that  he  was  in  Tours  on  a  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  St. 
Martin  to  recover  his  health  about  the  time  of  Euphronius' 
death,  and  by  his  life  there  secured  the  love  of  the  people. 
Add  to  this  his  travels,  his  austerities,  his  predominant  love  for 
religion,  and  his  election  is  explained.^  Gregory  found  the  posi- 
tion no  sinecure.  War  broke  out  between  Sigebert  and  the 
savage  Chilpcric,  and  Tours  was  taken  by  the  latter  in  575. 
Confusion  and  anarchy  prevailed.  Churches  were  destroyed, 
ecclesiastics  killed.  Might  made  right,  and  the  weak  went  to 
the  wall.  ]jut  in  that  dark  and  tempestuous  time  Gregory  of 
Tours  shines  like  a  beacon  light.  The  persecuted  found  in  him 
a  refuge ;  the  perplexed  a  guide  ;  the  wicked  king  a  determined 
opponent.  Vigilant,  sleepless,  untiring  in  his  care  for  Tours  he 
averted  an  attempt  to  tax  it  unjustly  ;  he  maintained  the  sanc- 
tuary rights  of  St.  Martin  against  all  avengers  ;  and  he  put  an 
end  to  partisan  strifes.  His  influence  was  exerted  in  the  neighbor- 
ing country.  Such  was  his  well  earned  repute  for  holiness 
founded  upon  innumerable  services  that  the  lying  accusation  of 
Leudastes  at  the  council  of  Braine  (580)  excited  popular  indig- 
nation and  was  refuted  by  his  solemn  declaration"  of  innocence.^ 

In  584  Chilperic  died.  Tours  then  fell  to  Guntram,  king  of 
Orleans,  until  in  587  it  was  restored  to  Childebert,  the  son  of 
Sigebert.  The  last  nine  years  of  Gregory's  life  were  compara- 
tively quiet.  He  enjoyed  the  favor  of  Guntram  and  Childebert, 
did  much  to  beautify  the  city  of  Tours,  built  many  churches, 
and  particularly  the  church  of  St.  Martin  (590).  But  at  length 
the  time  of  his  release  came,  and  on  Nov.  17,  594,  he  went  to 
his  reward.  His  saintship  was  immediately  recognized  by  the 
people  he  had  served,  and  the  Latin  Church  formally  beatified 
and  canonized  him.     His  day  in  the  calendar  is  November  17. 

The  Works    of  Gregory  were  all    produced  while  bishop. 

'  Monod,  p.  29. 

^  He  was  charged  with  having  accused  Fredegnnd,  wife  of  Chilperic,  of 
adultprv  wilh  Bertrand,  bishop  of  Bordeaux.  Hist.  Franc.  V.  49,  (Migne,  1.  c, 
col.  3G4). 


2  154.  ST.  GREGORY  OF  TOURS.  661 

Their  number  attests  his  diligence,  but  their  style  proves  the 
correctness  of  his  own  judgment  that  he  was  not  able  to  write 
good  Latin.  Only  one  is  of  real  importance,  but  that  is  simply 
inestimable,  as  it  is  the  only  abundant  source  lor  French  history 
of  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries.  It  is  the  Ecclesiastical  History 
of  the  Franks,  in  ten  books/  begun  in  576,  and  not  finished  until 
592.  By  reason  of  it  Gregory  has  been  styled  the  Herodotus 
of  France.  It  was  his  object  to  tell  the  history  of  his  own 
times  for  the  benefit  of  posterity,  although  he  was  aware  of  his 
own  unfitness  for  the  task.  But  like  the  chroniclers  of  the 
period  he  must  needs  begin  with  Adam,  and  it  is  not  till  the 
close  of  the  first  book  that  the  history  of  Gaul  properly  beo-ins. 
The  last  five  books  tell  the  story  of  the  events  in  Gregory's  own 
life-time,  and  have  therefore  most  value.  Gregory  is  not  a 
model  historian,  but  when  speaking. of  facts  within  his  experi- 
ence he  is  reliable  in  his  statements,  and  impartial  in  his  narra- 
tive, although  partial  in  his  judgments. 

Gregory  gives  at  the  close  of  his  Ecclesiastical  History  a  cata- 
logue of  his  writings,  all  of  which  have  been  preserved,  with  the 
exception  of  the  commentary  on  the  Psalms,  of  which  only  the 
preface  and  the  titles  of  the  chapters  are  now  extant.^  The  com- 
plete list  is  as  follows  :  ^  TJie  Miracles  of  St.  Martin,  in  four  books, 
begun  in  574,  finished  594 ;  the  miracles  were  recorded  by  direc- 
tion of  Gregory's  mother,  who  appeared  to  him  in  a  vision  ;  The 
Passion  of  St.  Julian  the  Martyr,  written  between  582  and  586 ; 
The  Martyr's  Glory,  written  about  586 ;  The  Confessor's  Glory, 
about  588 ;  TheLife  of  the  Fathers,  written  at  different  times  and 
finished  in  594.  The  last  is  the  most  interesting  and  important  of 
these  hagiographical  works,  Avhich  do  not  call  for  further  men- 
tion.* The  Course  of  the  Stars,  or  as  Gregory  calls  it,  TJie  Ecclesi- 
astical Circuit,  is  a  liturgical  work,  giving  the  proper  ofiiccs  at 
the  appearance  of  the  most  important  stars. 

'  HistoncE  ecclesiastica  Francorum  libri  decern.     Migne,  LXXI.  col.  159-572. 
2  X.  xxxi.  19.     Migne,  col.  571-572.  =*  Ibid.  col.  705  sqq. 

*  The  dates  given  above  are  Monod's,  I.  c.  pp.  41-49. 


662  FOURTH  PERIOE.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

§  155.  St.  Isidore  of  Seville. 

I.  St.  Isidorus  Hispalensis    Opera  omnia,  in  Migne,  Tom.  LXXXI.- 

LXXXIV.  (reprint  of  F.  Arevalo's  ed.  Rome,  1797-1803,  7  vols., 
with  the  addition  of  the  Collectio  canonum  ascribed  to  Isidore). 
Migne's  Tom.  LXXXV.  and  LXXXVI.  contain  the  Liturgia 
Mozarabica  secundum  regulam  beati  Iddori.  Editions  of  separate 
works:  Delibrisiii.  sententiarum.  Konigsburg,  1826,  1827,  2  parts. 
De  natkitate  Domini,  passione  et  resurrectione,  regno  atquejudicio,  ed. 
A.  Holtzmann,  Carlsruhe,  1836.  De  natura  rerum  liber,  ed.  G. 
Becker,  Berlin,  1857. 

II.  Besides  the  Prolegomena  of  Arevalo,  which  fill  all  Tom.  LXXXI., 

8eeVitaS.Isidon,L,XXXll.,  col.  19-56.  P.B.Gams:  Kirchengeschichte 
von  Spanien.  Regensburg.  1862-1879, 5  parts.  (II.  2, 102  sqq).  J. 
C.  E.  BouREET :  L'icole  chretienne  de  Seville  sous  la  monarchie  dea 
Visigoths.  Paris,  1855.  C.  F.  Montalembert  :  Les  moines  d'  Occi- 
dent. Paris,  1860-67,  5  vols.  (II.  200-218),  Eng.  trans.  Monks  of  the 
West.  Boston,  1872,  2  vols.  (I.  421-424).  Hugo  Hertzberg: 
Die  Uistorien  mid  die  Chroniken  des  Isidorus  von  Sevilla,  Iste,  Th. 
Die  Historien.  Gottingen,  1874.  "  Die  Chroniken  ''  appeared  in 
Forschungen  zur  deutchen  Geschichte,  1875,  XIV.  289-362.  Cheva- 
lier: Repertoire  des  sources  historiques  du  moyen  dge.  Paris,  1877, 
sqq.  II.  112,  sqq.  Du  PiN,  VI.  1-5;  Ceillier,  XI.  710-728; 
Clarke,  II.  364-372 ;  Bahr,  IV.  I.  pp.  270-286 ;  Teuffel,  pp.  1131- 
1134;  Ebert,  I.  555-568. 

Isidore  of  Seville,  saint  and  doctor  of  the  Latin  Church, 
was  born  about  560  cither  at  Carthagena  or  Seville.  He  was 
the  youngest  child  of  an  honored  Roman  family  of  the  ortho- 
dox Christian  faith.  His  father's  name  was  Severianus.  His 
eldest  brother,  Ijcander,  the  w^ell-kuown  friend  of  Gregory 
the  Great,  and  the  successful  upholder  of  the  Catholic  faith 
against  Arianism,  was  archbishop  of  Seville,  the  most  promi- 
nent see  in  Spain,  from  about  579  to  600 ;  another  brother, 
Fulgentius,  was  bishop  of  Astigi  (Ecija)  in  that  diocese,  where 
his  sister,  Florentina,  was  a  nun.^  Isidore  is  called  Senior  to 
distinguish  hira  from  Isidore  of  Pax  Julia,  now  Beja  (Isidorus 
Pacensis),  and  Junior  to  distinguish  him  from  Isidore  of  Cor- 
dova.    His  parents  died  apparently  while  he  was  quite  young. 

'  Montalembert  sava  slie  was  the  superior  of  forty  convents  and  a  thousand 
nuns  (Eng.  trans.  I.  419).     But  this  is  mere  tradition. 


§  155.  ST.  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE.  663 

At  all  events  he  was  educated  by  his  brother  Loander.  In 
the  year  600  he  succeeded  his  brother  in  the  archiepiscopate 
of  Seville.  In  this  position  he  became  the  great  leader  of 
the  Spanish  Church,  and  is  known  to  have  presided  at  two 
councils,  the  second  council  of  Seville,  opened  November  13, 
619,  and  the  fourth  council  of  Toledo,  opened  December  5,  633.' 
The  first  of  these  was  of  local  interest,  but  the  other  was 
much  more  important.  It  was  the  largest  ever  held  in  Spain, 
being  attended  by  all  the  six  metropolitans,  fifty-six  bishops 
and  seven  bishops'  deputies.  It  has  political  significance  be- 
cause it  was  called  by  King  Sisenand,  who  had  just  deposed 
Suintila,  the  former  king.  Sisenand  was  received  by  the 
council  with  great  respect.  He  threw  himself  before  the  bishops 
and  with  tears  asked  their  prayers.  He  then  exhorted  them  to 
do  their  duty  in  correcting  abuses.  Of  the  seventy-five  canons 
passed  by  the  council  several  are  of  curious  interest.  Thus 
it  was  forbidden  to  plunge  the  recipient  of  baptism  more  than 
once  under  the  water,  because  the  Arians  did  it  three  times  to 
indicate  that  the  Trinity  was  divided  (c.  6).  It  was  not  right 
to  reject  all  the  hymns  written  by  Hilary  and  Ambrose  and 
employ  only  Scriptural  language  in  public  worship  (c.  13).  If 
a  clergyman  is  ever  made  a  judge  by  the  king  he  must  exact 
an  oath  from  the  king  that  no  blood  is  to  be  shed  in  his 
court  (c.  31).  By  order  of  King  Sisenand  the  clergy  were 
freed  from  all  state  taxes  and  services  (c.  47).  Once  a  monk 
always  a  monk,  although  one  was  made  so  by  his  parents 
(c.  49).^  While  compulsory  conversion  of  the  Jews  was  forbidden, 
yet  no  Jew  converted  by  force  was  allowed  to  return  to  Judaism 
(c.  57).  Very  strenuous  laws  were  passed  relative  to  both  the 
baptized  and  the  unbaptized  Jews  (c.  58-66).  The  king  Avas 
upheld  in  his  government  and  the  deposed  king  and  his  family 
perpetually  excluded  from  power.     When  Isidore's  position  is 

^  The  canons  of  these  councils  are  given  by  Hefele,  III.  72,  73  ;  79-88. 
»  This  has  its  bearings  on  the  case  of  Gottsrhalk. 


6g4  FOUKTH  PEKIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

considered  it  is  a  probable  conjecture  that  these  canons  express 
his  opinions  and  convictions  upon  the  different  matters. 

Warned  by  disease  of  death's  approach,  Isidore  began  the 
distribution  of  his  property.  For  the  last  six  months  of  his 
life  he  dispensed  alms  from  morn  till  night.  His  end  was 
hio-hly  edifying.  Accompanied  by  his  assembled  bishops  he  had 
himself  carried  to  the  church  of  St.  Vincent  the  Martyr,  and 
there,  having  publicly  confessed  his  sins,  prayed  God  for  forgive- 
ness. He  then  asked  the  pardon  and  prayers  of  those  present, 
gave  away  the  last  thing  he  owned,  received  the  Holy  Com- 
munion, and  was  carried  to  his  cell,  in  which  he  died  four  days 
later,  Thursday,  April  4,  636.^  He  was  immediately  enrolled 
among  the  popular  saint  s  and  in  the  15th  council  of  Toledo 
(688)  is  styled  "excellent  doctor,"  and  by  Benedict  XIV. 
(April  25,  1722)  made  a  Doctor  of  the  Church. 

Isidore  of  Seville  was  the  greatest  scholar  of  his  day.  He 
was  well  read  in  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew,  in  profane  as  well 
as  in  sacred  and  patristic  literature.  He  was  also  a  vigorous  and 
dignified  prelate,  admired  for  his  wondrous  eloquence  and  be- 
loved for  his  private  virtues.  He  did  much  for  education, 
especially  of  the  clergy,  and  established  at  Seville  a  highly  suc- 
cessful school,  in  which  he  himself  taught.  But  his  universal 
fame  rests  upon  his  literary  works,  which  embrace  every 
branch  of  knowledge  then  cultivated,  and  which  though  al- 
most entirely  compilations  can  not  be  too  highly  praised  for 
their  ability  and  usefulness.  He  performed  the  inestimable 
service  of  perpetuating  learning,  both  sacred  and  secular.  It 
is  a  striking  testimony  to  his  greatness  that  works  have  been 
attributed  to  him  with  which  he  had  nothing  to  do,  as  the  're- 
vision of  the  Mozarabic  Liturgy  and  of  Spanish  ecclesiastical 
and  secular  laws,  and  especially  the  famous  Pseudo-Isidorian 
decretals. 

'  V!ta  S.  hidon,  II  33-36,  in  Migne,  LXXXII.  coJ.  45-49. 


2  155.  ST.  ISIDORE  OF   SEVILLE.  665 

His  Works  may  be  divided  loosely  into  six  classes.  We 
have  two  lists  of  them,  one  by  his  friend  and  colleague  Braulio, 
bishop  of  Saragossa,  and  the  other  by  his  pupil,  Ildefousus  of 
Toledo.  No  strict  division  of  these  works  is  possible,  because 
as  will  be  seen  several  of  them  belong  in  parts  to  different 
classes. 

I.  Biblical.  This  class  embraces,  1.  Scripture  Allegories^ 
allegorical  explanations,  each  in  a  single  sentence,  of  129 
names  and  passages  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  of  211  in 
the  iSfew  Testament;  a  curious  and,  in  its  way,  valuable 
treatise,  compiled  from  the  older  commentaries.  2.  Lives  and 
Deaths  of  Biblical  Saints?  Very  brief  biographies  of  sixty-four 
Old  Testament  and  twenty-one  New  Testament  worthies.  3. 
Introductions  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,^  a  very  general 
introduction  to  the  entire  Bible,  followed  by  brief  accounts  of 
the  several  books,  including  Esdras  and  Maccabees.  The  four 
Gospels,  the  epistles  of  Paul,  Peter  and  John  are  treated  to- 
gether in  respective  sections.  Acts  comes  between  Jude  and 
Revelation.  It  was  compiled  from  different  authors.  4.  Scrip- 
ture Numbers^  (1-16,  18-20,  24,  30,  40,  46,  50,  60),  mystically 
interpreted.  Thus  under  one,  the  church  is  one,  the  Mediator  is 
one.  Under  two,  there  »are  two  Testaments,  two  Seraphim,  two 
Cherubim.  5.  Questions  on  the  Old  and  Neio  Testaments,^  a 
Biblical  catechism  of  forty-one  questions  and  answers.  Some 
are  very  trivial.  6.  Expositions  of  Holy  Mysteries,  or  Questions 
on  the  Old  Testament,^  a  paraphrase  of  Genesis,  and  notes  upon 
Joshua,  Judges,  the  four  books  of  Kings,  Ezra  and  JNlaccabees. 
The   work    is    compiled   from    Origen,    Victorinus,   Ambrose, 

*  Allegorice.  qucedam  Sacrce  Scripture,  Migne,  LXXXIIL  col.  97-130. 

2  De  ortu  et  obitu  patrum  qui  in  Scriptura  laudibus  efferuntur,  ibid.  col.  129-156. 

3  In  libros  F.  ac  N.  T.  proamia,  ibid.  col.  155-180. 

*  Jjiber  numerorwm  qui  in  S.  S.  occurunt,  ibid.  col.  179-200. 
5  De  V.  et  N.  T.  quwsiioncs,  ibid.  col.  201-208. 

®  Mysticorum  expositiones  sacramcntorum  seu  qucBstiones  in  V.  T.  ibid.  col.  207- 
434. 


6GG  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Jcroiiie,  AiigustiD,  Fulgentius,  Cassianus  and  Gregory  the  Great. 
A  summary  of  each  chapter  of  the  books  mentioned  is  given. 
The  exposition  is  allegorical. 

II.  Dogjriatic.  1.  The  Catholic  Faith  defended  against  the 
Jews}  A  treatise  in  two  books,  dedicated  to  his  sister  Floren- 
tina,  the  nun.  In  the  first  book  he  marshals  the  Scripture  pro- 
phecies and  statements  relative  to  Christ,  and  shows  how  they 
have  been  verified.  In  the  second  book  in  like  manner  he 
treats  of  the  call  of  the  Gentiles,  the  unbelief  of  the  Jews  and 
their  cousequeut  rejection,  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the 
abolition  of  the  ceremonial  law,  and  closes  with  a  brief  state- 
ment of  Christian  doctrine.  The  work  was  doubtless  an  honest 
attempt  to  win  the  Jews  over  to  Christianity,  and  Spain  in  the 
7th  century  was  full  of  Jews,  Whatever  may  have  been  its 
success  as  an  apology,  it  was  very  popular  in  the  Middle  Age 
among  Christians,  and  was  translated  into  several  languages.^ 
2.  Three  books  of  Sentences^^  compiled  from  Augustin  and 
Gregory  the  Great's  Moralia.  This  work  is  a  compend  of 
theology,  and  is  Isidore's  most  important  production  in  this 
class.  Its  influence  has  been  incalculable.  Innumerable  copies 
were  made  of  it  during  the  Middle  Age,  and  it  led  to  the  prepara- 
tion of  similar  works,  e.  g.,  Peter  Lombard's  Sentences}  3. 
Synonyms,  in  two  books  ;5  the  first  is  a  dialogue  between 
sinful  and  despairing  Man  and  Reason  (or  the  Logos),  who 
consoles  him,  rescues  him  from  despair,  shows  him  that  sin  is 
the  cause  of  his  misery,  and  sets  him  on  the  heavenly  way. 
The  second  is  a  discourse  by  Reason  upon  vices  and  their  op- 
posite virtues.^ 

>  Defide  calholica  ex  V.  et  N.  T.  contra  JiuJceos,  ibid.  col.  449-538. 
2  Fragments  of  an  old  Higli  German  translation  have  been  published  by  A. 
Holtzmann,  Karlsruhe,  1836,  and  by  Weinhold,  Paderborn,  1874. 
^  Stnlendarum  libri  tres,  Migne,  LXXXIII.  col.  537-738. 

*  It  was  probably  itself  suggested  by  Prosper's  Sentences  from  Augustin. 

*  Synonyma  de  lamentalione  animcB  peccalrici%  Migne,  jhid.  col.  825-868. 
"The  term  "synonyms"  was  apparently  given  to  it  because  there  are  so 

many  ideas  repeated  in  slightly  different  words. 


2  155.  ST.  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE.  667 

4.  Th.e  Order  of  Creation}  It  treats  of  the  Trinity,  the  crea- 
tion, the  devil  and  demons,  paradise,  fallen  man,  purgatory,  and 
the  future  life. 

III.  Ecclesiastic  and  monastic.  1.  The  Ecclesiastical  OJices, 
i.  e.,  the  old  Spanish  liturgy.^  It  is  dedicated  to  his  brother 
Fulgentius,  and  is  in  two  books,  for  the  most  part  original. 
The  first  is  called  "  the  origin  of  the  offices,"  and  treats  of 
choirs,  psalms,  hymns  and  other  topics  in  ecclesiastical  archse- 
ology.  Under  the  head  "  sacrifice"  ^  Isidore  expresses  his  view 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  which  is  substantially  that  "  Body  and 
Blood  "  denote  the  consecrated  elements,  but  not  that  these  are 
identical  with  the  Body  and  Blood  of  our  Lord.  The  second 
book,  "  the  origin  of  the  ministry,"  treats  of  the  different 
clerical  grades ;  also  of  monks,  penitents,  virgins,  widows,  the 
married,  catechumens,  the  rule  of  faith,  baptism,  chrism,  laying 
on  of  hands  and  confirmation.  2.  A  Monastic  Rule.*  It  was 
designed  for  Spanish  monasteries,  drawn  from  old  sources,  and 
resembles  the  Benedictine,  with  which,  however,  it  is  not  iden- 
tical. It  throws  much  light  upon  the  contemporary  Spanish 
monasticism,  as  it  discusses  the  situation  of  the  monastery,  the 
choice  of  the  abbot,  the  monks,  their  duties,  meals,  festivals, 
fasts,  dress,  punishment,  sickness  and  death.  It  recalls  the 
somewhat  similar  Institutes  of  Cassiodorus  already  mentioned.^ 

IV.  Educational  and  philosophical.  1.  Twenty  books  of 
Etymologies.^  This  is  his  greatest  work,  and  considering  its 
date  truly  an  astonishing  work.  Caspar  Barth's  list  of  the  one 
hundred  and  fifty-four  authors  quoted  in  it  shows  Isidore's  Avide 
reading.  Along  with  many  Christian  writers  are  the  following 
classic  authors  :  JEsop,  Anacreon,  Apuleius,  Aristotle,  Boethius, 
Csesar,   Cato,  Catullus,  Celsus,  Cicero,  Demosthenes,   Eunius, 


1  De  ordine  creaturarum  liber,  ibid-  913-954. 

'  De  ecdesiasticis  officiis,  ibid.  col.  737-826. 

'  I.  18,  ibid.  col.  754-757.  *  Regxda  monachorum,  ibid.  col.  867-894. 

5  See  p.  657.         «  Etymologiarum  libri  XX.  Migne,  LXXXII.  col.  73-728. 


GG8  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Herodotus,  Hesiod,  Homer,  Horace,  Juvenal,  Livy,  Lucan, 
Lucretias,  Martial,  Ovid,  Persius,  Pindar,  Plato,  Plautus, 
Pliuy,  Quintilian,  Sallust,  Suetonius,  Terence,  Varro,  Virgil.^ 
It  is  a  concise  encyclopedia  of  universal  learning,  embracing 
the  seven  liberal  arts  (grammar,  rhetoric^  dialectics,  arithmetic, 
geometry,  music,  and  astronomy),  and  medicine,  law,  chro- 
uoloo-y,  angelology,  mineralogy,  architecture,  agriculture  and 
many  other  topics.  Although  much  of  his  information  is 
erroneous,  and  the  tenth  book,  that  of  Etymology  proper,  is  full 
of  absurdities,  the  work  as  a  whole  is  worthy  of  high  praise. 
It  was  authoritative  throughout  Europe  for  centuries,  and  re- 
peatedly copied  and  printed.  Rabanus  Maurus  drew  largely 
upon  it  for  his  De  Universo.  2.  The  Differences,  or  the  jproper 
signification  of  terms^  in  two  books.  The  first  treats  of  the  dif- 
ferences of  words.  It  is  a  dictionary  of  synonyms  and  of  words 
which  sound  somewhat  alike,  arranged  alphabetically.  The 
second  book  treats  of  the  differences  of  things,  and  is  a  diction- 
ary of  theology,  brief  yet  comprehensive.  3.  On  the  Nature  of 
Things^  in  forty-eight  chapters,  dedicated  to  King  Sisebut  (612- 
620),  who  had  given  him  the  subject.  It  is  a  sort  of  natural 
philosophy,  treating  of  the  divisions  of  time,  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  and  the  waters  under  the  earth.  It  also  has  illustra- 
tive diagrams.  Like  Isidore's  other  Avorks  it  is  a  skilful  com- 
pilation from  patristic  and  profane  authors,*  and  was  extremely 
popular  in  the  Middle  Age. 

V.  Historical.  1.  A  Chronicle^  containing  the  principal 
events  in  the  world  from  the  creation  to  616.  It  is  divided 
into  six  periods  or  ages,  corresponding  to  the  six  days  of  crea- 

«  Arevalo,  Prolegomena,  c.  53,  in  Migne,  LXXXI.  col.  337-340. 
^  Differentiarum,  sive  de  propriefate  sermonum,  libri  duo,  LXXXIII.  col.  9-08. 
'  De  nalura  rerum,  ibid.  col.  963-1018. 
*  See  Becker's  cd.  for  a  careful  statement  of  his  sources. 
^  Chronicon,  LXXXIII.  col.  1017-1058.     In   abbreviated  form  in  the  Ety- 
mologies, cf.  V.  39.    Migne,  LXXXII.  col.  224r-228. 


i  151.  THE  VESEEABLE  BEDE.  669 

tion,  a  division  plainly  borrowed  from  Augnstia  ■  Ite  sources 
ose  Juli.«  Africanus,  Eusebius,  Jerome,  and  V.ctor  of  lun- 
nena'  2.  Histo,-!,  of  the  Goffo,  Vandah  and  S«W.brought 
down  to  61.  A  work  which,  like  Gregory  of  Toars'  Rst^ry  of 
the  Franh,  is  the  only  sonrce  for  certain  periods.  It  has  been 
remarked'  that  Isidore,  like  Cassiodorns,  m  sp.te  of  h,s  Eon.a„ 
origin,  had  a  high  regard  for  the  Goths.  3.  Fa,nous  lfc^  a 
continuation  of  Gennadins'  appendix  to  Jeromes  wo, k  v  th 
the  same  title.  It  sketches  forty-six  authors,  begnmmg  with 
Bishop  Hosius  of  Cordova,  and  extending  to  the  begmmng  of 

the  seventh  century.  .  „ 

VI  Miscellaneous.  Under  this  head  come  thirteen  btief 
Letter,'  and  minor  works  of  doubtful  genuineness.  There  are 
^so  numerous  spurious  works  which  bear  his  uame,  among 
which  are  hymns. 

§  156.  The  Venerable  Bede  {Bcsda). 

I.  VenerabiUs  B...-  Opera  ^f'^^^^^l^:^^^^, 

,8«;  George  H^Mo^rUyOx.or.8C9.^Al^d^^  ^,^^  ^^^^ 
im  Breisgau,  1882.     l5ooks  iix.    v  .,„^  1070    The  best  known 

E.  B.  Mayor  and  John  K  Lumby,  C-br  dge  18; 8^  Tbe  b  ^^^ 

English  translation  of  the  «'''''«  ^^'^^^^^l^i.^^i^,  ^-nli.g, 
.inee  18«  in  BoWs  Ant,,nar,an  L  b  H.s^c^^^^^  ^^  ^^^^^ 

are  contained  in  Thomas  w  luuni      ^  Marshall  trans- 

Iritten  during  the  Middle  Ages  L-'^-'^^^^  '/s^  For  fur- 
lated  his  Explanation  of  '^^^.^i'-"^^^/,^:  ^^^^  ekitL  of  Bede's 
ther  bibliographical  information  regarding  the 

History,  see  Giles'  ed.  n.  5-8. 

^.  •    ,    n  •  XXU  30  (ed.Dorabart,  II.  635,  Clark's  ^njr.  mil- 544). 
X  De  Cn-mte  ^->  ™  ^^^^^^^^^  in  Lit.  on  p.  662- 

:  SLtrr^  t^^^ti.  r«...o,..  .  ..«,  Mign.  LXXXHL 
col.  1057-1082. 

4  Ebert,  I.  566.  vvxill  col.  1081-1106. 

5  De  viris  illusiribus,  Migne,  LXXXiii-  coi. 
6£^toKt6id.col.893-9l4. 


G7U  FOURTH  PERluD.     A.  D.  590-10i9. 

II.  Eiosraphies  are  contained  in  tlie  above-mentioned  editions.  Hist. 
V.  24,  and  the  letter  on  his  death  by  Cuthbert  (Giles'  trans,  in  Bohn, 
pp.  xviii.-xxi.)  are  the  best  original  sources.  The  old  Vitce.  given 
in  tJfe  complete  editions  are  almost  worthless.  Modern  works  are 
Hexkik  Geule:  Disputatio  hisloi-ico-theologica  de  Bedce  venerabills 
preshyteri  Anglo-Saxonis  vita  et  scriptis.  Leyden,  1838.  Carl 
ScHCELL :  De  ecdesiasticce  Britonum  Scotoruriique  hisiorice  fontibus. 
Berlin  1851.  Karl  Werner:  Beda  der  Ehrwiirdige  und  seine 
Zeit.  Wien,  1875.  2d  ed.  (unchanged),  1881.  Geo.  F.  Browne: 
The  Venerable  Bede.  London,  1879.  Cf.  Du  Pin,  VI.  89-91.  Cave, 
II.  241-245.  Ceillier,  XII.  1-19.  Clarke,  IL  426-429.  Bahr, 
IV.  175-178,  292-298.     Ebert,  I.  595-611. 

The  Venerable  Bede  (properly  Bseda)  is  never  spoken  of 
■without  affectionate  interest,  and  yet  so  uneventful  was  his 
useful  life  that  very  little  can  be  said  about  him  personally. 
He  was  born  in  673,  probably  in  the  village  of  Jarrow,  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  Tyne,  Northumbria,  near  the  Scottish  border. 
At  the  age  of  seven,  being  probably  an  orphan,  he  was  placed 
in  the  monastery  of  St.  Peter,  at  Wearmouth,  on  the  north  bank 
of  the  Wear,  which  had  been  founded  by  Benedict  Biscop  in 
674.  In  682  he  was  transferred  to  the  newly-founded  sister 
monastery  of  St.  Paul,  five  miles  off,  at  Jarrow.^  He  is  not 
known  ever  to  have  gone  away  from  it  farther  than  to  the  sister 
monastery  and  to  visit  friends  in  contiguous  places,  such  as  York. 
The  stories  of  his  visit  to  Rome  and  professorship  at  Cambridge 
scarcely  deserve  mention.  His  first  teacher  was  Benedict  Bis- 
cop, a  nobleman  who  at  twenty-five  became  a  monk  and  freely 
put  his  property  and  his  learning  at  the  public  service.  Biscop 
traveled  five  times  to  Rome  and  each  time  returned,  like  Ethel- 
bert  and  Alcuin  subsequently,  laden  Avith  rich  literary  spoils  and 
also  with  pictures  and  reli&s.  Thus  the  library  at  Wearmouth 
became  the  largest  and  best  appointed  in  England  at  the  time.^ 
It  was  Biscop's  enterprise  and  liberality  ^\•hich  rendered  it  possible 

*  King  Egfrid  gave  tlie  land  for  these  monasteries. 

■^  Biscop  was  the  fir.-^t  to  import  masons  and  glaziers  into  England,  and  to 
introduce  the  Roman  liturgy  and  the  art  of  chanting. 


§  156.  THE  VENERABLE  BEDE.  671 

that  Bede's  natural  taste  for  learning  should  receive  such  careful 
culture.  So  amid  the  wealth  of  books  he  acquired  Latin,  Greek 
and  Hebrew,  and  laid  up  a  rich  store  of  multifarious  knowledge. 
Such  was  his  character  and  attainments  that  at  nineteen,  six 
years  before  the  then  canonical  age,  he  was  ordained  deacon,  and 
at  thirty  a  priest.  He  thus  describes  his  mode  of  life :  "All  the 
remaining  time  of  my  life  [i.  e.,  after  leaving  Wearmouth]  I 
spent  in  that  monastery  [of  Jarrow],  wholly  applying  myself  to 
the  study  of  Scripture,  and  amidst  observance  of  regular  disci- 
pline and  the  daily  care  of  singing  in  the  church.  •  I  always 
took  delight  in  learning,  teaching  and  writing."^  He  declined 
to  be  abbot  because  the  office,  as  he  said,  demands  close  attention, 
and  therefore  cares  come  which  impede  the  pursuit  of  learning. 
As  it  was,  the  "  pursuit  of  learning  "  took  up  only  a  portion  of  his 
time,  for  the  necessary  duties  of  a  monk  were  many,^  and  such  a 
man  as  Bede  would  be  frequently  required  to  preach.  It  appears 
that  he  published  nothing  before  he  was  thirty  years  old,  for  he 
says  himself :  "  From  which  time  [i.  e.,  of  his  taking  priest's 
orders]  till  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  my  age,  I  have  made  it  my 
business,  for  the  use  of  me  and  mine,  to  compile  out  of  the  works 
of  the  venerable  Fathers,  and  to  interpret  and  explain  according 
to  their  meaning  these  following  pieces."^  Then  follows  his  list 
of  his  works.  The  result  of  such  study  and  writing  was  that 
Bede  became  the  most  learned  man  of  his  time,  and  also  the 
greatest  of  its  authors.  Yet  he  was  also  one  of  the  humblest 
and  simplest  of  men. 

He  died  on  Wednesday,  May  26,  735,  of  a  complaint 
accompanied  with  asthma,  from  which  he  had  long  suffered 
The  circumstances  of  his  death  are  related  by  his  pupil  Cuth- 
bert.*  During  Lent  of  the  year  735  Bede  carried  on  the 
translation  of  the  Gospel  of  John  and  "  some  collections  out  of 

1  Hist.  V.  24  (Giles'  trans,  in  Bohn'.s  Library,  p.  297,  altered  slightly). 
»  Cxiles,  ibid.,  p.  X.  '  Hid.  V.  24  (Giles,  ibid.,  p.  297). 

*  Giles  gives  Cuthbert's  letter  in  full,  ibid.,  pp.  xviii.-xxi. 


672  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

the  Book  of  Notes"  of  Archbishop  Isidore  of  Seville.  The 
day  before  he  died  he  spent  in  dictating  his  translations,  saying 
now  and  then,  "  Go  on  quickly,  I  know  not  how  long  I  shall 
hold  out,  and  whether  ray  Maker  will  not  soon  take  me  away." 
He  progressed  so  far  with  his  rendering  of  John's  Gospel  that 
at  the  third  hour  on  Wednesday  morning  only  one  chapter 
remained  to  be  done.  On  being  told  this  he  said,  "  Take  your 
pen,  and  make  ready,  and  write  fast."  The  scribe  did  so, 
but  at  the  ninth  hour  Bede  said  to  Cuthbert,  '"I  have  some 
little  articles  of  value  in  my  chest,  such  as  pepper,  napkins  and 
incense :  run  quickly,  and  bring  the  priests  of  our  monastery  to 
me,  that  I  may  distribute  among  them  the  gifts  which  God  has 
bestowed  on  me.  The  rich  in  this  world  are  bent  on  giving  gold 
and  silver  and  other  precious  things.  But  I,  in  charity,  will 
joyfully  give  my  brothers  what  God  has  given  unto  me."  He 
spoke  to  every  one  of  them,  admonishing  and  entreating  them 
that  they  would  carefully  say  masses  and  prayers  for  him,  which 
they  readily  promised ;  but  they  all  mourned  and  wept,  espe- 
cially because  he  said,  "  they  should  no  more  see  his  face  in  this 
world."  They  rejoiced  for  that  he  said,  "  It  is  time  that  I  re- 
turn to  Him  who  formed  me  out  of  nothing:  I  have  lived  long; 
my  merciful  Judge  well  foresaw  my  life  for  me ;  the  time  of  my 
dissolution  draws  nigh ;  for  I  desire  to  die  and  to  be  with  Christ." 
Having  said  much  more,  he  passed  the  day  joyfully  till  the 
evening,  and  the  boy  [i.  e.,  his  scribe]  said,  "  Dear  master,  there 
is  yet  one  sentence  not  written."  He  answered,  "  Write  quickly." 
Soon  after  the  boy  said,  "It  is  ended."  He  replied,  "It  is  well, 
you  have  said  the  truth.  It  is  ended.  Receive  my  head  into 
your  hands,  for  it  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  sit  facing  my 
holy  place,  where  I  was  wont  to  pray,  that  I  may  also  sitting 
call  upon  my  Father."  And  thus  on  the  pavement  of  his  little 
cell,  singing,  "Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to 
the  Holy  Ghost,"  when  he  had  named  the  Holy  Gliost,  he 
breathed  his  last,  and  so  departed  to  the  heavenly  kingdom." 


2  156.  THE  VENERABLE  BEDE.  673 

Bede's  body  was  buried  in  the  church  at  Jarrow,  but  between 
1021  and  1042  it  was  stolen  and  removed  to  Durham  by  Elfrcd, 
a  priest  of  its  cathedral,  who  put  it  in  the  same  chest  with  the 
body  of  St.  Cuthbert.  In  110-4  the  bodies  were  separated,  aud 
in  1154  the  relics  of  Bede  were  placed  in  a  shrine  of  gold  and 
silver,  adorned  with  jewels.  Tliis  shrine  was  destroyed  by  an 
ignorant  mob  in  Henry  VIII's  time  (1541),  and  only  a  monkish 
inscription  remains  to  chronicle  the  fact  that  Bede  was  ever 
buried  there. 

The  epithet,  "  Venerable,"  now  so  commonly  appliqd  to  Bede, 
is  used  by  him  to  denote  a  holy  man  who  had  not  been  canon- 
ized, and  had  no  more  reference  to  age  than  the  same  name 
applied  to-day  to  an  archdeacon  in  the  Church  of  England.  By 
his  contemporaries  he  was  called  either  Presbyter  or  Dominus. 
He  is  first  called  the  Venerable  in  the  middle  of  the  tenth 
century. 

Bede's  Writings  are  very  numerous,  and  attest  the  width 
and  profundity  of  his  learning,  and  also  the  independence  and 
soundness  of  his  judgment.  "  Having  centred  in  himself  aud 
his  writings  nearly  all  the  knowledge  of  his  day,  he  was  enabled 
before  his  death,  by  promoting  the  foundation  of  the  school  of 
York,  to  kindle  the  flame  of  learning  in  the  West  at  the  moment 
that  it  seemed  both  in  Ireland  and  in  France  to  be  expiring. 
The  school  of  York  transmitted  to  Alcuin  the  learning  of  Bede, 
and  opened  the  way  for  culture  on  the  continent,  when  England 
under  the  terrors  of  the  Danes  was  relapsing  into  barbarism." 
"His  fame,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  demand  for  his  works 
immediately  after  his  death,  extended  wherever  the  English 
missionaries  or  negotiators  found  their  way."  ^ 

Bede  himself,  perhaps  in  imitation  of  Gregory  of  Tours,* 
gives  a  list  of  his  works  at  the  conclusion  of  his  History.^ 
There  are  few  data  to  tell  when  any  one  of  them  was  composed. 

1  Beda  in  Smith  and  Wace,  Diet.  Chr.  Biog.  I.  301,  302. 

«  See  p.  661.  »  Hist.  V.  24  (Bohn's  ed.,  pp.  297-299). 


674  FOUETH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  probable  dates  are  given  in  the  following  general  account 
and  enumeration  of  his  genuine  writings.  Very  many  other 
writings  have  been  attributed  to  him.^ 

I.  Educational  treatises.  («)  On  ortliogr^aphy^  (about  700). 
The  words  are  divided  alphabetically.  (6)  On  -prosodij^  (702). 
(c)  On  the  Biblical  figures  and  tropes}  {d)  On  the  nature  of 
things^  (702),  a  treatise  upon  natural  philosophy,  (e)  On  the 
timcs^  (702).  (/)  On  the  order  of  times''  (702).  {g)  On  the 
computation  of  time*  (726).  {h)  On  the  celebration  of  Easter.^ 
(i)  On  thunder}'^ 

II.  Expository  works.  These  are  compilations  from  the 
Fathers,  which  originally  were  carefully  assigned  by  marginal 
notes  to  their  proper  source,  but  the  notes  have  been  obliteiated 
in  the  course  of  frequent  copying.  He  wrote  either  on  the 
whole  or  a  part  of  the  Pentateuch,  Samuel,  Kings,  Ezra,  Ne- 
heniiah.  Proverbs,  Ecclesiastes,  Canticles,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah, 
Daniel,  the  Twelve  Minor  Prophets,  Tobit,  Matthew,  Mark, 
Luke,  John,  Catholic  Epistles  and  the  Apocalypse."  His  com- 
ments are  of  course  made  upon  the  Latin  Bible,  but  his  scho- 
larship comes  out  in  the  frequent  correction  and  emendation  of 
the  Latin  text  by  reference  to  the  original.  The  most  frequent 
subject  of  remark  is  the  want  of  an  article  in  the  Latin,  which 
gave  rise  to  frequent  ambiguity.^^  Throughout  he  shows  him- 
self a  careful  textual  student.^^ 


'  Stubb's  art.,  p.  301.  »  De  orthographia  in  Migne,  XC.  col.  123-150. 

'  De  arte  metrica.     Ibid.,  col.  149-176. 

*  De  schematis  et  tropis  sacrce  scriptures.     Ibid-,  col.  175-186. 

*  De  natura  rerum.  Ibid.,  col.  187-278.     ^  De  temporibus.  Ibid.,  col.  277-292. 

*  De  temporum  ratione.     Ibid.,  col.  293-578. 

*  De  ratione- computi.     Ibid.,  col,  579-600. 

9  De  Paschcr  celebratione.     Ibid.,  col.  599-606. 
^°  De  tonitruis.     Ibid.,  col.  609-614. 

"  Bcde's  expository  works  fill  Tom.  XCI.,  XCII.,  XCIII.  in  Migne'a  series. 
"  G.  F.  Browne,  Tlie  Venerable  Bede,  pp.  129-132.     A  translation  of  one  of 
Bede's  homilies  is  given  on  pp.  148-159. 
"  The  Uncial  E  (2),  the  Codex  Laudianus,  which  dates  from  the  end  of  the 


?  156.  THE  VENERA.BLE  BEDE.  675 

III.  Homilies.'  These  are  mostly  doctrinal  aud  objective. 
The  fact  that  they  were  delivered  to  a  monastic  audience  explains 
their  infrequent  allusion  to  current  events  or  to  daily  life. 
They  are  calm  and  careful  expositions  of  passages  of  Scripture 
rather  than  compact  or  stirring  sermons. 

.  IV.  Poetry.^  Most  of  the  poetry  attributed  to  him  is 
spurious.  But  a  few  pieces  are  genuine,  such  as  the  hymn 
in  his  History  upon  Virginity,  in  honor  of  Etheldrida,  the 
virgin  wife  of  King  Egfrid;^  the  metrical  version  of  the 
life  of  Saint  Cuthbert  and  of  the  Passion  of  Justiti  Martyr, 
and  some  other  pieces.  The  Booh  of  Hymns,  of  which  he  speaks 
in  his  own  list  of  his  writings,  is  apparently  lost. 

V.  Epistles.*  These  are  sixteen  in  number.  The  second, 
addressed  to  the  Archbishop  Egbert  of  York,  is  the  most  inter- 
esting. It  dates  from  734,  and  gives  a  word-picture  of  the 
time  which  shows  how  bad  it  was.^  Even  the  archbishop  him- 
self comes  in  for  faithful  rebuke.  Bede  had  already  made 
him  one  visit  and  expected  to  make  him  another,  but 
being  prevented  wrote  to  him  Avhat  he  desired  to  tell  him  by 
word  of  mouth.  The  chief  topics  of  the  letter  are  the  avarice 
of  the  bishops  and  the  disorders  of  the  religious  houses.  After 
dwelling  upon  these  and  kindred  topics  at  considerable  length, 
Bede  concludes  by  saying  that  if  he  had  treated  drunkenness, 
gluttony,  luxury  and  other  contagious  diseases  of  the  body 
politic  his  letter  would  have  been  immoderately  long.  The 
third  letter,  addressed  to  the  abbot  of  Plegwin,  is  upon  the 
Six  A^es  of  the  World.  Most  of  the  remainder  are  dedi- 
catory. 

sixth  century,  and  contains  an  almost  complete  Greek-Latin  text  of  the  Acts, 
is  known  to  have  been  used  by  Bede  in  writing  his  Itetractations  on  the  Acts. 
The  Codex  was  brought  to  England  in  668. 

1  Tom.  XCIV.,  col.  9-268. 

«  Ibid.,  col.  515-529,  575-638. 

3  Hifit.  IV.  20.     Bohn's  ed.,  pp.  207,  208. 

*  Migne,  XCIV.  col.  655-710.     *  Browne  (I.  c,  pp.  172-179)  reproduces  it. 


G7G  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

YI.  Hao-iograpliies.'  (a)  Lives  of  the  five  holy  abbots  of 
Wcarmouth  and  Jarrow,  Benedict,  Ccolfrid,  Eastericine,  Sigfrid 
and  Huetberct.  The  work  is  divided  iuto  two  books,  of  which 
the  first  relates  to  Benedict.  (6)  The  prose  version  of  the 
Life  of  St.  Cuthbert  of  Lindisfarne.  The  poetical  version  al- 
rcadv  spoken  of,  is  earlier  in  time  and  different  in  character  in 
as  much  as  it  dwells  more  upon  Cuthbert's  miracles.  The 
prose  version  has  for  its  principal  source  an  older  life  of  Cuth- 
bert still  extant,  and  relates  many  facts  along  with  evident 
fictions.  Great  pains  were  bestowed  upon  it  and  it  was  even 
submitted  for  criticism,  prior  to  publication,  to  the  monks  of 
,  Lindisfarne.  (c)  The  life  of  Felix  of  Nola,  Confessor,  a  prose 
version  of  the  life  already  written  by  Paulinus  of  Nola.  {d) 
Martyrology.  It  is  drawn  from  old  Koman  sources,  and  shows 
at  once  the  learning  and  the  simplicity  of  its  author. 

VII.  Ecclesiastical  History  of  England}  This  is  Bede's 
great  work.  Begun  at  the  request  of  King  Ceolwulf,  it  was 
his  occupation  for  many  years,  and  was  only  finished  a  short 
time  before  his  death.  It  consists  of  five  books  and  tells 
in  a  simple,  clear  style  the  history  of  England  from  the 
earliest  times  down  to  731.  The  first  twenty-two  chapters 
of  the  first  book  are  compiled  from  Orosius  and  Gildas, 
but  from  the  mission  of  Augustin  in  tlie  23d  chapter  (a.  d. 
596)  it  rests  upon  original  investigation.  Bede  took  great 
pains  to  ensure  accuracy,  and  he  gives  the  names  of  all  persons 
who  were  helpful  to  him.  The  History  is  thus  the  chief  and  in 
many  respects  the  only  source  for  the  church  history  of  England 
down  to  the  eighth  century.  In  it  as  in  his  other  books  Bede 
relates  a  great  many  strange  things ;  but  he  is  careful  to  give 
his  autliorities  for  each  statement.  It  is  quite  evident,  how- 
ever, that  he  believed  in  these  "  miracles,"  many  of  which  are 

'  ^ri^e,  XCIV.,  col.  713-1148.   Browne  (pp.  80-126)  gives  a  full  account  of 
the  first  two  of  these  works. 
*  Uisloria  ecdesiastica  gentia  Anglorum.     Tom.  XCV.,  col.  21-290. 


§  157.  PAUL  THE  DEACON.  G77 

susceptible  of  rational  explanation.  It  is  from  this  modest, 
simple,  conscientious  History  that  multitudes  have  learned  to 
love  the  Venerable  Bede. 

§  157.  Paul  the  Deacon. 

I.  Paulus  Winfridus  Diaconus:  Opera  omnia  in  Migne,  Tom.  XCV., 

col.  413-1710.  Editions  of  Paul's  separate  works  :  Historia  Lan<jo- 
bardorum  in  :  Monumenta  Germanios  historica.  Scriptores  rerum  lango- 
bardorum  et  italicarum.  Saec.  VI.-IX.  edd.  L.  Bethmann  et  G. 
Waitz,  Hannover,   1878,  pp.  45-187.     Historia  romana  in  :  Monum. 

Germ.  hist,  auctor.  antiquissimor.  Tom.  II.  ed.  H.  Droysen,  Berlin, 
1879.  Gesta  episcoporum  Mettensium  in ;  Man.  Germ.' hist.  Script. 
Tom.  II.  ed.  Pertz,  pp.  260-270.     HomilioR  in :  Martene  et  Durand, 

Veterum  scriptorum  colledio,  Paris,  1738,  Tom.  IX.  Carmina  (both, 
his  and  Peter's)  in :  PoetcB  latini  cevi  Caroling  ed.  E.  Dumniler,  Ber- 
lin, 1880,  I.  1.  pp  27-86.  Translations:  Die  Langobardengescldchte, 
iibertsetzt  von  Karl  von  Spruner,  Hamburg,  1838  ;  Paulus  Diaconus 
und  die  ilbrigen  Gcschichtschreiber  der  Langobarden,  iibersetzt  von 
Otto  Abel,  Berlin,  1849. 

II.  Felix  Dahn:   Pcm^ws  Diacomts,  I.  Abtheilung,  Leipzig,  1876.   Each 

of  the  above  mentioned  editions  contains  an  elaborate  introduction  iu 
which  the  life  and  works  of  Paul  are  discussed,  e.  g.  Waitz  ed.  Hist. 
pp.  12-45.  For  further  investigations  see  Bethmann  :  Paulus  Dia- 
conus'Leben  und  Schri/ten,  and  Die  Geschichfschreibung  der  Lmigo- 
barden,  both  in  Pertz's  "  Archiv  der  Gesellsch.  fur  altere  deutsche 
Geschichtskunde."  Bd.  X.  Hannover,  1851 ;  Bauch  :  Ueber  die  his- 
toriaromana  des  Paulus  Diaconus,  eine  Quellenuntersuchung,  Gottingen, 
1873;  R.  Jacobi:  Die  Quellen  der  Langobardengeschichte  des  Paidus 
Diaconus,  Halle,  1877;  and  Mommsex:  Die  Quellen  der  Langobar- 
dengeschichte des  Paulus  Diaconus  in  :  Neues  Archiv  der  Gesellsch.  fur 
altere  Geschichtskunde,  Bd.  V.  pp.  51  sqq.  Du  Pin,  VI.  115-116. 
Ceillier,  XII.  141-148.    Ebert,  II.  36-56. 

Paul  the  Deacon  {Paidus  Diaconus),  the  historian  of  the 
Lombards,  was  the  son  of  Warnefrid  and  Theudelinda.  Hence 
he  is  frequently  called  Paul  Waenefrid.  He  was  descended 
from  a  noble  Lombard  family  and  was  born  in  Forum  Julii 
(Friuli,  Northern  Italy),  probably  between  720  and  725.  His 
education  was  completed  at  the  coiu-t  of  King  Liutpraud  in 
Pavia.  His  attainments  included  a  knowledge  of  Greek,  rare 
in  that  age.     Under  the  influence  of  Ratchis,  Liutprand's  sue- 


078  FOUETU  PEEIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

cesser  (744-749),  he  entered  the  church  and  became  a  deacon. 
Kino-  Desiderius  (756-774)  made  him  his  chancellor/  and 
entrusted  to  his  instruction  his  daughter  Adelperga,  the  wife 
of  Arichis,  duke  of  Benevcuio.  In  774  the  Lombard  king- 
dom fell,  and  Paul  after  residing  for  a  time  at  the  duke's 
court  entered  the  Benedictine  monastery  of  Monte  Cassiuo. 
There  he  contentedly  lived  until  fraternal  love  led  him  to  leave 
his  beloved  abode.  In  776  his  brother,  Arichis,  having  pro- 
bably participated  in  Hruodgaud's  rebellion,  was  taken  prisoner 
by  Charlemagne,  carried  into  France,  and  the  family  estates 
were  confiscated.     This  brought   the  entire   family  to  beggary.^ 

Paul  sought  Charlemagne ;  in  a  touching  little  poem  of 
twenty-eight  lines,  probably  written  in  Gaul  in  782,  he  set 
the  pitiful  case  before  liim^  and  implored  the  great  king's 
clemency. 

He  did  not  plead  in  vain.  He  would  then  at  once  have  re- 
turned to  Monte  Cassino,  but  Charlemagne,  always  anxious  to 
retain  in  his  immediate  service  learned  and  brilliant  men,  did 
not  allow  him  to  go.  He  was  employed  as  court  poet,  teacher 
of  Greek,  and  scribe,  and  thus  exerted  great  influence.  His 
heart  was,  however,  in  his  monastery,  and  in  787  he  is  found 
there.  The  remainder  of  his  life  w^as  busily  employed  in 
literary  labors.  He  died,  April  13,  probably  in  the  year  800, 
with  an  unfinished  work,  the  history  of  the  Lombards,  upon 
his  hands. 

Paul  was  a  Christian  scholar,  gentle,  loving,  and  beloved ; 
ever  learning  and  disseminating  learning.  Although  not  a 
great  man,  he  was  a  most  useful  one,  and  his  homilies  and 
histories  of  the  Lombards  are  deservedly  held  in  high  esteem. 

His  Works  embrace  histories,  homilies,  letters,  and   poems. 

'  Fabricius  in  Migne,  XCV.  col.  413.  ^  Ebert,  I.  c.  p.  37. 

3  Migne,  I.  c  col.  1599,  Carmen  VIII.  cf.  lines  9,  10: 

"  Illius  in  patria  covjux  miseranda  per  omnes 
Mendkat  plateas,  ore  Iremenle,  cibos." 


§  157.  PAUL  THE  DEACON.  G79 

I.  Histories.  (1)  Chief  in  importance  is  the  History  of 
the  Lombards}  It  is  divided  into  six  books,  and  carries  the 
history  of  the  Lombards  from  their  rise  in  Scandinavia  down 
to  tlie  death  of  Liutprand  in  744.  It  was  evidently  Paul's 
intention  to  continue  and  revise  the  work,  for  it  has  no  pre- 
face or  proper  conclusion ;  moreover,  it  has  manifest  slips  in 
writing,  which  would  have  been  corrected  by  a  final  reading. 
It  is  therefore  likely  that  he  died  before  its  completion.  It  is 
not  a  model  of  historical  composition,  being  discursive,  indefi- 
nite as  to  chronology,  largely  a  compilation  from  known  and 
unknown  sources,  full  of  legendary  and  irrelevant  matter. 
Nevertheless  it  is  on  the  whole  well  arranged  and  exhibits  a 
love  of  truth,  independence  and  impartiality.  Though  a 
patriot,  Paul  was  not  a  partisan.  He  can  see  some  good  even 
in  his  hereditary  foes.  The  popularity  of  the  History  in  the 
Middle  Age  is  attested  by  the  appearance  of  more  than  fifteen 
editions  of  it  and  of  ten  continuations. 

(2)  Some  scholars^  consider  the  History  of  the  Lombards  the 
continuation  of  Paul's  Roman  History^  which  he  compiled  (c.  770) 
for  Adelperga  from  Eutropiiis  (Breviarum  historice  Bomance);* 
Jerome,  Orosius  {Historia  adversus  Faganos)^  Aurelius  Victor 
{De  CcBsaribus  historia),  Jordanis  {De  breviatione  chronico- 
rum),^  Prosper  (Chronicon)^  Bede  and  others.  The  Historia 
is  in  sixteen  books,  of  which  the  first  ten  are  mere  excerpts  of 
Eutropius,  with  insertions  from  other  sources.  The  last  six 
carry  the  history  from  Valens,  where  Eutropius  ends,  down  to 
Justinian.  The  plan  of  these  latter  books  is  the  same  as  that 
of  the  former :  some  author  is  excerpted,  and  in  the  excerpts 

^  De  gestis  Langobardorum,  Migne,  XCV.  col.  433-672. 

2  Mommsea  quoted  by  Ebert,  I.  c.  p.  45 ;  Weizsiicker  in  Herzog,^  xi.  390. 

^Historia  romana,  with  its  addition?,  Migne,  XCV.  col.  743-1158. 

*  Best  edition  by  Hartel,  Berlin,  1872.     Eng.  trans,  in  Bohn's  Class.  Lib. 

5  Migne,  XXXI.  col.  663-1174. 

«  Muratori,  Rer.  Ital.  script.  I.  222-242. 

7  In  Migne,  LI.  col.  535-608. 


680  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

are  inserted  extracts  from  other  writers.  The  History  is  worth- 
less to  us,  but  in  the  Middle  Age  it  was  extremely  popular. 
To  the  sixteen  books  of  Paul's  were  added  eight  from  the  Church 
History  of  Anastasius  Bibliothecarius,  and  the  whole  called  His- 
toria  MisccUa,  and  to  it  Laudulph  Sagax  wrote  an  appendix, 
which  brings  the  work  down  to  813. 

Besides  these  histories  several  other  briefer  works  in  the 
same  line  have  come  down  to  us. 

(3)  Life  of  St.  Gregory  the  Great}  a  compilation  from  Bede's 
Church  History  of  England,  and  Gregory's  own  works. 

(4)  A  short  History  of  the  bishopric  of  Metz?  It  was  written 
about  784,  at  the  request  of  Angilram,  bishop  of  Metz.  It  is 
in  good  part  only  a  list  of  names.  In  order  to  please  Charle- 
magne, Paul  inserted  irrelevantly  a  section  upon  that  monarch's 
ancestry. 

II.  Homilies.^  A  collection  made  by  request  of  Charlemagne, 
and  which  for  ten  centuries  was  m  use  in  the  Roman  Church. 
It  is  in  three  series.  1.  Homilies  upon  festivals,  two  hun- 
dred and  two  in  number,  all  from  the  Fathers.  2.  Homilies 
upon  saints'  days,  ninety-six  in  number.  3.  Homilies,  five  in 
number.  Many  of  the  second  series  and  all  of  the  last  appear  to 
be  original. 

III.  Letters,^  four  in  number,  two  to  Charlemagne,  one 
each  to  Adalhard,  abbot  of  Corbie,  in  France,  and  to  the  abbot 
Thcudemar. 

IV.  Poems,  including  epitaphs.®  From  the  first  stanza  of 
De  Sancto  Joanne  Baptista,  Guido  of  Arezzo  took  the  names  of 
the  musical  notes. 

»  Vita  S.  Gregorii  Magni,  Migne,  LXXV.  col.  41-60. 
'  Oesta  episcoporum  Metlenslum,  Migne,  XCV.  col.  699-724. 
'  Homilarius,  ibid.  col.  1159-1584. 
*  Epistohe,  ibid.  1583-1592. 

5  Carmina,  ibid.  col.  1591-1604.  Ebert  discusses  these  at  length,  I.  e.  pp. 
48-56. 


1 158.  ST.  PAULINUS  OF  AQUILEIA.  G81 

§  158.  St.  Paulimis  of  Aquileia. 

I.  Sanctus  Paulinus,  patriarcha  Aquileiensis  :  Opera  omnia,  in  Migne, 

Tom.  XCIX.  col.  9-684,  reprint  of  Madrisius'  ed.,  Venice,  1737, 
folio,  2d  ed.  1782.  His  poems  are  given  by  Dummler  :  Poet.  Lat. 
cevl  Carolini  I.  (Berlin,  1880),  pp.  123-148. 

II.  Vita  Paulini,  by  Madrisius  in  Migne's  ed.  col.  17-130.  Cf.  Du  Pin, 
VI.  124.  Ceillier,  XII.  157-164.  Hist.  litt.  de  la  France,  IV. 
284-295;  Bahr:  Geschichte  der  romischen  Literatur  im  Karolinyi- 
schen  Zeitalter,  Carlsruhe,  1840  (pp.  88,  356-359) ;  Ebert,  II., 
89-91. 

Paulinus,  patriarch  of  Aquileia,  was  born  about  726  *  in 
Forum  Julii,  now  Friuli,  near  Venice.  He  entered  the  priest- 
hood, was  employed  in  teaching  and  arrived  at  eminence  as  a 
scholar.  He  played  a  prominent  part  in  the  afiliirs  of  his 
country,  and  his  services  in  suppressing  a  Lombard  insurrec- 
tion met,  in  the  year  776,  with  recognition  and  reward  by 
Charlemagne,  who  gave  him  an  estate  and  in  787  elevated 
him  to  the  patriarchal  see  of  Aquileia.^  He  carried  on  a  suc- 
cessful mission  among  the  Carinthians,  a  tribe  which  lived 
near  Aquileia,  and  also  another  among  their  neighbors,  the 
Avari  (the  Huns).^  He  opposed  with  vigor  the  Adoi)tioni,sts, 
and  his  writings  contributed  much  to  the  extinction  of  the  sect. 
He  lived  entirely  for  God  and  his  church,  and  won  the  hearts 
of  his  spiritual  children.  Perhaps  the  most  striking  proof  of 
his  virtue  is  the  warm  friendship  which  existed  between  him- 
self and  Alcuin.  The  latter  is  very  enthusiastic  in  his  praise 
of  the  learning  and  accomplishments  of  Paulinus.  Charle- 
magne seems  to  have  valued  him  no  less.*  "With  such  encour- 
agement Paulinus  led  a  busy  and  fruitful  life,  participating  in 
synods  and  managing  wisely  his  see  until  his  death  on  January 

1  Migne,  I.  c.  Vita  II.  v.  (col.  30,  1.  4).  2  .Taflfe,  Mon.  Ah.,  p.  162. 

'  At  the  requetit  of  Alcuin  he  wrote  explicit  directions  for  their  conversion 
and  bapti.'^m.  Ebert  ii.  p.  89.  Mon.  Ale,  ed.  Jafffe,  p.  311-318.  Ah.  Epist. 
56.    Ed.  Migne,  Epist.  39  (C  col.  198). 

*  Madrisius  devotes  a  chapter  of  his  biography  to  Paulinus'  friendships  with 
the  illustrious  men  of  his  time.     Migne,  I.  c.  Vita,  XVI.  (col.  109-117). 


682  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

11  804.^  Very  soou  thereafter  he  was  popularly  numbered 
among  the  saints/  and  stories  began  to  be  told  of  his  miracu- 
lous powers.^  His  bones  were  deposited  in  the  high  altar  of 
the  collegiate  church  of  Friuli,  or  as  the  place  was  called  Civitas 
Austrise.  The  church  underwent  repairs,  and  his  bones  were 
for  a  time  laid  by  those  of  the  martyr  Donatus,  but  at  length 
on  January  26,  1734,  they  Avere  separated  and  with  much 
pomp  placed  in  the  chapel  under  the  choir  of  the  great  basilica 
of  Friuli.^ 

The  writings  of  Paulinus  comprise  (1)  Bi'ief  treatise  against 
Elipandus,^  archbishop  of  Toledo  and  primate  of  Spain,  who  is 
generally  regarded  as  the  father  of  Adoptionism.  It  was  issued 
in  the  name  of  the  council  of  Frankfort-on-the-Maiu  (794), 
and  sent  into  Spain.  It  was  first  published  by  Jean  de 
Tillct,  in  1549.  (2)  Three  boohs  against  Felix  of  Urgel,^ 
also  against  the  Adoptiouists.  It  was  prepared  in  796  by 
order  of  Charlemagne,  and  probably  submitted  to  Alcuin, 
agreeably  to  the  author's  request/  It  is  the  most  important 
work  of  Paulinus,  though  by  no  means  the  best  in  point  of 
style.  The  Felix  addressed  was  bishop  of  Urgel  and  the 
leader  of  the  Adoptiouists.  Paulinus  refutes  the  heretics  by 
quotations  of  Scripture  and  the  Fathers.  The  work  is  elabor- 
ately annotated  by  Madrisius,  and  thus  rendered  much  more 
intelh'gible.^  (3)  A  deliverance  by  the  council  of  Friuli,  held 
in  796,  upon  the  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation.^     (4)  An  exhor- 


■  Migne,  I.  c.  col.  149,1-  2.  «  Vita  XVII.  iii.  (col.  118). 

»  Ibid.  XIV.  xvi.  (col  100). 

*  Ibid.  XVII.  vii  viii.  (col.  123-126)      Madrisius  prints  the  oration  deliv- 
ered on  the  latter  occasion  (col.  13.3-142). 

^  Libelhis  mcrosnjUabus  contra  Elipandum,  Migne,  XCIX.  col.  151-166. 

*  Oyjitra  Felic.em  Urgellitanum  episcopum  libri  tres.,  ibid.  col.  343-468. 
'  Ibid.  col.  468,1.  12. 

«  The  writings  of  Felix  and  Elipandus  are  found  in  Migne,  Pair.  Lat. 
XCVI. 

»  Concilium  Forojuliense,  Migne,  XCIX.  col.  283-302. 


2  158.  ST.  PAULINUS  OF  AQUILEIA.  683 

tation  to  virtue,^  addressed  to  Henry,  count  or  duke  of  FriulL 
It  was  written  about  795,  and  consists  of  sixty-six  chapters 
upon  the  virtues  to  be  practiced  and  the  vices  to  be  shunned 
by  the  duke.  The  style  is  excellent.  The  work  was  once  claimed 
for  Augustin,  but  this  is  now  conceded  to  be  an  error.  Nine 
of  the  chapters  (x.-xv.  xvii.-xix.)  are  copied  from  T/ie  contem- 
plative life,  a  work  by  Pomerius,  a  Galilean  churchman  of  the 
fifth  century.  On  the  other  hand,  chapters  xx.-xlv.  have  been 
plagiarized  in  an  Admonitio  ad  Jilium  spiritualem  which  was 
long  supposed  to  be  by  Basil  the  Great.^ 

(5)  Epistles,  (a)  To  Heistulfus/  who  had  murdered  his  wife 
on  a  charge  of  adultery  preferred  against  her  by  a  man  of  bad 
character.  It  was  written  from  Frankfort,  in  794,  during  the 
council  mentioned  above.  Paul  inns  sternly  rebukes  Heistulfus 
for  his  crime,  and  tells  him  that  if  he  would  be  saved  he  must 
either  enter  a  monastery  or  lead  a  life  of  perpetual  penitence, 
of  which  he  gives  an  interesting  description.  The  letter  passed 
into  the  Canon  Law  about  866.*  It  has  been  falsely  attributed 
to  Stephen  V.^  (b)  To  Charlemagne,''  an  account  of  the  council 
of  Altinum^  in  803.  (c)  Fragments  of  three  other  letters  to 
Charlemagne,  and  of  one  (probably)  to  Leo  III.^ 

(6)  Verses,  (a)  The  ride  of  faith, ^  a  poem  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty-one  hexameters,  devoid  of  poetical  merit,  in  which 
along  with  a  statement  of  his  belief  in  the  Trinity  and  the  In- 
carnation Paulinus  gives  a  curious  description  of  Paradise  and 
of  Gehenna,  and  to  the  latter  sends  the  heretics,  several  of  Avhom 
he  names,  (b)  Hymns  and  verses,^"  upon  different  subjects, 
(c)  A  poem  on  duke  Eric." 

1  Liber  exhortationis,  ibid.  col.  197-282.  »  Col.  206,  212  n.  o. 

»  Ibid.  col.  181-186. 

*  Smith  and  Wace,  Did.  Christ.  Biog.  s.  v.  Heistulfus. 

6  Madrisius  in  Migne,  I.  c.  col.  185.  *  Ibid.  col.  511-516. 

'  The  present  Altino,  a  town  on  the  Adriatic,  near  Venice. 

8  Migne,  I.  c.  col.  503-510.  ^  De  regulafidei,  ibid.  col.  407-472. 

10  Hymni  et  rhythni,  ibid.  col.  479-504. 

>i  De  Herico  duce,  ibid.  col.  685-686. 


684  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

(7)  A  Mass.' 

(8)  The  preface  to  a  tract  upon  repentance,^  which   enjoins 
confession  to  God  in  tender  words. 

(9)  A  treatise  upon  baptism.^ 

§  159.  Alcuin. 

I.  Bcatus  Flaccus  Albinus  seu  Alcuinus:    Opera    omnia,   Migne, 

Tom.  C.  CI.,  reprint  of  the  ed.  of  Frobenius.  Ratisbon,  1772,  2 
vols.  fol.  Monumcnta  Alcuiniana,  a  P.  Jajfe  preparata,  ed.  Watten- 
BACH  et  DuEMMLER  (vol.  vi.  BibUotheca  rerum  germanicarum). 
Berlin,  1773.  It  contains  his  letters,  poems  and  life  of  Willibrord. 
His  poems  (Carmina)  have  been  separately  edited  by  E.  Diiramler 
in  Poetx  Latini  aevi  Carolini,  I.  1.  169-351,  and  some  additional  poe- 
try is  given  in  Addenda,  Tom.  II.  692. 

II.  Vita  (Migne,  C.  col.  89-106),  anonymous,  but  probably  by  a  monk 
of  Ferrieres,  based  upon  information  given  by  Sigulf,  Alcuin's  pupil 
and  successor  as  abbot  of  Ferrieres.  De  vita  B.  F.  Albini  seu  Alcuini 
commentutio  (col.  17-90),  by  Fkoben,  for  the  most  part  an  expan- 
sion of  the  former  by  the  introduction  of  discussions  upon  many 
points.  Eulogium  historicum  Beati  Alcuini  {d.  col.  1416-1442),  by 
Mabillon.  Of  interest  and  value  also  are  the  Tesfimonia  veterum  et 
guorumdam  recentiorum  scriptorum  (col.  121-134),  brief  notices  of 
Alcuin  by  contemporaries  and  others. 

III.  Modern  biographies  and  more  general  works  in  which  Alcuin  is 
discussed.  Friedrich  Lorentz  :  Alcuin's  Leben,  Halle,  1829, 
Eng.  trans,  by  Jane  Mary  Slee,  London,  1837.  Francis  Monnier  : 
Alcuin  et  son  infiuence  litter  aire,  religieuse  et  politique  chez  les  Francs^ 
Paris,  1853,  2d  ed.  entitled  Alcuin  et  Charlemagne,  Paris,  1864.  Karl 
Werner:  Alcuin  and  sein  Jahrhundert,  Padcrborn,  1876,  2d  ed. 
(unchanged),  1881.  J.  Bass  Mulltnger  :  The  schools  of  Charles 
the  Great,  London,  1877.  Cf.  Du  PiN,  VI.  121-124.  Ceiller,  XIL 
165-214.  Hist.  lit.  dc  la  France,  IV.  295-347.  Clarke,  II.  453-459. 
Bahr,  78-84 ;  192-195 ;  302-341.  Wattenbach,  3d  ed.  1. 123  sqc^ ; 
EiJERT,  II.  12-36.  GUIZOT  :  History  of  Civilization,  Eng.  trans., 
Bohn's  ed.  ii.  231-253,  The  art.  Alcuin  by  Bishop  Stubbs  in  Smith 
and  Wace,  Diet.  Chr.  Biog.  (i.  73-76),  deserves  particular  mention. 

Flaccus  Albinus,  or,  as  he  is  commonly  called  in  the  Old 
English  form,  Alculn  *  ("  friend  of  the  temple  "),  the  ecclesiastical 

» Ibid.  col.  625-627.  » Ibid.  col.  627-628. 

>  Not  in  Migne,  but  in  Mansi,  Tom.  XIII. 

*  Other  forms  are  Ealdwine,  Alchwin,  Alquinus. 


?  159.  ALCum.  685 

prime  minister  of  Charlemagne,  was  born  in  Yorkshire  about 
735,  He  sprang  from  a  noble  Northumbrian  family,  the  one  to 
which  ^yillibrord,  apostle  of  the  Frisians,  belonged,  and  inherited 
considerable  property,  including  the  income  of  a  monastic  society 
on  the  Yorkshire  coast.^  At  tender  age  he  was  taken  to  the  famous 
cathedral  school  at  York,  and  there  was  educated  by  his  loving  and 
admiring  friends,  Egbert,  archbishop  of  York  (732-766)  and 
founder  of  the  school,  and  Ethelbert,  its  master.  With  the 
latter  he  made  several  literary  journeys  on  the  continent,  once 
as  far  as  Rome,  and  each  time  returned  laden  with  M^.  treasures, 
secured,  by  a  liberal  expenditure  of  money,  from  different  mon- 
asteries. Thus  they  greatly  enlarged  the  library  which  Egbert 
had  founded.^  In  766  Ethelbert  succeeded  Egbert  in  the  arch- 
bishopric of  York,  and  appointed  Alcuin,  who  had  previously 
been  a  teacher,  master  of  the  cathedral  school,  ordained  him  a 
deacon,  Feb.  2,  767,  and  made  him  one  of  the  secular  canons  of 
York  minster.  In  767  he  had  Liudger  for  a  pupil.  Some 
time  between  the  latter  year  and  780,'  Ethelbert  sent  him  to 
Italy  on  a  commission  to  Charlemagne,  whom  he  met,  probably 
at  Pavia.  In  780  Ethelbert  retired  from  his  see  and  gave  over 
to  Alcuin  the  care  of  the  library,  which  now  Avas  without  a  rival 
in  England.  Alcuin  gives  a  catalogue  of  it,*  thus  throwing  wel- 
come light  upon  the  state  of  learning  at  the  time.  In  780  Alcuin 
again  visited  Rome  to  fetch  the  pallium  for  Eanbald,  Ethelbert's 
successor. 

On  his  return  he  met  Charlemagne  at  Parma  (Easter,  781), 
and  was  invited  by  him  to  become  master  of  the  School  of  the 
Palace.  This  school  was  designed  for  noble  youth,  was  attached 
to  the  court,  and  held  whenever  the  court  was.  Charlemagne 
and   his   family  and  courtiers  frequently  attended  its  sessions, 

»  Vita  S.  Willibrordi,  I.  i.  (Migne,  CI.  col.  695). 
■''  De  pontificibus  et  Sanctis  eccles.  Ebor.,  vv.  1453-56  (CI.  col.  841). 
8  MuUinger  (p.  47)  says  in  768. 

<De  pont.  el  sanct.  eccles.  Eb.  vers.  1535-1561  (Diimmler,  I.  c.  203,  204;  Migne, 
CI.  col.  843  sq,). 


68G  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A. D.  590-1049. 

although  they  could  not  be  said  to  be  regular  scholars.  The 
invitation  to  teach  this  school  was  a  striking  recognition  of  the 
learnino-  and  ability  of  Alcuin,  and  as  he  perceived  the 
possibilities  of  the  future  thus  unexpectedly  opened  to  him  he 
accepted  it,  although  the  step  involved  a  virtual  abnegation 
of  his  just  claim  upon  the  archiepiscopate  of  York.  In  the  next 
year  (782),  having  received  the  necessary  permission  to  go 
from  his  king  and  archbishop,  he  began  his  work.  The  provi- 
dential design  in  this  event  is  unmistakable.  Just  at  the  time 
when  the  dissensions  of  the  English  kings  practically  put  a  stop 
to  educational  advance  in  England,  Alcuin,  the  greatest  teacher 
of  the  day,  was  transferred  to  the  continent  in  order  that  under 
the  fostering  and  stimulating  care  of  Charlemagne  he  might 
rescue  it  from  the  bondage  of  ignorance.  But  the  eifort  taxed 
his  strength.  Charlemagne,  although  he  attended  his  instruction 
and  styles  him  "  his  dear  teacher,"  at  the  same  time  abused  his 
industry  and  patience,  and  laid  many  very  heavy  burdens  upon 
him.^  Alcuin  had  not  only  to  teach  the  Palatine  school,  which  ne- 
cessitated his  moving  about  with  the  migratory  court  to  the  serious 
interruption  of  his  studies,  but  to  prepare  and  revise  books  for 
educational  and  ecclesiastical  uses,  and  in  general  to  superintend 
the  grand  reformatory  schemes  of  Charlemagne.  How  admira- 
bly he  fulfilled  his  multifarious  duties,  history  attests.  The 
famous  capitulary  of  ■787,^  which  Charlemagne  issued  and  which 
did  so  much  to  advance  learning,  was  of  his  composition.  The 
Caroline  books,'  which  were  quite  as  remarkable  in  the  sphere  of 
church  life,  were  his  work,  at  least  in  large  measure.  For  his 
pecuniary  support  and  as  a  mark  of  esteem  Charlemagne  gave 
him  the  monasteries  of  St.  Lupus  at  Troyes  and  Bethlehem  at 
Ferridres,  and  the  cell  of  St.  Judecus  on  the  coast  of  Picardy 

'  On  tlii^  ground  Guizot  {I.  c.  246-7)  explains  in  part  Alcuin's  frequent  ex- 
presi^ions  of  weariness. 

^  There  is  an  English  translation  in  Guizot,  I.  c  237,  and  in  Mullinger, 
97-99. 

'  See  pp.  4G5  sqq. 


§  159.  ALCUIN.  687 

{St.  Josse  sur  mer).  But  the  care  of  these  only  added  to  his 
burdens.  In  789  he  went  to  England  on  commission  from 
Charlemagne  to  King  OfFa  of  Mercia,  and  apparently  desired  to 
remain  there.  Thence  in  792  he  sent  in  the  name  of  the  Ens:- 
lish  bishops  a  refutation  of  image-worship.  But  in  793  Charle- 
magne summoned  him  to  his  side  to  defend  the  church  against 
the  heresy  of  Adoptionism  and  image- worship,  and  he  came. 
In  794  he  took  a  prominent  part,  although  sirajily  a  deacon,  in 
the  council  of  Frankfort,  which  spoke  out  so  strongly  against 
both,  and  in  799,  at  the  council  of  Aachen,  he  had  a  six  days' 
debate  with  Felix,  the  leader  of  the  Adoptionists,  whicli  resulted 
in  the  latter's  recantation.  In  his  negotiations  with  the  Adop- 
tionists he  had  the  invaluable  aid  of  the  indefatigable  monk, 
Benedict  of  Nursia.  In  796,  Charlemagne  gave  him  in  addition 
to  the  monasteries  already  mentioned  that  of  St.  jNIartin  at 
Tours  and  in  800  those  of  Cormery  and  Flavigny.  The  mon- 
astery of  Tours  ^  owned  twenty  thousand  serfs  and  its  revenue 
was  regal.  To  it  Alcuin  retired,  although  he  would  have  pre- 
ferred to  go  to  Fulda.^  There  he  did  good  work  in  reforming 
the  monks,  regulating  the  school  and  enlarging  the  library.  His 
most  famous  pupil  during  this  period  of  his  life  was  Rabanus 
Maurus.  In  the  year  of  his  death  he  established  a  hospice  at 
Duodecim  Pontes  near  Troyes ;  and  just  prior  to  this  event  he 
gave  over  the  monastery  of  Tours  to  his  pupil  Fredegis,  and 
that  of  Ferrieres  to  another  pupil,  Sigulf.  It  is  remarkable  that 
he  died  upon  the  anniversary  on  which  he  had  desired  to  die, 
the  Festival  of  Pentecost,  May  19,  804.  He  was  buried  in  the 
church  of  St.  Martin,  although  in  his  humility  he  had  requested 
to  be  buried  outside  of  it. 

One  of  his  important  services  to  religion  was  his  revision  of 
the  Vulgate  (about  802)  by  order  of  Charlemagne,  on  the  basis 
of  old  and  correct  MSS.,  for  he  probably  knew  little  Greek  and 
no  Hebrew.     This  preserved  a  good  Vulgate  text  for  some  time. 

1  Already  spoken  of  in  connection  with  Gregory  of  Tours. 
^  See  the  old  life  of  Alcuin,  cap.  VIII.  in  Migne,  C.  col.  98. 


088  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Alcuiu  was  of  a  gentle  dispasitiou,  willing,  patient  and  hum- 
ble, and  an  unM'caried  .student.  He  had  amassed  all  the  treas- 
ures of  learning  then  accessible.  He  led  his  age,  yet  did  not 
transcend  it,  as  Scotus  Erigena  did  his.  He  was  not  a  deep 
thinker,  rather  he  brought  out  from  his  memory  the  thoughts  of 
others.  He  was  also  mechanical  in  his  methods.  Yet  he  was  more 
than  a  great  scholar  and  teacher,  he  was  a  leader  in  church 
affairs,  not  only  on  the  continent,  but,  as  his  letters  show,  also  in 
England.  Charlemagne  consulted  him  continually,  and  would 
have  done  better  had  he  more  frequently  followed  his  advice. 
Particularly  is  this  true  respecting  missions.  Alcuin  saw  with 
regret  that  force  had  been  applied  to  induce  the  Saxons  to  sub- 
mit to  baptism.  He  warned  Charlemagne  that  the  result  would 
be  disastrous.  True  Christians  can  not  be  made  by  violence,  but 
by  plain  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  the  spirit  of  love.  He 
would  have  the  gospel  precepts  gradually  unfolded  to  the  pagan 
Saxons,  and  then  as  they  grew  in  knowledge  would  require  from 
them  stricter  compliance.  Alcuin  gave  similar  council  in  regard 
to  the  Huns.^  His  opinions  upon  other  practical  points^  are 
worthy  of  mention.  Thus,  he  objected  to  the  employment  of 
bishops  in  military  affairs,  to  capital  punishment,  to  the  giving 
uj)  of  persons  who  had  taken  refuge  in  a  church,  and  to  priests 
following  a  secular  calling.  He  was  zealous  for  the  revival  of 
preaching  and  for  the  study  of  the  Bible.  On  the  other  hand 
he  placed  a  low  estimate  upon  pilgrimages,  and  preferred  that 
the  money  so  spent  should  be  given  to  the  poor.^ 

Writings. — The  works  of  Alcuin  are  divided  into  nine 
classes. 

I.  Letters.*  A  striking  peculiarity  of  these  letters  is 
their  address.     Alcuin  and  his  familiar  correspondents,  follow- 

'  He  requested  advice  on  this  point  from  Paulinus  of  Aquileia.     See  p.  68L 
'  Frobcn  in  liis  life  of  Alcuin,  cap.  XIV.,  gives  Ids  doctrinal  position  at 
lenpjth.     Mifjne,  col.  I.  c.  82-90. 
'  I-'or  tlie  proof  of  the  statements  in  this  paragraph  see  Neander,  III.  passim. 
*  EpislolcE,  Migne,  C.  col.  139-512. 


§  159.  ALCUIN.  689 

ing  an  affectation  of  scholars  iu  the  middle  age,  write  under 
assumed  naraes.^  Among  his  correspondents  are  kings,  pa- 
triarchs, bishops  and  abbots.  The  value  of  these  lettei*s  is 
very  great.  They  throw  light  upon  contemporary  history,  and 
such  as  are  private,  and  these  are  numerous,  allow  us  to  look 
into  Alcuin's  heart.  Many  of  them,  unfortunately,  are  lost,  and 
some  are  known  to  exist  unprinted,  as  in  the  Cotton  collection. 
Those  now  printed  mostly  date  from  Tours,  and  so  belong 
to  his  closing  years.  They  may  be  roughly  divided  into  three 
groups:^  (1)  those  to  English  correspondents.  These «how  how- 
dear  his  native  land  was  to  Alcuin,  and  how  deeply  interested 
he  was  in  her  affairs.  (2)  Those  to  Charlemagne,  a  large  and 
the  most  important  group.^  Alcuiu  speaks  with  freedom,  yet 
always  with  profound  respect.  (3)  Those  to  his  bosom  friend, 
Arrio  of  Salzburg. 

11.  ExEGETiCAL  MiscELLANY.*  (a)  Questions  and  ansioers 
respecting  the  interpretation  of  Genesis,  (b)  Edifying  and  brief 
exposition  of  the  Penitential  Psalms,  Psalm  C XVI II  and  the 
Psalms  of  Degrees,  (c)  Short  commentary  on  Canticles,  (d) 
Commentary  on  Ecclesiastes.  (e)  A  literal,  allegorical  and  moral 
Interpretation  of  the  Hebrew  names  of  our  Lord's  ancestors  (in 
which  he  makes  much  out  of  the  symbolism  of  the  numbers), 
(f )  Commentary  on  portions  of  John's  Gospel,  (g)  On  Titus, 
Philemon,  Hebreivs.^  These  comments  are  chiefly  derived  from 
the  Fathers,  and  develop  the  allegorical  and  moral  sense  of 
Scripture.  That  on  John's  Gospel  is  the  most  important.  The 
plan  of  making  a  commentary  out  of  extracts  was  quickly  fol- 
lowed and  w^as  indeed  the  only  plan  in  general  use  in  the 
Middle  Aire. 


1  See  above,  p.  615  sq. 

2  Ebert,  II.  32-35. 

s  Gnizot  analyzes  them  (/.  c.  243-246). 
*  Opuscitla  ezegefica,  Migne,  C.  515-1086. 

5  That  on  Revelation  in  Migne  is  not  his,  but  probably  by  a   pnpil   of  Al- 
cuin      It  is,  however,  a  mere  compilation  from  Ambrosius  Autpertiis  (d.  779,) 

44 


090  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

III.  Dogmatic  Miscellany,^  (a)  The  Trinity,  written  in 
802,  dedicated  to  Charlemagne,  a  condensed  statement  of  Augus- 
tin's  teaching  on  the  subject.  It  was  the  model  for  the  "  Sen- 
tences "  of  the  twelfth  century.  It  is  followed  by  twenty-eight 
questions  and  answers  on  the  Trinity,  (b)  The  Procession  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  similarly  dedicated  and  made  up  of  patristic  quo- 
tations, (c)  Brief  treatise  against  the  heresy  of  Felix  (Adoption- 
ism),  (d)  Another  against  it  in  seven  books,  (e)  A  treatise  against 
Elipandus  in  four  books,  (f )  Letter  against  Adoptionism,  ad- 
dressed to  some  woman.  These  writings  on  Adoptionism  are 
very  able  and  reveal  learning  and  some  independence. 

IV.  Liturgical  and  Ethical  Works.^  (a)  The  Sacraments, 
a  collection  of  mass-formulae,  from  the  use  of  Tours,  (b)  The 
use  of  the  Psalms,  a  distribution  of  the  Psalms  under  appro- 
priate headings  so  that  they  can  be  used  as  prayers,  together 
with  explanations  and  original  prayers  :  a  useful  piece  of  work, 
(c)  Offices  for  festivals,  the  Psalms  sung  upon  the  feast  days, 
with  prayers,  hymns,  confessions  and  litanies :  a  sort  of  lay. 
breviary,  made  for  Charlemagne,  (d)  A  letter  to  Oduin,  a 
presbyter,  upon  the  ceremony  of  baptism,  (e)  Virtues  and  vices, 
dedicated  to  Count  Wido,  compiled  from  Augustin.  (f)  The 
human  soul,  addressed  in  epistolary  form  to  Eulalia  (Gundrada), 
the  sister  of  Adalhard,  abbot  of  Corbie,  in  France,  (g)  Confes- 
sion of  sins,  addressed  to  his  pupils  at  St.  Martin's  of  Tours. 

V.  Hagiographical  Works.^  (a)  Life  of  St.  Martin  of 
Tours,  rewritten  from  Sulpicius  Severus.  (b)  Life  of  St. 
Vedast,  bishop  of  Atrebates  (Arras),  and  (c)  Life  of  the  most 
blessed  presbyter  Requier,  both  rewritten  from  old  accounts,  (d) 
Life  of  St.  Willibrord,  bishop  of  Utrecht,  his  own  ancestor,  in 
two  books,  one  prose,  the  other  verse.  This  is  an  original  work, 
and  valuable  as  history. 

'  Opuscula  dogmalica,  Migne,  CI.  col.  11-304. 
'  Opuscula  Uturr)ica  el  moralia,  ibid.  col.  445-056. 
*  Opuscula  har/iographica,  ibid.  col.  657-724. 


§  160.  ST.  LIUDGEE.  691 

YI.  PoEMS.^  The  poetical  works  of  Alcuin  are  very  nuiuer- 
ous,  and  of  very  varied  character,  including  prayers,  inscriptions 
for  bookri,  churches,  altars,  monasteries,  etc.,  epigrams,  moral 
exhortations,  epistles,  epitaphs,  enigmas,  a  fable,^  and  a  long  his- 
torical poem  in  sixteen  hundred  and  lifty-seven  lines  upon  the 
bishops  and  saints  of  the  church  of  York  from  its  foundation 
to  the  accession  of  Eanbald.^  It  is  very  valuable.  In  its  earlier 
part  it  rests  upon  Bede,  but  from  the  ten  hundred  and  seventh 
line  to  the  close  upon  original  information.  It  seems  to  have 
been  written  by  Alcuin  in  his  youth  at  York.  Its  style  is  evi- 
dently influenced  by  Virgil  and  Prudentius. 

VII.  Pedagogical  Works."  (a)  Grammar,  (b)  Orthogra- 
phy, (c)  Rhetoric,  (d)  Dialectics,  (e)  Dialogue  between  Fip- 
pin-  and  Alcuin.^  (f )  On  the  courses  and  changes  of  the  moon 
and  the  intercalary  day  (Feb.  24th).  These  works  admit  us 
into  Alcuin 's  school-room,  and  are  therefore  of  great  importance 
for  the  study  of  the  learning  of  his  day. 

VIII.  Dubious  Works.^  (a)  A  confession  of  faith,  in  four 
parts,  probably  his.  (b)  Dialogue  between  teacher  and  pupiU 
upon  religion,     (c)  Propositions,     (d)  Poems. 

IX.  Pretended  Works.^  (a)  The  holy  days,  (b)  Four 
homilies,     (c)  Poems. 

§  160.  St.  lAudger. 

I.  S.  LiUDGERTTS,  Minigardefordensis  Episcopus  :  Opera,  in  Migne,  Tom. 

XCIX.  col.  745-820. 

II.  The  old  Lives  of  S.  Liudger  are  four  in  number..    They  are  found  in 

Migue,  but  best  in  Die  Vitce  Sandi  Liudgeri  ed.  Dr.  Wilhelm  Die- 
hamp.   Miinster,  1881  (Bd.  IV.  of  the  series:  Die  Gcschichtsquellen  des 

1  Carmina,  Ibid.  col.  723-848. 

2  De  gallo  fabula,  Ibid.  col.  805.     Dummler,  l  c.  262. 

3  Ibid.  col.  814-846.     Dummler,  /.  c.  169-206. 

*  Opvscula  didascalica,  Migne,  CI.  col.  849-1002. 

sGuizot  gives  a  translation  of  this  in  his  Hist.  Civilization  (Eng.  trans,  ii. 
239-242. 

6  Opuscida  dubia,  Migne,  CI.  col.  1027-1170. 
'  Opuscula  supposita,  ibid.  col.  1173-1314. 


692  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

Bisthums  Milnster).  Dr.  Diekamp  presents  revised  texts  and  ample 
prolegomena  and  notes.  (1)  The  oldest  Vita  (pp.  3-53)  is  by  Alt- 
frid,  a  near  relative  of  Liudger  and  his  second  successor  in  the  see 
of  Miinster.  It  was  written  by  request  of  the  monks  of  Werden 
about  thirty  years  after  Liudger's  death,  rests  directly  upon  family 
and  other  contemporary  testimony,  and  is  the  source  of  all  later 
Lives.  He  probably  divided  his  work  into  two  books,  but  as  the 
first  book  is  in  two  parts,  Leibnitz,  Pertz  and  Migne  divide  the  work 
into  three  books,  of  which  the  iirst  contains  the  life  proper,  the 
second  the  miracles  wrought  by  the  saint  himself,  and  the  third 
those  wrought  by  his  relics.  (2)  Vita  Secuiula  (pp.  54-83)  was  writ- 
ten by  a  monk  of  Werden  about  850.  The  so-called  second  book  of 
this  Life  really  belongs  to  (3)  Vita  tertia  (pp.  85-134).  (2)  Follows 
Altfrid,  but  adds  legendary  and  erroneous  matter.  (3)  Written  also 
by  a  Werden  monk  about  890,  builds  upon  (1)  and  (2)  and  adds  new 
matter  of  a  legendary  kind.  (4)  Vita  rythmica  (pp.  135-220),  writ- 
ten by  a  Werden  monk  about  1140.  Biographies  of  Liudger  have 
been  recently  written  in  German  by  LuiSE  voN  Boenstedt  (Miin- 
ster, 1842) ;  P.  W.  Beheends  (Neuhaldensleben  u.  Gardelegen, 
1843)  ;  A.  ISTVAJ^N  (Coesfeld,  1860) ;  A.  Husing  (Miinster,  1878) ; 
L.  Th.  W.  Pingsmaxn  (Freiburg  im  Breisgau,  1879).  Cf.  Die- 
kamp's  full  bibliography,  pp.  CXVIII.-CXXII.  For  literary  criti- 
cism see  Ceilliee,  XII.  218.  Hist.  lit.  de  la  France,  V.  57-69. 
Ebert,  II.  107,  338,  339. 

LiuDGEE,  or  LuDGER,  first  bishop  of  Miinster,  was  born 
about  744  at  Suecsnon  (now  Zuilen)  on  the  Vecht,  in  Frisia. 
His  parents,  Thiadgrim  and  Liaf  burg,  were  earnest  Christians. 
His  paternal  grandfather,  Wursing,  had  been  one  of  Willi- 
brord's  most  zealous  supporters  (c.  5).^  He  early  showed  a 
pious  and  studious  disposition  (e.  7).  He  entered  the  cloister 
school  of  Utrecht,  taught  by  the  abbot  Gregory,  whose  bio- 
grapher he  became,  laid  aside  his  secular  habit  and  devoted 
himself  to  the  cause  of  religion.  His  proficiency  in  study  was 
sucli  that  Gregory  made  him  a  teacher  (c.  8).     During  the  year 

1  Tills  sketch  )ias  been  d<-r:ved  for  the  most  part  directly  from  Altfrid's  Acta 
seu  Vila  (e(i.  Diekamp,  pp.  3-53,  Migne,  co!.  769-796).  The  letter  "  c"  throngh- 
ont  refers  to  the  chapter  of  the  Ada  in  Migne  in  which  the  statement  imme- 
diately preceding  is  found.  The  dates  are  mainly  conjectural.  The  Acta  gives 
none  except  that  of  the  saint's  death,  but  merely  occasionally  notes  the  lapse 
of  time. 


2  160.  ST.  LIUDGER.  693 

767  he  received  further  instruction  from  Alcuin  at  York,  and 
was  ordained  a  deacon  (c.  9).     In  768  he  was  in  Utrecht ;  but 
for  the  next  three  years  and  a  half  with  Alcuin,  although  Gre- 
gory had  been  very  loath  to  allow  him  to  go  the  second  time. 
He  would  have  staid  longer  if  a  Frisian  trader  had  not  mur- 
dered in  a  quarrel  a  son  of  a  count  of  York.     The  ill  feeling 
which  this  event  caused,  made  it  unsafe  for  any  Frisian  to  re- 
main in  York,  and  so  taking  with  him  "  many  books"  {copiam 
librorum),  he  returned  to  Utrecht  (c.  10).     Gregory  had  died 
during  his  absence  (probably  in  771),  and  his  successor  was  his 
nephew,  Albric,  a  man  of  zeal  and  piety,     Liudger  was  im- 
mediately on  his  return  to  York  pressed  into  active  service. 
He  was  sent  to  Deventer  on  the  Yssel  in  Holland,  where  the 
saintly  English  missionary  Liafwin  had  just  died.     A  horde  of 
pagan  Saxons  had  devastated  the  place,  burnt  the  church  and 
apparently  undone  Liafwin's  work  (c.  13).     Liudger  was  com- 
missioned to  rebuild  the  church  and  to  bury  the  body  of  Liaf- 
win, which  was  lost.     Arrived  at  the  spot  he  was  at  first  unsuc- 
cessful in  finding  the  body,  and  was  about  to  rebuild  the  church 
without  further  search  when   Liafwin  appeared   to  him   in  a 
vision  and  told  him  that  his  body  was  in  the  south  wall  of  the 
church,  and   there  it  M'as  found  (c.  14).     Albric  next  sent  Iiim 
to  Frisia  to  destroy  the  idols  and  temples  there.     Of  the  enorm- 
ous treasure  taken  from  the  temples  Charlemagne  gave  one- 
third   to  Albric.      In  777  Albric  was  consecrated   bishop  at 
Cologne,  and  Liudger  at  the  same  time  ordained  a  presbyter. 

For  the  next  seven  years  Liudger  was  priest  at  Doccum  in 
the  Ostergau,  where  Boniface  had  died,  but  during  the  three 
autumn  months  of  each  year  he  taught  in  the  cloister  school  at 
Utrecht  (c.  15).  At  the  end  of  this  period  Liudger  was  fleeing 
for  his  life,  for  the  pagan  Wutukint,  duke  of  the  Saxons,  in- 
vaded Frisia,  drove  out  the  clergy,  and  set  up  the  pagan  altars. 
Albric  died  of  a  broken  heart,  unable  to  stand  the  cruel  blow. 
Liudger  with  two  companions,  Hildigrim  and  Gerbert,  retired 


694  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

to  Rome,  where  for  two  and  a  half  years  he  lived  in  the  great 
Benedictine  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino  (c.  18).  There  he  not 
only  had  a  pleasant  retreat  but  also  opportunity  to  study  the 
workiucT  of  the  Benedictine  rule.  He  did  not,  however,  take 
monastic  vows. 

His  fame  for  piety  and  learning  had  meanwhile  reached  the 
ears  of  Charlemagne, — probably  through  Alcuin, — and  so  on 
his  return  the  emperor  assigned  to  his  care  five  Frisian  dis- 
tricts (Hugmerchi,  Hunusga,  Fuulga,  Emisga,  Fedirga)  upon 
the  eastern  side  of  the  river  Labekus  (Lauwers),  and  also  the 
island  of  Bant.  His  success  as  missionary  induced  him  to  under- 
take an  enterprise  in  which  even  Willibrord  had  failed.  He 
sailed  over  the  German  Ocean  to  Heligoland,  then  called  Fosete- 
lant  (the  land  of  the  god  Fosete).  His  confidence  was  justified 
by  events.  He  made  many  converts,  among  them  the  son  of  the 
chief  of  the  island  who  became  a  priest  and  a  missionary.  Shortly 
after  on  the  mainland  there  was  another  irruption  of  pagans  from 
East  Frisia,  and  the  usual  disheartening  scenes  of  burnt  churches, 
scattered  congregations,  and  martyred  brethren  were  enacted. 
But  once  more  the  Christian  faith  conquered  (c,  19).  Charle- 
magne's continued  regard  for  Liudger  was  proved  by  his  gift 
to  him  of  the  abbey  Lothusa  (probably  Zele,  near  Ghent  in 
Belgium),  in  order  that  its  revenues  might  contribute  to  his 
support,  or  that  being  far  from  Frisia  he  might  retreat  thither 
in  times  of  danger ;  and  further  by  his  appointment  of  him  to 
the  bishopric  of  Mimigernaford  (later  form  Mimigardevord, 
now  Miinster,  so  called  from  the  monaderium  which  he  built 
there),  in  Westphalia,  which  was  now  sufficiently  christianized 
to  be  ruled  ecclesiastically.  He  still  had  under  his  care  the 
five  districts  already  named,  although  so  far  off.  At  first  these 
charges  were  held  by  him  as  a  simple  presbyter,  and  in  that 
capacity  he  carried  out  one  of  his  darling  purposes  and  built  the 
famous  monastery  of  Werden^  on  the  Ruhr,  formerly  called 

C  18.     Migne,  /.  c.  col.  778.     Erat  enim  cu  piens  hcereditate  sua   ccenobium 


?  161.  THEODULPH  OF  ORLEANS.         695 

Diapanbeci.  But  persuaded  by  Hildebald  he  became  the  first 
bishop  of  Mtinster  (c.  20).  The  year  of  this  event  is  unknown, 
but  it  was  between  802  and  805.^  Tireless  in  his  activity  he 
died  in  the  harness  On  Sunday,  March  26,  809,  he  preached 
and  performed  mass  at  Coesfeld  and  at  Billerbeck.  In  the 
evening  he  died  {Ada  II.  e.  7).  He  was  buried  at  Werdeu, 
M''hich  thus  became  a  shrine  of  pilgrims. 

The  only  extant  writing  of  Liudger  is  his  Life  of  St.  Gregory,'^ 
which  gives  a  pleasing  picture  of  the  saint,  in  whose  school  at 
Utrecht  many  famous  men,  including  bishops,  were  trained. 
Twelve  of  its  twenty-two  chapters  are  taken  up  with  Boniface. 
Much  of  the  matter  is  legendary.  He  also  wrote  a  life  of 
Albric,^  which  is  lost.  His  connection  with  Helm.stedt  is 
purely  imaginary.  The  Liudger  monastery  there  was  not 
founded  by  him,  for  it  dates  from  the  tenth  century.  The 
colony  of  monks  may,  however,  have  well  come  from  Werden, 
and  have  therefore  given  the  name  Liudger  to  the  monastery. 

§  161.   Theodulph  of  Orleans. 

I.  Theodulph,  Aurelianensis  episcopus:  Opera  omnia,  in  Migne,  Tom. 

CV.  col.  187-380.  His  Carmina  are  in  Diimmler's  Poetce  Lat.  cev. 
Car.  I.  2.  pp.  489  sqq. 

II.  L.  Baunard:  J^Aeoc/H/Ze,  Orleans,  1860.   Ezehulka:  Theodulf,  Bres- 

lau,  1875  (Dissertation).  Of.  the  general  works,  Mabillon  :  Analeda, 
Paris,  1675.  Tom.  I.  pp.  386  sqq. ;  Tiraboschi  :  Historia  delta  let- 
teratuva  italiana,  new  ed.  Florence,  1805-13,  20  parts,  III.  1.  pp.  196- 
205  (particularly  valuable  for  its  investigation  of  the  obscure  points 
of  Theodulph's  life).  Du  Pin,  VI.  124 ;  Hist.  lit.  de  la  France,  IV. 
459-474 ;  Ceillier,  XII.  262-271 ;  Bahr,  91-95,  859,  360 ;  Ebert, 
II.  70-84. 

Theodulph,  bishop  of  Orleans,  one  of  the  most  useful 
churchmen  of  the  Carolingian  period,  was  probably  born  in 

construere  monachornm,  quod  ita  postea  Domino  opitulante  concessum  est  in  loco 
qui  vacatur  Vucrthina. 

1  A  document  of  Jan.,  802,  calls  him  "  abbott,"  and  one  of  April  23,  805, 
calls  him  "  bishop." 

'■^  Vita  S.  Gregorii,  Migne,  /.  c  col.  749-770. 

3  Vita  Altfridi,  II.  c.  6,  Migne,  I.  c  col.  783,1.  4. 


G9G  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Spain/  past  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century.  In  788  he  at- 
tracted the  notice  of  Charlemagne,  who  called  him  into  France 
and  made  him  abbot  ofFleury  and  of  Aignan,  both  Benedictine 
monasteries  in  the  diocese  of  Orleans,  and  later  bishop  of 
Orleans.  He  stood  in  high  favor  with  his  king  and  was  en- 
trusted with  important  commissions.  He  participated  in  the 
council  of  Frankfort  (794) ;  was  made  missus  dominicus^  in  798; 
accompanied  Charlemagne  to  Rome,  sat  as  one  of  the  judges  in 
the  investigation  of  the  charges  against  Leo  III.  (800)  and  received 
from  the  supreme  pontiff  the  pallium  (801).^  He  succeeded 
Alcuin  (804)  as  first  theological  imperial  counsellor.  In  809 
he  sat  in  the  council  of  Aix  la  Chapelle  and  by  request  of  the 
emperor  collected  the  patristic  quotations  in  defence  of  the 
Filioque  clause.  In  811  he  was  witness  to  the  emperor's  wdll. 
Louis  the  Pious,  Charlemagne's  sou  and  successor,  for  a  time 
showed  him  equal  honor  and  confidence,  for  instance  in  appoint- 
ing him  to  meet  Pope  Stephen  V.  when  he  came  to  the  coronation 
at  Rheims  (816).  But  tM^o  years  afterwards  he  was  suspected, 
it  would  seem  without  good  reason,  of  complicity  in  king  Ber- 
nard's rebellion,  and  on  Easter  818  was  deposed  and  imprisoned 
at  Angers,  in  the  convent  either  of  St.  Aubiu  or  of  St.  Serge. 
He  stoutly  persisted  in  his  declaration  of  innocence,  and  in  821 
he  was  released  and  reinstated,  but  died  *  on  his  way  back  or 
shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Orleans,  and  was  buried  in  Orleans 
Sept.  19,  821. 

Theodulph  was  an  excellent  prelate ;  faithful,  discreet  and 

^  Ciinou.sly  enough  the  word  used  in  liis  epitaph  to  express  his  native  hand 
is  ambiguous.  The  line  reads:  "Protulit  hum  Speria,  Gallia  sed  nutriit" 
(Mii^ne,  I.  c.  col.  192) ;  but  Speria  (Hesperia)  is  a  poetical  term  for  either  Italy 
or  Spain.     Cf.  Ebert  /.  c.  p.  70. 

^  I.  e.  the  official  dispenser  of  justice  who  accompanied  the  bishop  on  his 
visitation,  and  was  particularly  charged  with  the  examination  of  the  church 
buildings.     It  was  a  post  of  great  responsibility. 

'  On  whicli  Alcuin  congratulated  him  (Migne,  Patrol.  Lat.  C.  col.  391,  Hfon. 
Ale,  Epist.  106,  p.  606). 

*  It  is  said  he  was  poisoned  by  order  of  the  person  who  had  received  his  see. 


2  161.  THEODULPH  OF  OELEANS.         697 

wise.  He  greatly  deplored  the  ignorance  of  his  clergy  and  earn- 
estly labored  to  elevate  them.  To  this  end  he  established  many 
schools,  and  also  wrote  the  Capitula  ad  jpresbyteros  parochicB 
suce  mentioned  below.  In  this  work  he  was  particularly  suc- 
cessful. The  episcopal  school  of  Orleans  was  famous  for  the 
number,  beauty  and  accuracy  of  the  MSS.  it  produced.  In 
his  educational  work  he  enjoyed  the  assistance  of  the  accom- 
plished poet  Wulfin.  Theodulph  was  himself  a  scholar,  well 
read  both  in  secular  and  religious  literature.^  He  had  also  a 
taste  for  architecture,  and  restored  many  convents  and  churches 
and  built  the  splendid  basilica  at  Germigny,  which  was  modelled 
after  that  at  Aix  la  Chapelle.  His  love  for  the  Bible  comes 
out  not  only  in  the  revision  of  the  Vulgate  he  had  made,  and 
practically  in  his  exhortation  to  his  clergy  to  expound  it,  but 
also  in  those  costly  copies  of  the  Bible  which  are  such  master- 
pieces of  calligraphy.^  He  was  moreover  the  first  poet  of  his 
day,  which  however  is  not  equivalent  to  saying  that  he  had 
much  genius.  His  productions,  especially  his  didactic  poems, 
are  highly  praised  and  prized  for  their  pictures  of  the  times, 
rather  than  for  their  poetical  power.  From  one  of  his  minor 
poems  the  interesting  fact  comes  out  that  he  had  been  married 
and  had  a  daughter  called  Gisla,  who  was  the  wife  of  a  certain 
Suavaric.^ 

The  extant  prose  works  of  Theodulph  are  :  1.  Directions  to 
the  'priests  of  his  diocese*  written  in  797.     They  are  forty-six  in 

'  Cf.  Carmina,  IV.  i.  (Migne,  I.  c.  col.  331),  in  wliich  he  names  his  favorite 
authors.  Alcuin  proposed  him  to  Charlemagne  as  competent  to  refute  Felix 
the  Adoptionist.    Cf.  Alcuin,  Epistolce,  LXXXIV.  (Migne,  Patrol.  Lai.  C.  col. 

276). 

^  Leopold  Delisle,  Les  bibles  de  Theodulfe,  Paris,  1879.     Cf.  Herzog^  VIII. 

449. 

3  Carmina,  III.  4  (Migne,  CV.  col.  326).  Her  husband's  uame  is  given 
thus:  "Suaveque,  Gisla,  luo  feliciter  utere  rtco,"  1.  29.  The  ocL-asion  of 
the  poem  was  Theodulphs  presentation  to  her  of  a  beautifully  illuminated 
psalter. 

*  Capitula  ad  presbyteros  parochice  suce,  Migne,  CV.  col-  191-208. 


698  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

number  and  relate  to  the  general  and  special  duties  of  priests. 
The  following  are  some  of  the  more  instructive  directions  : 
Women  must  not  approach  the  altar  during  the  celebration  of 
mass  (c.  6).  Nothing  may  be  kept  in  the  churches  except  hoJy 
things  (c.  8).  No  one  save  priests  and  unusually  holy  laity  may 
be  buried  in  churches  (c.  0).  No  woman  is  allowed  to  live  in  the 
house  with  a  priest  (c.  12).  Priests  must  not  get  drunk  or  fre- 
quent taverns  (c.  13).  Priests  may  send  their  relatives  to  monastic 
schools  (c.  19).  They  may  keep  schools  themselves  in  which  free 
instruction  is  given  (c.  20).  They  must  teach  everybody  the 
Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Apostles'  Creed  (c.  22).  No  work  must 
be  done  on  the  Lord's  Day  (c.  24).  Priests  are  exhorted  to  pre- 
pare themselves  to  preach  (c.  28).  Daily,  honest  confession  of 
sins  to  God  ensures  pardon ;  but  confession  to  a  priest  is  also 
enjoined  in  order  that  through  his  counsels  and  prayers  the 
stain  of  sin  may  be  removed  (c.  30).  True  charity  consists  in 
the  union  of  good  deeds  and  a  virtuous  life  (c.  34).  Merchants 
should  not  sell  their  souls  for  filthy  lucre  (c.  35).  Regulations 
respecting  fasting  (c.  36-43).  All  should  come  to  church  to 
celebrate  mass  and  hear  the  preaching,  and  no  one  should  eat 
before  communicating  (c.  46).  2.  To  the  same,  a  treatise  upon 
sins  and  their  ecclesiastical  punishment;  and  upon  the  admin- 
istration of  extreme  unction.^  3.  The  Holy  Spirit?  The  collec- 
tion of  patristic  passages  in  defense  of  the  Filioque,  made  by 
order  of  Charlemagne  (809),  as  mentioned  above.  It  has  a 
metrical  dedication  to  the  emperor.  4.  The  ceremony  of  baptism^ 
written  in  812  in  response  to  Charlemagne's  circular  letter  on 
baptism  which  Magnus,  archbishop  of  Sens  (801-818),  had  for- 
warded to  him.  It  consists  of  eighteen  chapters,  which  minutely 
describe  all  the  steps  in  the  ceremony  of  baptism.  5.  Fragments 
of  tioo  sermons.* 

*  CapituCare  ad  eosdem,  ibid.  col.  207-224. 

'  De  SpirUu  Sancto,  ibid.  col.  239-276. 

'  De  ordine  baptismi  ad  Magnum  Senonensem  libri,  ibid.  col.  223-240. 

*Fragmenta  sei-monum  duorum,  ibid.  col.  275-282. 


?  162.  ST.  EIGIL.  699 

The  Poetical  works  of  Theodulph  are  divided  into  six  books.^ 
TlhQ  first  is  entirely  devoted  to  one  poem,  The  exhortation  to 
judges,^  in  which  besides  describing  a  model  judge  and  exhort- 
ing all  judges  to  the  discharge  of  their  duties  he  relates  his  own 
experiences  while  missus  and  thus  gives  a  most  interesting 
picture  of  the  time.^  The  second  book  contains  sixteen  pieces, 
including  epitaphs,  and  the  verses  which  he  wrote  in  the  front  of 
one  of  his  illuminated  Bibles  giving  a  summary  in  a  line  of  each 
book,  and  thus  revealing  his  Biblical  scholarship.  The  verses 
are  prefeced  in  prose  with  a  list  oT  the  books.  The  third  book 
contains  twelve  pieces,  including  the  verses  to  Gisla  already 
mentioned.  The  fourth  book  contains  nine  pieces,  the  most  in- 
teresting of  which  are  c.  1  on  his  favorite  authors,  and  c.  2  on 
the  seven  liberal  arts, — grammar,  rhetoric,  dialectics,  arithmetic, 
music,  geometry  and  astrology.  The  fijih  book  contains  four 
piepes  :  Consolation  for  the  death  of  a  certain  brother,  a  fragment 
On  the  seven  deadly  sins,  An  exhortation  to  bishoj^s,  and  four 
lines  which  expre^  the  evangelical  sentiment  that  only  by  a 
holy  life  is  heaven  gained;  Avithout  it  pilgrimages  avail  nothing. 
The  sixth  hook  contains  thirty  pieces.  Ten  other  poems  appear 
in  an  appendix  in  INIigne.* 

§  162.  St.  Eigil 

I.  Sanctus  EiGiL,  Fuldensis  abbas :    Opera,   in  Migne,  Tom.   CV.   col. 

381-444.  His  Carmina  are  in  Poetce  Latini  sevi  Carolihi,  ed. 
Dummler  I.  2  (Berlin,  1881). 

II.  S.  Eigilis  vita  auctore  Candido  monacho  Fitldmsi,  in  Migne  CV.  col. 

383-il8.  Hist.  lit.  de  la  France,  IV.  475-478.  Ceillier,  XIT.  272, 
273.  Ebert,  II.  Cf.  Carl  Schwartz  :  Uehersetzung  und  Bemer- 
Jcungen  zu  EigiVs  Nachrichten  ilber  die  Griindung  und  Urgeschichte 
des  Klosters  Fulda.     Fulda,  1858. 

'  Carmina,  ibid.  col.  283-380.      Ebert  {l  c.  pp.  73-84)  analyzes  these  poems 
at  length. 

*  Perimesis  ad  Judices,  ibid.  col.  283-300. 

^  Cf.   H.   Hagen  :   Theodulfi  episcopi  Aurelianensis  de  iudicibus  versus  recogniti, 
Bern,  1882  (pp.  31). 

*  Ibid.  col.  377-380. 


7UU  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

EiGiL  wa.s  a  native  of  Norioum,  the  name  then  given  to  the 
countrv  south  of  the  Danube,  around  the  rivers  Inn  and  Drave, 
and  extending  on  the  south  to  the  banks  of  the  Save.  In  early- 
childhood,  probably  about  760,  he  was  placed  in  the  famous 
Benedictine  monastery  of  Fulda  in  Hesse,  whose  abbot,  its 
founder  Sturm  (Sturmi,  Stnrmin),  was  his  relative.  There 
Eigil  lived  for  many  years  as  a  simple  monk,  beloved  and  re- 
spected for  piety  and  learning.  Sturm  was  succeeded  on  his 
death  (779)  by  Baugolf,  and  on  Baugolf's  resignation  Katgar 
became  abbot  (802).  Ratgar  proved  to  be  a  tyrant,^  and  expelled 
Eigil  because  he  was  too  feeble  to  work.  In  817,  Ratgar  was 
deposed,  and  the  next  year  (818)  Eigil  was  elected  abbot.  A 
few  months  afterwards,  Ratgar  appeared  as  a  suppliant  for  re- 
admission  to  the  monastery.  "It  was  not  in  Eigil's  power  to 
grant  this  request,  but  his  influence  was  used  to  gain  for  it  a 
favorable  response  at  court  [i.  e.  with  Louis  the  Pious],  and 
Ratgar  for  thirteen  years  longer  lived  a  submissive  and  penitent 
member  of  the  community  which  had  suifergd  so  much  at  his 
hands."  ^  This  single  incident  in  the  life  of  Eigil  goes  far  to 
prove  his  right  to  the  title  of  saint. 

Loath  as  he  had  been  to  accept  the  responsible  position  of 
abbot  in  a  monastery  which  was  in  trouble,  he  discharged  its 
duties  with  great  assuiduity.  He  continued  Ratgar's  building 
operations,  but  without  exciting  the  hatred  and  rebellion  of  his 
monks.  On  the  contrary,  Fulda  once  more  prospered,  and  when 
he  died,  June  15,  822,  he  was  able  to  give  over  to  his  successor 
and  intimate  friend,  Rabanus  Maurus,  a  well  ordered  commu- 
nity. 

The  only  prose  writing  of  Eigil  extant  is  his  valuable  life 
of  Sturm.^  It  was  written  by  request  of  Angildruth,  abbess 
of  BLschof  heim,  and  gives  an  authentic  account  of  the  founding 

'  See  section  on  Rabanus  Maurus. 

'  Miillinger,  Schools  of  Charles  the  Great,  London,  1877,  pp.  141,  142. 

'  Migne,  CV.  col.  423-444. 


?  163.  AMALARIUS.  701 

of  Fulda.  Every  year  on  Sturm's  day  (Dec.  1 7)  it  was  read 
aloud  to  the  monks  while  at  dinner.  Eigil's  own  biograpliy 
was  written  by  Candidus,  properly  Brunn,  whom  Ratgar  had 
sent  for  instruction  to  Einhard  at  Seligenstadt,  and  who  was 
principal  of  the  convent  school  under  Rabanus  Maurus.  The 
biography  is  in  two  parts,  the  second  being  substantially  only  a 
repetition  in  verse  of  the  first.^ 

§  163.  Amalarius. 

I.  8YMPHOSIUS   Amalarius  :    Opera,  omnia  in   Migne,  Tom.  CV.  col. 

815-1340.     His  Carmina  are  in  DtJMMLER,  Poetce  Latini  cevi  Caro- 
lini,  I.  426  sqq. 

II.  Du  Pin,  VII.  79,  158-160.     Ceillier,  XII.  221-223.   Hist.  lit.  dc  la 

France,   IV.   531-546.      Clarke,    II.   471-473.      Bahr,   380-383. 
Hefele,  IV.  10,  45,  87,  88.     Ebert,  II.  221,  222. 

Amalarius  was  a  deacon  and  priest  in  INIetz,  and  died  in  837, 
ai^  abbot  of  Hornbach  in  the  same  diocese.  It  is  not  known 
when  or  where  he  was  born.  During  the  deposition  of  Agobard 
(833-837),  Amalarius  was  head  of  the  church  at  Lyons.  He 
was  one  of  the  ecclesiastics  who  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  Louis 
the  Pious,  and  took  part  in  the  predestination  controversy,  but 
his  work  against  Gottschalk,  undertaken  at  Hincmar's  request, 
is  lost.  He  was  prominent  in  councils.  Thus  he  made  the 
patristic  compilation  from  the  Fathers  (particularly  from  Isidore 
of  Seville)  and  councils  upon  the  canonical  life,  which  was  pre- 
sented at  the  Diet  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  817,'  and  partly  that 
upon  image-worship  in  the  theological  congress  of  Paris,  pre- 
sented Dec.  6,  825.  In  834,  as  representative  of  Agobard,  he 
held  a  council  at  Lyons  and  discoursed  to  the  members  for  three 
days  upon  the  ecclesiastical  offices,  as  explained  in  his  work 
mentioned  below.  The  majority  approved,  but  Florus  of  Lyons 
did  not,  and  sent  two  letters  to  the  council  at  Diedenhofen,  call- 

1  The  second  part  is  in  Diimmler,  Poetce,  II.  pp.  94-117. 

2  The  Forma  imtitutionis  canonicorum  et  sanclmonialium  in  Mi^ne,  Tom.  CV. 
815-976,  is  the  full  collection  in  two  books,  but  Amalarius'  share  was  confined 
to  the  first  book  and  probably  only  to  a  part  of  that.     Cf.  Hefele,  IV.  10- 


702  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

hv  attention  to  Amalarius'  insistence  upon  the  use  of  the  Roman 
order  and  his  dangerous  teaching:  that  there  was  a  threefold  body 
of  Christ,  (1)  the  body  which  he  had  assumed,  (2)  the  body 
which  he  has  in  us  so  long  as  we  live,  (3)  the  body  which  is  in 
the  dead.  Hence  the  host  must  be  divided  into  three  parts,  one 
of  which  is  put  in  the  cup,  one  on  the  paten  and  one  on  the 
altar,  corresponding  to  these  three  forms  respectively.  Farther 
he  was  charged  with  teaching  that  the  bread  of  the  Eucharist 
stood  for  the  body,  the  wine  for  the  soul  of  Christ,  the  chalice  for 
his  sepulchre,  the  celebrant  for  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  the  archdea- 
con for  Nicodemus,  the  deacons  for  the  apostles,  the  sub-deacons 
for  the  women  at  the  sepulchre.  But  the  council  had  business  in 
hand  of  too  pressing  a  character  to  admit  of  their  investigating 
these  charges.  Not  discouraged,  Florus  sent  a  similar  letter  to 
the  council  of  Quiercy  (838),  and  by  this  council  the  work  of 
Amalarius  was  censured.^ 

His  writings  embrace  (1)  Rules  for  the  canonical  life^  already 
referred  to.     It  treats  of  the  duties  of  ecclesiastics  of  all  grades. 

(2)  Four  books  upon  The  ecclesiastieal  offices?  It  was  written 
by  request  of  Louis  the  Pious,  to  whom  it  is  dedicated,  and  was 
completed  about  820.  In  order  to  make  it  better,  Amalarius 
pursued  special  investigations  in  Tours,  at  the  monastery  of 
Corbie,  and  even  went  to  Rome.  In  827  he  brought  out  a  sec- 
ond and  greatly  improved  edition.  In  its  present  shape  the 
work  is  important  for  the  study  of  liturgies,  since  it  describes 
minutely  the  exact  order  of  service  as  it  was  observed  in  the 
Roman  church  in  the  ninth  century.  If  Amalarius  had  been 
content  to  have  given  merely  information  it  would  have  been 
better  for  his  reputation.  As  it  was  he  attempted  to  give  the 
reasons  and  the  meanings  of  each  part  of  the  service,  and  of 
eacli  article   in  any  way  connected  with  the  service,  and  hence 

'  See  Florus'  letters  in  Migne,  Tom.  CXIX.  col.  71-96. 

*  Regula  canonicorum,  in  Migne,  CV.  col.  815-934. 

'  Be  eccleaiaslicis  officiis  libri  quatuor,  ibid.  col.  985-1242. 


2  163.  AMALARIUS.  703 

was  led  into  wild  and  often  ridiculous  theorizing  and  allegorizing. 
Thus^he  priest's  alb  signifies  the  subduing  of  the  passions,  his 
shoes,  upright  walking ;  his  cope,  good  works ;  his  surplice, 
readiness  to  serve  his  neighbors;  his  handkerchief,  good 
thoughts,  etc. 

(3)  On  the  order  of  the  anthems^  i.  e.  in  the  Roman  service. 
It/  is  a  compilation  of  the  antiphones  of  the  Roman  and  French 
churches. 

(4)  Eclogues  on  the  office  of  the  mass,^  meaning  again  the  Ro- 
man mass.  This  insistence  upon' the  Roman  order  was  directed 
against  Archbishop  Agobard  of  Lyons,  who  had  not  only  not 
adopted  the  Roman  order,  but  had  expurgated  the  liturgy  of  his 
church  of  everything  which  in  his  judgment  savored  of  false 
doctrine  or  which  was  undignified  in  liturgical  expression. 

(5)  Epistles.^  The  first  letter,  addressed  to  Jeremiah,  arcli- 
bishop  of  Sens,  on  the  question  whether  one  should  write  Jhesus 
or  Jesus.  The  second  is  Jeremiah's  reply,  deciding  in  favor  of 
Jhesus.  In  the  third,  Amalarius  asks  Jonas  of  Orleans  whether 
one  should  use  I  H  C  or  I  H  S  as  a  contraction  of  Jesus. 
Jonas  favored  I  H  S.  The  fourth  is  on  the  Eucharist.  Rant- 
garius  is  his  correspondent.  Amalarius  maintains  the  Real 
Presence.  He  says  the  first  cup  at  supper  signified  the  Old  Tes- 
tament sacrifices,  the  figure  of  the  true  blood,  which  was  in  the 
second  cup.  The  fifth  letter  is  to  Hetto,  a  monk,  who  had  asked 
whether  "  seraphin  "  or  "  seraphim  "  is  the  correct  form.  Ama- 
larius replies  with  learned  ignorance  that  both  are  correct,  for 
"  seraphin  "  is  neuter  and  "  seraphim,"  masculine  !  The  sixth 
is  the  most  important  of  the  series.  It  is  addressed  to  a  certain 
Gun  trad,  who  had  been  greatly  troubled  because  Amalarius  had 
spit  shortly  after  having  partaken  of  the  Eucharist,  and  there- 
fore had  voided  a  particle  of  the  body  of  Christ.     Amalarius, 

^  Liber  de  ordine  anfiphonarii,  ibid.  col.  124.3-1316. 
*  Edogce  de  officio  missce,  ibid.  col.  1315-1332. 
»  Epislolce,  ibid.  1333-1340. 


704  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

in  his  reply,  says  that  he  had  so  much  phlegm  iu  his  throat  that 
he  was  obliged  to  spit  very  frequeutly.  He  did  not  believe, 
however,  that  God  would  make  that  which  helped  his  bodily 
injure  his  spiritual  health.  He  then  goes  on  to  say  that  the  true 
honor  of"  the  body  of  Christ  is  by  the  inner  man,  into  which  it 
enters  as  life.  Hence  if  one  Avho  inwardly  revered  the  host 
should  accidentally  or  unavoidably  spit  out  a  fragment  of  the 
host  he  must  not  be  judged  as  thereby  dishonoring  the  body  of 
Christ.  He  thus  touches,  without  passing  judgment  upon,  the 
position  of  the  Stercoranists.  The  last  letter  is  only  a  fragment 
and  is  so  different  in  style  fi'om  the  former  that  it  probably  is 
not  by  Amalarius  of  Metz. 

§  164.  Einhard. 

I.  EiNHARDUS:    Opera  in  Migne,  Tom.  CIV.  col.  351-610;   and   Vita 

Caroli  in  Tom.  XCVII.  col.  25-62  ;  also  complete  Latin  and  French 
ed.  by  A.  Teulet.-  CEuvres  comj)lltes  d'  Eginhard,  reunies  pour  la  pre- 
miere fois  et  traduites  en  frangais.  Paris,  1840-43,  2  vols.  The  An- 
nales  and  Vita  of  Migne's  ed.  are  reprinted  from  Pertz's  Monumenta 
QermanicB  historica  (I.  135-189  and  II.  433-463,  respectively) ; 
separate  ed.  of  the  Vita,  Hannover,  1839.  The  best  edition  of  the 
Epistolce  and  Vita  is  in  Philipp  Jaffe  :  Monumenta  Carolina,  Ber- 
lin, 1867,  pp.  437-541  ;  and  of  the  Passio  Marcellini  et  Petri  is  in 
Ern'EST  DtJMMLEE  :  Poetce  Latini  CBvi  Carolini,  Tom.  II.  (Berlin, 
1884),  pp.  125-135.  Teulet's  translation  of  Einhard's  complete 
works  has  been  separately  issued,  Paris,  1856.  Einhard's  Vita  Caroli 
has  been  translated  into  German  by  J.  L.  Ideler,  Hamburg,  1839,  2 
vols,  (with  very  elaborate  notes),  and  by  Otto  Abel,  Berlin,  1850; 
and  into  English  by  W.  Glaister,  London,  1877,  and  by  Samuel  Epes 
Turner,  Xew  York,  1880.  Einhard's  Annates  have  been  translated 
by  Otto  Abel  (Einhard's  Jahrbiicher),  Berlin,  1850. 

II.  Cf.  the  prefaces  and  notes  in  the  works  mentioned  above.   Also  Ceil- 

LIER,  XII.  352-357.  mst.  lit.  de  la  France,  IV.  650-567.  Bahb, 
200-214.  Ebert,  II.  92-104.  Also  J.  W.  Ch.  Steixer  :  Geschichte 
und  Beschreibung  der  Stadt  und  ehemal  Abtei  Seligenstadt.  Aschaffen- 
burg,  1820. 

Einhard  (or  Egixhard),^  the  biographer  of  Charlemagne 

'  The  name  is  vawously  spelled,  but  the  now  common  form  Eginhard  is  first 
found  in  the  twelfth  century. 


§  164.  EINHAKD.  705 

and  the  best  of  the  historians  of  the  Carolingian  age,  was  the 
son  of  Einhard  and  Eagilfrita,  and  was  born  about  770,  in  that 
part   of  the   Valley  of  the   Main    which    belongs   to   Hesse- 
Darmstadt.     His  family  was  noble  and  his  education  was  con- 
ducted in  the  famous  Benedictine  monastic  school  of  St.  Boni- 
face at  Fulda,  to  which  his  parents  sent  gifts.^     About  792  the 
abbot  Buugolf  sent  him  to  the  court  of  Charlemagne,  in  order 
that  his  already  remarkable  attainments  might  be  increaed  and 
his  ability  find  ample  scope.     The/avorable  judgment  and  pro- 
phecy of  Baugolf  were  justified  by  events.     He  soon  won  all 
hearts  by  his  amiable  disposition  and  applause  by  his  versatile 
learning.     He  married  Imma,  a  maiden  of  noble  family,  sister 
of  Bernharius,  bishop  of  Worms,  and  with  her  lived  very  happily 
for  many  years.^     She  bore  him  a  son  named  Wussiu  who  be- 
came a  monk  at  Fulda.     He  enjoyed  the  Emperor's  favor  to 
a  marked  degree,^  and  figured  in  important  and  delicate  matters. 
Thus  he  was  sent  in  806  to  Rome  to  obtain  the  papal  signature 
to   Charlemagne's  will   dividing  the  empire  among  his  sons'* 
Again  in  813  it  was  he  who  first  suggested  the  admission  of 
Louis  to  the  co-regency.     He  superintended  the  building  opera- 
tions of  Charlemagne,  e.  g.  at  Aix  la  Chapelle  (Aachen),  ac- 
cording to  the  ideas  of  Vitruvius,  whom  he  studied  diligently.' 
His  skill  as  a  craftsman  won  him  the  academic  title  of  Beza- 
leel.^     He  pursued  his  studies  and  gathered  a  fine  library  of 
classic  authors.     He  edited  the  court  annals.^     Charlemagne's 
death  (814)  did  not  alter  his  position.     Louis  the   Pious  re- 
tained him  as  councillor  and  appointed  him  in  817  instructor 

1  Jaffe  I.  c.  p.  488. 

2  The  legend  that  Imma  was  the  daughter  of  Charlemagne  dates  from 
the  twelfth  century,  and  probably  arose  from  the  false  reading  neptiiatem 
("  nephew  ")  for  ne  pietatem  in  Eginhard's  letter  to  Lothair.     See  JaflK,  p.  446. 

3  Walahfrid's  Prologue  to  the  Vila,  see  Jaffe,  p.  508. 
*  Annal.es  806,  in  Migne,  CIV.  col.  466,  1.  2,  fr.  bel. 

5  Epistolcz,  ed.  Jaffe,  no.  56,  p.  478,  ed.  Migne,  no.  30  (col.  520). 

«  Alcuin,  Epist.  ed.  Jaff6,  no.  112,  p.  459. 

'  See  below. 
45 


706  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.D.  590-1049. 

to  his  son  Lothair.     When  trouble  broke  out  (830)  between 
father  and  son  he  did  his  best  to  reconcile  them. 

Although  a  layman  he  had  received  at  diflPerent  times  since 
815  a  number  of  church  preferments.  Louis  made  him  abbot 
of  Fontenelle  in  the  diocese  of  Rouen,  of  St.  Peter's  of  Bland- 
igny  and  St.  Bavon's  at  Ghent,  of  St.  Servais'  at  Msestricht, 
and  head  of  the  church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  at  Pavia.  On 
Jan.  11,  815,  Louis  gave  Einhard  and  Imma  the  domains  of 
Michelstadt  and  Mulinheim  in  the  Odenwald  on  the  Main ; 
and  on  June  2  of  that  year  he  is  first  addressed  as  abbot.^  As 
the  political  affairs  of  the  empire  became  more  complicated  he 
withdrew  more  and  more  from  public  life,  and  turned  his  at- 
tention to  literature.  He  resigned  the  care  of  the  abbey  of 
Fontenelle  in  823,  and  after  administrating  other  abbeys  sought 
rest  at  Michelstadt.  There  he  built  a  church  in  which  he  put 
(827)  the  relics  of  the  saints  Marcellinus  and  Petrus  which  had 
been  stolen  from  the  church  of  St.  Tiburtius  near  Rome.^  A 
year  later,  however,  he  removed  to  Mulinheim,  which  name  he 
changed  to  Seligenstadt ;  there  he  built  a  splendid  church  and 
founded  a  monastery.  After  his  unsuccessful  attempt  to  end 
the  strife  between  Louis  and  Lothair  he  retired  altogether  to 
Seligenstadt.  About  836  he  wrote  his  now  lost  work  upon 
the  Worship  of  the  Cross,  which  he  dedicated  to  Servatus 
Lupus.^  In  836  his  wife  died.  His  grief  was  inconsolable, 
and  aroused  the  commiseration  of  his  friends ;  *  and  even  the 
emperor  Louis  made  him  a  visit  of  condolence.^  But  he  carried 
his  burden  till  his  death  on  March  14,  840.  He  is  honored 
as  a  saint  in  the  abbey  of  Fontenelle  on  February  20.  His 
epitaph  was  written  by  Rabanus  Maurus. 

'  For  his  preferments  -ee  JafT^  p.  493-495.     On  p.  493,  Jaff6  proves  that 
Einliard  did  not  separate  himself  from  his  wife  after  becoming  an  abbot. 
'  See  Account  of  the  removal,  etc.,  below. 

»  See  Lupus'  reply  to  his  letter  (Lupus,  Epist.  ed.  Migne,  CXIX.  col.  445). 
♦  See  liis  letter  to  Lupus  and  Lupus'  reply,  ibid.  col.  437-446. 
»  Jaff6  ed.  p.  499. 


^64.  EINHAED.  707 

He  and  his  wife  were  originally  buried  in  one  sarcophagus 
in  the  choir  of  the  church  in  Seligenstadt,  but  in  1810  the 
sarcophagus  was  presented  by  the  Grand  Duke  of  Hesse  to  the 
count  of  Erbach,  who  claims  descent  from  Einhard  as  the  hus- 
band of  Imma,  the  reputed  daughter  of  Charlemagne.  The 
count  put  it  in  the  famous  chapel  of  his  castle  at  Erbach  in  the 
Odenwald. 

Einhard  was  in  stature  almost  a  dwarf,  but  in  mind  he  was 
in  the  esteem  of  his  contemporaries  a  giant.  His  classical  train- 
ing fitted  him  to  write  an  immortal  work,  the  Life  of  Charle- 
magne. His  position  at  court  brought  him  into  contact  on  terms 
of  equality  with  all  the  famous  men  of  the  day.  In  youth  he 
sat  under  Alcuin,  in  old  age  he  was  himself  the  friend  and  in- 
spirer  of  such  a  man  as  Servatus  Lupus.  His  life  seems  to 
have  been  on  the  whole  favored,  and  although  a  courtier,  he 
preserved  his  simplicity  and  purity  of  character. 

His  Writings  embrace : 

1.  The  Life  of  the  Emperor  Charlemagne}  This  is  one  of  the 
imperishable  works  in  literature.  It  is  a  tribute  of  sincere  admi- 
ration to  one  who  was  in  many  respects  the  greatest  statesman 
that  ever  lived.  It  was  Einhard's  ambition  to  do  for  Charle- 
magne what  Suetonius  had  done  for  Augustus.  Accordingly 
he  attempted  an  imitation  of  Suetonius  in  style  and  as  far  as 
possible  in  contents,^  and  it  is  high  praise  to  say  that  Einhard 
has  not  failed.  The  Life  is  the  chief  source  of  knowledge  about 
Charlemagne  personally,  and  it  is  so  written  as  to  carry  the 
stamp  of  candor  and  truth,  so  that  his  private  life  stands  re- 
vealed and  his  public  life  sufficiently  outlined.  Einhard  began 
it  soon  after  Charlemagne's  death  (814)  and  finished  it  about 
820.  It  quickly  attained  a  wide-spread  and  enthusiastic  recep- 
tion.'     It  was   looked  upon   as   a   model   production.     Later 

1  Vifu  Caroli  Imperatorie,  in  Migne,  XCVII.  col.  27-62.  Cf.  Jaflfe's  ed.,  pp. 
507-541. 

*  The  critical  editions  of  the  Vita  bring  this  fact  out  very  plainly.  Cf. 
Ebert,  I.  e.  95.  *  Pertz  collated  sixty  MSS.  of  it. 


708  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

writers  drew  freely  upon  it  and  portions  were  rendered  into 
verse '  It  is  not,  however,  entirely  free  from  inaccuracies,  as 
the  critical  editions  show. 

2.  Tlie  Annals  of  Lorsch?  Einhard  edited  and  partly  re- 
wrote them  from  741  to  801,''  and  wrote  entirely  those  from 
802  to  829.  These  annals  give  a  brief  record  of  the  events  of 
each  year  from  the  beginning  of  Pepin's  reign  till  the  withdrawal 
of  Einhard  from  court. 

3.  Account  of  the  removal  of  the  relics  of  the  blessed  martyrs 
Marcellinus  and  Petrus}  This  is  a  very  extraordinary  narra- 
tive of  fraud  and  cunning  and  "  miracles."  In  brief  it  very 
candidly  states  that  the  relics  were  stolen  by  Deusdona,  a  Roman 
deacon,  Ratleik,  Eiuhard's  representative,  and  Hun,  a  servant 
of  the  abbey  of  Soissons.  But  after  they  had  been  safely  con- 
veyed from  Rome  they  were  openly  exhibited,  and  very  many 
"miracles"  were  Avrought  by  them,  and  it  was  to  relate  these 
that  the  book  was  written. 

4.  77ie  Passion  of  Marcellinus  and  Petrus^  is  a  poem  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty-four  trochaic  tetrameters.  It  has  been  attri- 
buted to  Einhard,  but  the  absence  of  all  allusion  to  the  removal 
of  the  relics  of  these  saints  renders  the  authorship  vey  doubt- 
ful.« 

5.  Letters!'  There  are  seventy-one  in  all;  many  of  them 
defective.  They  are  mostly  very  brief  and  on  matters  of  busi- 
ness. Several  are  addressed  to  Louis  and  Lothair,  and  one  to 
Servatus  Lupus  on  the  death  of  his  (Einhard's)  wife,  which 
deserves  particular  attention. 

'  Cf.  Bahr,  /.  c.  210. 

»  Annaks  Laurmenses  et  Eginhard,  in  Migne,  CIV.  col.  367-508.  3Ion.  Germ. 
Script.  I.  134-218. 

«  These  are  known  as  The  Annales  Laurissenses  because  the  oldest  and  com- 
pljtcst  MS.  was  found  in  the  monastery  of  Lorsch.  Their  original  text  is 
printed  alongside  of  Einhard's  revision. 

*  Ilwtoria  tramlationis  BB.  Christi  martyrum  MarcelUni  et  Petri  in  Migne. 
Xbirl  col.  537-594.  6  Bepnmone  M.  et  P.     Ibid.  col.  593-600. 

«•  So  Ebert,  I.  c.  103.  '' Epistolce  in  Migne,  ibid.  col.  509-538. 


2  165.  SMARAGDDS.  709 

§  165.  Smaragdus. 

I.  Smaragdus,   abbas  monasterii   Sancti  Michcelis    Virdunensis :  Opera 

omnia  in  Migne,  Tom.  CII.  cols.  9-980 :  with  Pitra's  notes,  cols. 
1111-1132.  His  Carmina  are  in  Diimmler,  Pcetas  Latini  cevi  Caro- 
lini,  I.  2. 

II.  Haureau:  Singularity  Mstoriques  et  litttraires.     Paris,  1861   (pp. 

100  sqq.)  H.  Keil:  De  grammaticis  quibusdam  latinis  infimce.  cetatis 
(Program).  Erlangen,  1868.  Hist.  lit.  de  la  France,  IV.  439-447.  Ceil- 
LIER,  XII.  254-257.     Bahr,  362-364.     Ebert,  II.  108-12. 

Of  the  early  life  of  Smaragdus  nothing  is  known.  He  joined 
the  Benedictine  order  of  monks,  and  after  serving  as  principal 
of  the  convent  school  was  elected  about  805  abbot  of  the  monas- 
tery on  Mt.  Castellion.  Sometime  later  he  moved  his  monks 
a  few  miles  away  and  founded  the  monastery  of  St.  Mihiel  on 
the  banks  of  the  Meuse,  in  the  diocese  of  Verdun.  He  was  a 
man  of  learning  and  of  practical  activity.  In  consequence  he 
was  highly  esteemed  by  the  two  monarchs  under  whom  he  lived, 
Charlemagne  and  Louis  the  Pious.  The  former  employed  him 
to  write  the  letter  to  Pope  Leo  III.  in  which  was  communicated 
the  decision  of  the  council  of  Aix  la  Chapelle  (809)  respecting 
the  adoption  of  the  Filioque,  and  sent  him  to  Rome  with  the 
commissioners  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  pope.  He  acted  as 
secretary,  and  drew  up  the  protocol.  Louis  the  Pious  showed 
him  equal  consideration,  richly  endowed  his  monastery,  and  in 
824  appointed  him  to  act  with  Frotharius,  bishop  of  Toul  (813- 
837)  as  arbitrator  between  Ismund,  abbot  of  Milan,  and  his 
monks.     Smaragdus  died  about  840. 

His  writings  show  diligence  and  piety,  but  no  originality. 
His  published  works  in  prose  are  :  (I)  Collections  of  Comments 
on  the  Epistle  and  Gospel  for  each  holy  day  in  the  year,^  an  un- 
critical but  comprehensive  compilation  from  numerous  ecclesi- 
astical writers,  prepared  for  the  use  of  preachers,  and  described 

^  Collectiones  in  epistolas  et  evangelia  de  tempore  et  de  Sanctis.  Migne,  CII.  col. 
13-552. 


710  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

by  the  auilior  as  a  liber  comitis.  (2)  The  7nonFs  diadem,^  a  col- 
lection iu  one  hundred  chapters  of  ascetic  rules  and  reflections 
concerning  the  principal  duties  and  virtues  of  the  monastic  life. 
It  is  for  the  most  part  a  compilation.  The  sources  are  the  Col- 
lectiones  'patrum  of  Cassiau  and  the  writings  of  Gregory  the 
Great.  Smaragdus  made  it  after  his  elevation  to  the  abbotship 
and  enjoined  its  daily  evening  reading  upon  his  monks.^  It 
proved  to  be  a  very  popular  work,  was  widely  circulated  during 
the  Middle  Age,  and  has  been  repeatedly  published.^  (3)  Cum- 
mentnry  upon  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict,'^  undertaken  in  aid  of  the 
monastic  reforms  instituted  by  the  council  of  Aix  la  Chapelle 
(817).  It  is  characterized  by  great  strictness.  (4)  The  Royal 
way,^  dedicated  to  Louis  the  Pious  while  king  of  Aquitania.® 
It  consists  of  thirty-two  chapters  of  moral  and  spiritual  coun- 
sels, which  if  faithfully  followed  will  conduct  an  earthly  king 
into  the  heavenly  kingdom.  The  work  is  really  only  an  adap- 
tation of  the  Diadem  to  the  wants  of  the  secular  life.  (5)  Acts 
of  the  Roman  conference^  the  protocol  already  alluded  to.  (6) 
Epistle  of  Charles  the  Great  to  Leo  the  Pope  upon  the  procession 
of  the  Holy  Spirit^  the  letter  mentioned  above.  (7)  Epistle  of 
Erotharius  and  Smaragdus  to  the  Emperor  Louis^  the  report  of 
the  arbitrators.  (8)  A  larger  grammar  or  a  commentary  upon 
Donatus}^     His  earliest  work,  written    at   the  request  of  his 

*  Diadema  monachoriim,  ibid.  col.  593-690. 

*  "  Et  quia  mos  est  monachorum,  ut  regulam  beati  Benedicii  ad  capitubim  legant 
quotidie  viatutinum :  volumus  ut  iste  libellus  ad  eorum  capitulum  quotidie  legatur 
pesperilnum  (col.  593)." 

»  Paris,  1532,  1640;  Antwerp,  1540;  Bibliotheca  Maxima,  Lyons,  1677,  Tom, 
XVI.  pp.  1305-1342,  and  Migne,  Patrol.  LaL,  CII.,  Paris,  1851. 

*  Comrrwntaria  in  regulum  Saneti  Benedidi,  Migne,  CII.  col.  689-932. 

*  Via  regia,  ibid.  col.  933-970.  6  go  Ebert,  /.  c  p.  111. 
^  Acta  collalionis  Roviava.  Migne,  CII.  ool.  971-976. 

*  Epislola  Cnroli  Magni  ad  Leonem  Papain  de  processione  Spiritus  Sandi, 
Migne,  XCVIII.  col.  923-929. 

'  Epistola  Frotharii  el  Smaragdi  ad  Ludovicum  Imperatorem,  Migne,  CVI.  col. 
865-866. 

•°  Qrammatica  major  seu  commenturius  in  Donatum. 


I  166.  JONAS  OF  ORLEANS.  711 

scholars,  probably  between  800  and  805.  It  is  still  unprinted, 
except  a  small  portion.^  There  yet  remain  in  MS.  a  Commen- 
tary on  the  Prophets,  and  a  History  of  the  Monastery  of  St. 
Michael?  Smaragdus  also  wrote  poetry.  Besides  a  hymn  to 
Christ/  there  have  been  preserved  his  metrical  introductions  to 
his  Collections  and  Commentary  on  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict,  o{ 
which  the  first  has  twenty-nine  lines  in  hexameter,  and  the 
second  thirty-seven  distichs. 

§  166.  Jonas  of  Orleans. 
L  Jo^AS,  Aurelianensis  episcopus:  Opera  omnia,  in  Mignc,  Tom.  CVI. 

II    DuPiN'vn.3,4.    Ceillieb,  XII.  389-394.    Hist.  lit.  ck  la  France, 
V.  20-31.     BlHB,  394-398.     Ebeet,  II.  225-230. 
Jonas  was  a  native  of  Aquitania,  and  in  821  succeeded  Theo- 
dulph  as  archbisliop  of  Orleans.     In  the  first  year  of  his  episco- 
pate he  reformed  the  convent  at  Mici,  near  Orleans,  ana  there- 
by greatly  extended    its  usefulness.     His   learniug   in   clas.sical 
and  theological  literature  joined  to  his  administrative  ability 
made  him  a  leader  in  important  councils,  and  also  led  to  his 
frequent  employment  by  Louis  the  Pious  on  delicate  and  diffi- 
cult commissions.      Thus  the  emperor  sent  him  to  examine  the 
administration  of  the  law  in  certain  districts  of  his  empire  and 
„  835  to  the  monasteries  of  Fleury  and  St.  Calez  in  Le  Man  . 
His  most  conspicuous  service  was,  however,  m  connection  with 
thlltherin.  of  bishops  and  theologians  held  at  Tans  in  Nov. 
;25  to  cons?der  the  question  of  image-worship.     The  empe^r 
sent  him  and  Jeremiah,  archbishop  of  Sens,  to  Rome  to  lay  be- 
f  r    the  pope  that  part  of  the  collection  of  patristic  quotations 
on  the  sublet  made  by  Halitgar  and  Amalarius,  which  w^ 
Ist  appropriate.^     The  issue  of  this  — ion  -^^^^^^^^ 
He  was  the  leading  spirit  in  the  reform  council  of  Pans  (8  9), 
and  probably  drew  up  its  acts;    and  again  d 

1  MabUlon,  F....  ande...,  Nov.  ^.  (?"«•  "^'  ^^^  T^^^t,  IV.  46. 


712  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

where,  on  March  4,  835,  he  dictated  the  protocol  of  Ebo's  depo- 
sition.^    He  died  at  Orleans  in  843  or  844. 

His  Writings  are  interesting  and  important,  although  few. 

1.  The  layman's  rule  of  lije,^  in  three  books,  composed  in  828 
for  Mathfred,  count  of  Orleans,  who  had  requested  iustruetion 
how  to  lead  a  godly  life  while  in  the  bonds  of  matrimony.  The 
first  and  last  books  are  general  in  their  contents,  but  the  second 
is  for  the  most  part  specially  addressed  to  married  people.  As 
might  be  expected  Jonas  takes  strong  ground  against  vice  in  all 
its  forms  and  so  his  work  has  great  value  in  the  history  of 
ethics.  It  is  very  likely  that  the  second  book  was  composed 
first.3 

2.  The  King's  rule  of  life^  written  about  829  and  dedicated 
to  Pepin.  Both  the  above-mentioned  works  are  little  more 
than  compilations  from  the  Bible  and  the  fathers,  especially  from 
Augustin,  but  the  author's  own  remarks  throw  a  flood  of  light 
upon  the  sins  and  follies  of  his  time.^ 

3.  The  Worship  of  Images.^  This  is  his  chief  work,  and  a 
very  important  one.  It  is  in  three  books,  and  was  written 
against  Claudius  of  Turin.  It  was  nearly  finished  at  the  time 
of  the  latter's  death  (839),  and  then  laid  aside  since  Jonas  fancied 
that  the  bold  position  of  Claudius  would  scarcely  be  assumed  by 
any  one  else.  But  when  he  found  that  the  pupils  and  followers 
of  Claudius  were  propagating  the  same  opinions  he  took  up 
his  book  again  and  finished  it  about  842.  It  had  been  begun 
at  the  request  of  Louis  the  Pious ;  but  he  having  died  in  840, 
Jonas  dedicated  the  work  to  his  son,  Charles  the  Bald,  in  a  let- 
ter in  which   the  above-mentioned  facts  about  its  origin  are 

1  Hefele,  IV.  87. 

*  De  instilutione  laicali.     Migne,  CVI.  col.  121-278. 
»  Ebert,  I.  e.  p.  229. 

*  De  instilutione  regia.     Migne,  CVI.  col.  279-306. 

*  The  fact  that  portions  of  these  two  books  not  only  agree  word  for  word  but 
also  with  the  Acts  of  the  Paris  reform-council  of  829  is  proof,  as  Ebert  main- 
tains (pp.  227-29),  of  the  prior  existence  of  the  Acts. 

^  De  cuUu,  imaginum,  Migne,  CVI.  col.  305-388. 


?  167.  RABANUS  MAURUS.  713 

stated.  Jonas  opposes  Claudius  with  his  own  weapons  of  irony 
and  satire,  gives  his  portrait  in  no  flattering  colors  and  even 
ridicules  his  latinity.  The  first  book  defends  the  use  of  images 
(pictures),  the  invocation  and  worship  of  the  saints,  the  doctrine 
of  their  intercession,  and  the  veneration  due  to  their  relics,  but 
asserts  that  the  French  do  not  worship  images.  The  second 
book  defends  the  veneration  of  the  cross,  and  the  third  pilgrim- 
ages to  Rome. 

4,  History  of  the  translation  of  the  relics  of  Saint  Hubert} 
Hubert,  patron  saint  of  hunters;  died  in  727  as  first  bishop  of 
Liege,  and  was  buried  there  in  St.  Peter's  church.  In  744  he 
was  moved  to  another  portion  of  the  church,  but  in  825  bishop 
Walcand  of  Liege  removed  his  relics  to  the  monastery  of  And- 
vin  which  he  had  re-established,  and  it  is  this  second  translation 
which  Jonas  describes. 

§  167.  Rabanus  Maurus. 

I.  Rabanus  Maurus  :  Opa-a,  omnia,  in  Migne,  Tom.  CVII.-CXII.    His 

Carmina  are  in  Diimmler's  Foetce  Lalini  cevi  Carolini,  II.  159-258. 
Migne's  edition  is  a  reprint,  with  additions,  of  that  of  Colvenerius, 
Cologne,  1617,  but  is  not  quite  complete,  for  Diimmler  gives  new 
pieces,  and  others  are  known  to  exist  in  MS. 

II.  The  Prolegomena   in  Migne,  CVII.  col.  9-106,  which  contains  the 

Vitoe.  by  Mabillon,  Eudolf,  Raban's  pupil,  and  by  Trithemius. 
JOHANN  Franz  Buddeus  :  Dissertatio  de  vita  ac  dodrina  jRahani 
Mauri  Magnentii,  Jena,  1724.  Friedrich  Heinrich  Christian 
SCHWARZ :  Commentatio  de  Rabano  Mauro,  primo  Germanioe  proncep- 
tore  (Program).  Heidelberg,  1811.  Johann  Konrad  Dahl  .• 
Leben  und  Schriften  des  Erzbischofs  Rabanus  Maurus.  Fulda,  1828. 
Nicolas  Bach  :  Hrabanus  Maurus ;  der  Schopfer  des  deutschen  Schul- 
wesens  (Program).  Fulda,  1835.  Friedrich  Kunstmann  :  Hraba- 
nus Magnentius  Maurus.  Mainz,  18-11.  Theodor  Spexgleu  : 
Leben  des  heiligzn  Rhabanus  Maurus.  Regensburg,  1856.  Kohler  : 
Hrabanus  Maurus  und  die  Schulezu  Fulda  (Dissertation).  Leipzig, 
1870.  RiCHTER :  Rabanus  Maurus.  Ein  Beitrag  zur  Geschichte  der 
Pddagogik  im  Mittelalter  (Program).  Malchin,  1883.  Cf.  E.  F.  J. 
Dronke:    Codex  dip.  Fuld.     Cassel,  1850.     J.  Bass  Mullinger  : 

The  Schools  of  Charles  the  Great.    London,  1877,  pp.  138-157.     J.  F. 

*  Hiftoria  translalionis  S.  Hucberti,  ibid.  col.  389-394. 


714  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

BoHMER:  Regesten  zur  Gesch.  d.  Maimer  Erzbisch'qfe,  ed.  C.  Will. 
1.  Bd.  A.  D.  742-1160.     Innsbruck,  1877. 
III.  Du  Fix,  VII.  160-166.     Ceillier,  XII.  446-476.     Hist.  lit.  de  la 
France,  V.  151-203.     Bahr,  415-447.     Ebert,  II.  120-145. 

HIS    LIFE. 

Magnentius  Hrabanus  Maurus  is  the  full  name,  as 
written  by  himself/  of  one  of  the  greatest  scholars  and  teachers 
of  the  Carol ingian  age.  He  was  born  in  Mainz'''  about  776. 
At  the  age  of  nine  he  was  placed  by  his  parents  in  the  famous 
Benedictine  monastery  of  Fulda,  in  the  Grand-duchy  of 
Hesse,  which  was  then  in  a  very  flourishing  condition  under 
Baugolf  (780-802).  There  he  received  a  careful  education  both 
in  sacred  and  secular  learning,  for  Baugolf  was  himself  a  class- 
ical scholar.  Raban  took  the  monastic  vows,  and  in  801  was 
ordained  deacon.  In  802  Baugolf  died  and  was  succeeded  by 
Ratgar.  The  new  abbot  at  first  followed  the  example  of  his 
predecessor,  and  in  order  to  keep  up  the  reputation  of  the 
monastery  for  learning  he  sent  the  brightest  of  the  inmates  to 
Tours  to  receive  the  instruction  of  Alcuin,  not  only  in  theology 
but  particularly  in  the  liberal  arts.  Among  them  was  Raban, 
who  indeed  had  a  great  desire  to  go.  The  meeting  of  the  able 
and  experienced,  though  old,  wearied  and  somewhat  mechanical 
teacher,  and  the  fresh,  vigorous,  insatiable  student,  was  fraught 
with  momentous  consequences  for  Europe.  Alcuin  taught 
Raban  far  more  than  book  knowledge;  he  fitted  him  to 
teach  others,  and  so  put  him  in  the  line  of  the  great  teachers — 
Isidore,  Bede,  Alcuin.  Between  Alcuin  and  Raban  there  sprang 
up  a  very  warm  friendship,  but  death  removed  the  former  in 

»  Prcpfatio  to  his  De  laudibus  sanctce  crucis,  Migne,  CVII.  col.  147,  14S.  Mag- 
nentius indicates  his  birth  at  Mainz,  which  was  called  in  the  Old  High 
German  Magenze  (see  Ebert  II.  121  n.).  Hrabanus  is  the  Latinized  form  of 
Hrabau  (i.  e.  "raven").  Rabanns  is  the  ordinary  spelling,  il/awrus  was  the 
epithet  given  to  him  by  Alcuin  (Migne,  CIX.  col.  10)  to  indicate  that  in  Ra- 
banns were  found  the  virtues  which  had  made  Maurus  the  favorite  disciple 
of  (he  great  St.  Benedict. 

»  Cf.  his  self-written  epitaph,  Migne,  CXII.  col.  1671. 


§  167.  RABANUS  MAURUS.  715 

the  same  year  in  which  Raban  returned  to  Fulda  (804),  and  so 
what  would  doubtless  have  been  a  most  interesting  correspond- 
ence was  limited  to  a  single  interchange  of  letters.^ 

Raban  was  appointed  principal  of  the  monastery's  school.  In 
his  work  he  was  at  first  assisted  by  Samuel,  his  fellow-pupil 
at  Tours,  but  when  the  latter  was  elected  bishop  of  Worms 
Raban  carried  on  the  school  alone.  The  new  abbot.  Rato-ar 
quickly  degenerated  into  a  tyrant  with  an  architectural  mania. 
He  begrudged  the  time  spent  in  study  and  instruction.  Accord- 
ingly he  chose  very  effective  measures  to  break  up  the  school. 
He  took  the  books  away  from  the  scholars  and  even  from  their 
principal,  Raban  Maur.^  In  807  the  monastery  was  visited  with 
a  malignant  fever,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  monks,  espe- 
cially of  the  younger  ones,  died,  and  many  left.  Thus  by  death 
and  defection  the  number  was  reduced  from  400  to  150,  but 
those  who  remained  had  to  work  all  the  harder.  It  was  pro- 
bably during  this  period  of  misrule  and  miseiy  that  Raban 
made  his  journey  to  Palestine,  to  which,  however,  he  only  once 
alludes.^     On  December  23,  814,  he  was  ordained  priest.'* 

In  817  Ratgar  was  deposed  and  Raban's  friend  Eigil  elected 
in  his  place.^  With  Eigil  a  better  day  dawned  for  the  mon- 
astery. Raban  was  now  unhampered  in  teaching  and  able  once 
more  to  write.  The  school  grew  so  large  that  it  had  to  be  divided. 
Those  scholars  who  were  designed  for  the  secular  life  were 
taught  in  a  separate  place  outside  the  monastery.  The  library 
was  also  much  increased. 

In  822  Eigil  died  and  Raban  was  elected  his  successor.     He 

^  Only  one  of  the  two,  Alcuin's,  has  been  preserved  (Migne,  C.  col.  398). 
That  Eaban  wrote  first  is  a  reasonable  conjecture  from  Alcuin's  letter.  Cf. 
Mullinger,  p.  139. 

2  In  a  poem  (Migne,  CXII.  col.  1600)  addressed  to  Ratgar,  he  gently  pleads 
for  the  return  of  his  books  and  papers.  In  another  longer  poem  he  describes 
the  defection  caused  by  Ratgar's  tyranny  {ibid.  col.  1621). 

3  In  his  comment  on  Joshua  xi.  8  (Migne,  CVIII.  col.  1053,  1.  38). 
*  Migne.  CVII.  col.  15. 

'  See  p.  700. 


716  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

proved  a  good  leader  in  spiritual  affairs.  He  took  personal 
interest  in  the  monks,  and  frequently  preached  to  them.  He 
paid  particular  attention  to  Ihe  education  of  the  priests.  He 
compiled  books  for  their  especial  benefit,  and  as  far  as  possible 
tauglit  in  the  school,  particularly  on  Biblical  topics.  The  prin- 
cipal of  the  school  under  him  was  Candidus,  already  mentioned 
as  the  biographer  of  Eigil.^  His  most  famous  pupils  belong 
to  this  period.  Servatus  Lupus,  "Walahfrid  Strabo  (826-829) 
and  Otfrid.  He  showed  his  passion  for  collecting  relics,  which 
he  enshrined  in  a  very  costly  way.  He  also  built  churches 
and  extended  the  influence  of  Fulda  by  colonizing  his  monks 
in  different  places,  adding  six  affiliated  monasteries  to  the  six- 
teen already  existing. 

In  the  spring  of  842  Raban  laid  down  his  office  and  retired 
to  the  "  cell  "  on  the  Petersberg,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fulda. 
There  he  thought  he  should  be  able  to  end  his  days  in  literary 
activity  undisturbed  by  the  cares  of  office.  To  this  end  he 
called  in  the  aid  of  several  assistants  and  so  worked  rapidly. 
But  he  was  too  valuable  a  man  to  be  allowed  to  retire  from 
active  life.  Accordingly  on  the  death  of  Otgar,  archbishop  of 
Mainz  (April  21,  847),  he  was  unanimously  elected  by  the  chap- 
ter, the  nobility  and  the  people  of  Mainz  his  successor.  He 
reluctantly  consented,  and  was  consecrated  June  2Q-,  847.  In 
October  of  that  year  he  held  his  first  synod  in  the  monastery 
of  St.  Alban's,  Mainz.  It  was  a  provincial  council  by  com- 
mand of  Louis  the  German.  Among  the  notables  present 
were  his  suffragans,  Samuel  of  Worms,  his  former  fellow-teacher, 
Ebo  of  Ilildeshcim,  Haymo  of  Halberstadt,  his  fellow-student 
under  Alcuin,  and  also  Ansgar  of  Hamburg,  who  had  come  to 
plead  for  the  Northern  mission.  This  synod  renewed  the  com- 
mand to  the  priests  to  preach.  In  this  act  Raban  is  recog- 
nized. On  October  1,  848,  a  second  synod  was  held  at  Mainz, 
which  is  memorable  as  the  first  in  which  the  Gottschalk  matter 

'See  p.  701. 


§  167.  RABANUS  MAURUS.  717 

was  discussed.  Gottschalk  had  been  a  pupil  at  Fulda  and  his 
course  had  incurred  the  auger  of  Raban,  who  accordingly  op- 
posed him  in  the  council.  The  result  was  that  the  synod  de- 
cided adversely  to  Gottschalk  and  sent  him  for  judgment  to 
Hincmar.  In  the  Annals  of  Fulda  begun  by  Enhard  (not  to 
be  confounded  with  Einhard),  and  continued  by  Rudolf,  it  is 
gratefully  recorded  that  during  the  great  famine  in  Germany  in 
850  Raban  fed  more  than  300  persons  daily  in  the  village  of 
Winzel.^  In  October,  851  or  852,  Raban  presided  over  a  third 
synod  at  Mainz,  which  passed  a  number  of  reform  canons ;  such 
as  one  forbidding  the  clergy  to  hunt,  and  another  anathematizing 
a  layman  who  withdrew  from  a  priest  who  had  been  married, 
thinking  it  wrong  to  receive  the  eucharist  from  such  a  one.^ 

Raban  died  at  Mainz  Feb.  4,  456,  and  was  buried  in  the  mon- 
astery of  St.  Al ban's.  He  wrote  his  own  epitaph  which  is 
modest  yet  just.  In  1515  Cardinal  Albert  of  Brandenburg 
removed  his  bones  to  Halle. 

HIS   POSITION   AND   INFLUENCE. 

Raban  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  the  ninth  century 
for  virtue,  piety  and  scholarship.  As  pupil  he  was  unremitting  in 
his  pursuit  of  learning ;  as  teacher  he  was  painstaking,  inspiring 
and  instructive  ;  as  abbot  he  strove  to  do  his  whole  duty ;  as  arch- 
bishop he  zealously  contended  for  the  faith  regardless  of  adversa- 
ries ;  according  to  his  own  motto,  "  When  the  cause  is  Christ's,  the 
opposition  of  the  bad  counts  for  naught."  He  bore  his  honors 
modestly,  and  was  free  from  pride  or  envy.  While  willing  to  yield 
to  proper  demands  and  patient  of  criticism,  he  Avas  inflexible 
and  rigorous  in  maintaining  a  principle.  He  had  the  courage 
to  oppose  alone  the  decision  of  the  council  of  829  that  a  monk 
might  leave  his  order.  He  denied  the  virtues  of  astrology  and 
opposed  trial  by  ordeal.  He  early  declared  himself  a  friend  of 
Louis  the  Pious  and  plainly  and  earnestly  rebuked  the  unfilial 
conduct  of  his  sons.     After  the  death  of  Louis  he  threw  in  his 

1  Migne,  CVII,  col.  24.  ^  Hefele,  IV.  179-181. 


718  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

fortuue  with  Lothair  and  the  defeat  of  the  latter  at  Fontenai, 
June  25  841,  was  a  personal  affliction  and  may  have  hastened  his 
resignation  of  the  abbotship,  which  took  place  in  the  spring  of 
the  following  year.  The  relations,  however,  between  him  and 
his  new  king,  Louis  the  German,  were  friendly.  Louis  called 
him  to  his  court  and  appointed  him  archbishop  of  Mainz. 

Kaban's  permanent  fame  rests  upon  his  labors  as  teacher 
and  educational  writer.  From  these  he  has  won  the  proud 
epithet.  Primus  Germanice  Frcecepto)\  The  school  at  Fulda 
became  famous  for  piety  and  erudition  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  Frankish  kingdom.  Many  noble  youth,  as  well 
as  those  of  the  lower  classes,  were  educated  there  and  afterwards 
became  the  bishops  and  pastors  of  the  Church  of  Germany.  No 
one  was  refused  on  the  score  of  poverty.  Fulda  started  the 
example,  quickly  followed  in  other  monasteries,  of  diligent  Bible 
study.  And  what  is  much  more  remarkable,  Kaban  was  the  first 
one  in  Germany  to  conduct  a  monastic  school  in  which  many 
boys  were  trained  for  the  secular  life.'  It  is  this  latter  action 
which  entitles  him  to  be  called  the  founder  of  the  German  school 
system.  The  pupils  of  Raban  were  in  demand  elsewhere  as 
teachers ;  and  princes  could  not  find  a  better  school  than  his  for 
their  sons.  One  of  the  strongest  proofs  of  its  excellence  is  the 
fact  that  Einhard,  himself  a  former  pupil  at  Fulda,  and  now  a 
great  scholar  and  teacher,  sent  his  son  AVussin  there,  and  in  a 
letter  still  extant  exhorts  his  son  to  make  dilio-ent  use  of  his  rare 
advantages,  and  above  all  to  attend  to  what  is  said  by  that  "great 
orator,"  Raban  Maur.^  Raban's  eucyclopaedia.  The  Universe, 
attests  his  possession  of  universal  learning  and  of  the  power  to 
impart  it  to  others.  So,  while  Alcuin  was  his  model,  he  enlarged 
upon  his  master's  conception  of  education,  and  in  himself  and 
his  works  set  an  example  whose  influence  has  never  been  lost. 

HIS    WRITINGS. 

Raban  was  a  voluminous  author.     But  like  the  other  writers 
'  Migne,  CVII.  col.  82,  83,  84.  *  Migne,  CIV.  col.  519. 


I  167.  RABANUS  MAURUS.  719 

of  his  time,  he  made  mostly  compilations  from  the  Fathers  and 
the  later  ecclesiastics.  He  was  quick  to  respond  to  the  needs 
of  his  day,  and  to  answer  questions  of  enquiring  students.  He 
betrays  a  profound  acquaintance  with  the  Holy  Scripture.  His 
works  may  be  divided  into  seven  classes. 

I.  Biblical.  (1)  Commentaries  upon  the  whole  Bible,  ex- 
cept Ezra,  Nehemiah,  Job,  Psalms,  Ecclesiastes,  Canticles,  the 
Minor  Prophets,  Catholic  Epistles  and  Revelation.  He  com- 
mented also  on  the  Apocryphal  books,  Judith,  Wisdom,  Eccle- 
siasticus  and  Maccabees.^  These  commentaries  were  probably 
in  part  compiled  by  his  pupils,  under  his  direction.  They  pre- 
served a  knowledge  both  of  the  Bible  and  of  the  Fathers  in  an 
age  when  books  were  very  scarce  and  libraries  still  rarer.  A 
single  fact  very  strikingly  brings  out  this  state  of  things.  Fre- 
chulf,  bishop  of  Lisieux,  in  urging  Raban  to  comment  on  the 
Pentateuch,  states  that  in  his  diocese  there  were  very  few  books 
of  any  kind,  not  even  a  whole  Bible,  much  less  any  complete 
exposition  of  it.'^  Raban  thus  gives  his  views  of  biblical  inter- 
pretation :^  "If  any  one  would  master  the  Scriptures  he  nuist 
first  of  all  diligently  find  out  the  amount  of  history,  allegory, 
anagoge  and  trope  there  may  be  in  the  part  under  consideration. 
For  there  are  four  senses  to  the  Scriptures,  the  historical,  the 
allegorical,  the  tropological  and  the  anagogical,  which  we  call  the 
daughters  of  wisdom.  Through  these  Wisdom  feeds  her  chil- 
dren. To  those  who  are  young  and  beginning  to  learn  she  gives 
the  milk  of  history  ;  to  those  advancing  in  the  faith  the  bread 
of  allegory ;  those  who  are  truly  and  constantly  doing  good  so 
that  they  abound  therein  she  satisfies  with  the  savory  repast  of 
tropology  ;  while,  finally,  those  who  despise  earthly  things  and 
ardently  desire  the  heavenly  she  fills  to  the  full  with  the  wine 
of  anagoge." 

J  Unprinted  are  the  commentaries  on  Isaiah,  Daniel  and  John  ;  lost  those 
on  Mark,  Luke  and  Acts.  The  remainder  are  found  in  Mipne,  CVII.  col. 
439-670;  727-1156.    CVIII.,  CIX.,  CXI.  679-1616.    CXII  9-834. 

2  Preface  to  Matt.,  Migne,  CVII.  col.  727.         »  Migne,  CXII.  col.  849. 


720  FOURTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

In  accordance  witli  these  principles  his  commentaries,  except 
that  of  Matthew,  tlie  earliest  issued  (819),  contain  very  little 
proper  exegesis,  but  a  great  deal  of  mystical  and  spiritual  inter- 
pretation. The  labor  in  their  composition  must  have  been  con- 
siderable, but  he  carried  it  on  for  twenty  years.  He  did  not 
always  copy  the  exact  language  of  his  sources,  but  reproduced  it 
in  his  own  words.  He  was  particular  to  state  the  place  of  his 
excerpts.  Each  successive  commentary  had  a  separate  dedication. 
Thus,  those  on  Judith  and  Esther  were  dedicated  to  the  empress 
Judith,  because,  he  says,  she  resembled  the  Hebrew  heroines ; 
that  on  Chronicles  to  Louis  the  Pious,  her  husband,  as  a  guide 
in  government ;  that  on  Maccabees  to  Louis  the  German ;  that 
on  Jeremiah  to  Lothair. 

(2)  He  also  prepared  a  commentary  in  the  same  style  upon 
the  Biblical  hymns  sung  in  morning  worship.^ 

(3)  Scripture  Allegories,''  a  conveniently  arranged  dictionary 
in  alphabetical  order  of  terms  which  were  defined  allegori- 
cally.  Thus,  "  Annus  is  the  time  of  grace,  as  in  Isaiah  [Ixi.  2], 
'the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord.'  Also,  the  multitude  of 
the  redeemed,  as  in  Job  [iii.  6],  '  let  it  not  be  joined  unto  the 
days  of  the  year '  among  the  elect  who  are  saved.  Also  the  eter- 
nity of  Christ,  as  in  Psalm  [cii.  24],  '  thy  years  are  throughout 
all  generations,'  because  the  eternity  of  God  lasts  forever.  It 
also  signifies  our  life,  as  in  Psalm  [xc.  9], ' our  years  are  thought 
upon  as  if  a  cobweb'  (Vulg.)  {.  e.,  our  life  rushes  along  in 
emptiness  and  corruption."  ^ 

(4)  The  life  of  3Iary  3Iagdalene  and  her  sister  Ifartha.*     It 

includes  the  related  sections  of  our  Lord's  life  and  the  legendary 

history  of  the  sisters,  and  is  in  its  way  an  interesting  work. 

But  he  confounds  Mary  the  sister  of  Lazarus  with   Mary  of 

'  Comment,  in  cantica  quce  ad  matutinas  laudes  dicuntur.  "^CXII.  col.  1089-1166. 
'  Allegorioe  in  universam  Sacram  Scripturam.     Ibid.  col.  849-1088. 
«  Ibid.  col.  858. 

♦  De  vita  beatos  Marixz  MagdalencB  et  sororis  ejus  sancta  Marthoe,  ibid.  col.  1431 
-1508. 


2  167.  RABANUS  MAURUS.  721 

Magdala,  and  the  latter  again  with  the  woman  that  was  a  sin- 
ner. Hence  after  declaring  that  Mary  was  a  miracle  of  beauty 
he  is  obliged  to  touch  upon  her  unchastity  prior  to  her  meeting 
with  Christ. 

II.  Educational.  (1)  The  Institutes  of  the  clergy}  This 
important  work  was  written  in  819  in  answer  to  numerous  re- 
quests. It  is  in  three  books,  prefaced  by  a  poetical  epigram. 
The  prose  preface  gives  an  outline  of  the  work,  and  states  its 
sources.  The  work  is  very  largely  directly  compiled  from 
Augustin's  De  doctrina  Christiana,  Cassiodorus'  Institidiones, 
and  Gregory's  Cura  pastoralis.  The  first  book  of  Raban's 
Institutes  relates  to  ecclesiastical  orders,  clerical  vestments,  the 
sacraments,'  and  the  office  of  the  mass.  The  second  book  re- 
lates to  the  canonical  hours,  the  litany,  fasting,  alms,  penance, 
the  feasts,  prayers  for  the  dead,  singing  of  psalms  and  hymns, 
reading  of  the  Scriptures,  the  creed  and  gives  a  list  of  the  heresies. 
The  third  book  treats  of  the  education  requisite  to  make  an 
efficient  servant  of  the  church.  It  is  noteworthy  that  he  lays 
primary  stress  upon  a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,^  and  gives 
directions  for  their  study  and  explanation.  He  then  passes  on  to 
discuss  the  components  of  education  as  then  conducted,  /.  e.  the 
seven  liberal  arts,  and  closes  with  directions  how  to  speak  and 
teach  with  the  best  results.  He  properly  remarks  that  the  preacher 
should  have  regard  to  the  age,  sex,  and  failings  of  his  audience. 
He  is  to  come  forth  as  God's  spokesman,  and  if  he  is  truly  a  man 
of  God  he  will  be  upheld  by  divine  power.  This  is  the  proper 
spirit.  Man  is  nothing.  God  is  everything.  "  Let  him  who  glo- 
rieth  glory  in  Him  in  whose  hand  both  we  and  our  sermons  are."  * 

'  De  clericorum  instiiutione,  CVII.  col.  293-420. 

^  He  defends  the  use  of  unleavened  bread  in  the  Eucharist  by  an  appeal  to 
Jewish  Passover  usage,  the  Eucharist  being  the  Christian  passover,  and  the 
use  of  wine  mingled  with  water  for  the  reason  thai  out  of  the  Saviour's  pierced 
side  there  flowed  both  water  and  blood.  The  water  signifies  the  people,  tlie 
wine  the  blood  of  Christ.  Therefore  their  union  in  the  cup  signifies  the  union 
of  the  people  with  Christ,  ibid.  Lib.  I.  Cap.  XXXI.  (col.  319,  320.) 

3  Ibid.  Lib.  III.  Cap.  IL  (col.  379.)  *  Ibid.  Lib.  IIL  Cap.  XXXIX.  col.  420. 
46 


^ 


722  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

(2)  On  Computation}  It  was  written  in  820,  and  is  in  the 
form  of  a  dialogue  between  a  master  and  his  disciple.  Mucli 
of  it  was  copied  verbatim  from  Bede's  De  temporum  ratione, 
Isidore's  Etymologies,  and  Boethius'  Arithmetic.  But  the  re- 
sulting work  marked  an  advance  in  instruction  in  the  important 
matter  of  computing  numbers,  times  and  seasons. 

(3)  The  Universe}  Isidore  of  Seville  had  already  set  the  ex- 
ample of  preparing  an  encyclopedia  of  universal  knowledge,  and 
Raban  in  his  Universe  merely  reproduces  Isidore's  Etymologies, 
with  some  difference  in  the  arrangement  of  the  material,  and 
with  the  addition  of  allegorical  and  spiritual  matter,  interpreta- 
tions of  the  names  and  words,  together  with  many  quotations  of 
Scripture.  The  work  was  one  of  the  early  fruits  of  his  learned 
leisure,  being  written  about  844.  It  is  in  twenty-two  books, 
the  number  in  the  Hieronymian  canon  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  is  dedicated  to  Haymo  of  Halberstadt,  and  to  King  Louis. 
It  begins  with  the  doctrine  of  God,  and  the  first  five  books 
relate  to  religion  and  worship.  The  remaining  books  relate  to 
secular  things,  ranging  from  man  himself,  considered  as  an  ani- 
mal, through  the  beasts  to  the  starry  heavens,  time  and  the 
divisions  of  time,  the  waters  on  and  under  the  earth,  the  clouds 
above  it,  and  the  earth  itself.  He  then  speaks  of  mountains 
and  valleys  and  divers  places;  of  public  buildings  and  their 
parts;  of  philosophy  and  linguistics,  stones  and  metals,  weights 
and  measures,  diseases  and  remedies,  trees  and  plants,  wars  and 
triumphs,  shows  and  games,  pictures  and  colors,  dress  and  orna- 
ments, food  and  drink,  vehicles  and  harness. 

(4)  Excerpt  from  Priscian's  Grammar,^  an  abridged  edition 
of  a  standard  grammar.  It  is  almost  entirely  confined  to  pro- 
sody, but  it  served  to  introduce  Priscian  into  schools.* 

(5)  The  holy  orders,  divine  sacraments  and  priestly  garments} 

1  Liber  de  computo,  CVII.  col.  6G9-728.        ^  j)^  unlversoj  CXI.  ool.  9-01 4. 
3  Exccrptio  de  arte  f/mmmatica  Prisciani,  ibid.  col.  G 13-678.     *  Biihr,  I.  c.  419. 
*  Liber  de  sacris  ordinibui,  sacranientis   divinis,  el  veslimentis  sacerdokdibus, 
Migne,  CXII.  col.  llGo-llU2. 


^^ 


2  167.  RABANUS  MAURUS.  723 

(6)  Ecclesiastical  discipline}  The  last  two  treatises,  made 
during  the  author's  archiepiscopate,  are  merely  extracts  from 
the  Institutes,  with  slight  alterations. 

(7)  The  parts  of  the  human  body,  in  Latin  and  German.^ 
This  glossary  was  drawn  up  by  Waluhfrid  Strabo  from  Raban's 
lectures.  At  the  end  are  the  months  and  the  Avinds  in  Latin 
and  German.^ 

(8)  The  invention  of  languages*  [letters],  a  curious  collection 
of  alphabets — Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin,  Scythian  and  Runic,  with 
the  names  of  the  supposed  inventors.  The  little  tract  also  in- 
cludes the  commonest  abbrevnatious  and  monograms. 

III.  Occasional  writings,  i.  e.,  upon  current  questions  and 
in  ansAver  to  questions.  (1)  The  oblation  of  boys,^  the  famous 
treatise  in  which  Raban  argued  against  the  position  the  Mainz 
Council  of  829  had  taken  in  allowing  Gottschalk  to  leave  his 
order.  Gottschalk  produced  two  arguments,  the  first  that  it 
was  not  right  to  compel  a  person  to  remain  a  monk  just  be- 
cause his  parents  had  in  his  infancy  or  immature  youth  put 
him  in  a  monastery.  The  second  was  that  the  oblation  of  a 
minor  must  be  established  by  a  properly  qualified  witness,  and 
that  in  his  case  only  Saxons  could  give  such  testimony,  since, 
according  to  Saxon  law,  it  was  illegal  to  deprive  a  Saxon  of  his 
liberty  on  the  testimony  of  a  non-Saxon.  Raban  tries  to  refute 
him  upon  both  points.  He  shows  that  both  the  Scriptures  and 
the  Fathers  by  precept  and  example  allow  of  the  consecration 
of  children,  and  in  relation  to  the  second  point  he  rejoins: 
"  As  if  the  service  of  Christ  deprived  a  man  of  his  liberty 

1  De  ecelesinstica  disciplina  libri  trea,  CXII.  col.  1191-1262. 

2  Glossce  latino-barbariece  de  partibus  humani  corporis,  ibid.  col.  1575-1578. 

3  There  are  also  extant  a  few  word,s  from  his  Latin-Gorman  g'op.=ary  to  the 
Bible,  ibid.  col.  1583.  Cf.  Steinmeyer  n.  Sievers,  Die  althochdeuUchen  Glosscn 
gesammelt  u.  bearbeitet,  Berlin,  1879  (I.  3  ."qcj) ;  quoted  by  Ebert,  I.  c  127. 

*  De  inoentione  Ungunrum,  Migne,  CXII.  col.  1579-1584. 

*  Liber  de  oblalione  puerorum,  CVII.  co!.  419-440. 


^ 


724  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  509-1049, 

and  nobility!"'  But  the  real  objection  to  Gottsclialk's  second 
argument  was  the  latter's  assertion  that  Frankish  testimony- 
could  not  be  received.  This  roused  Raban's  patriotism  and 
incited  his  eloquence.  "  Who  does  not  know,"  he  says,  "  that 
the  Franks  were  Christiajis  long  before  the  Saxons  ?  Yet  the 
latter,  contrary  to  all  human  and  divine  law,  arrogate  to  them- 
selves the  right  to  reject  Frankish  testimony."  ^  Having  thus 
answered  Gottschalk,  he  proves  by  the  Bible  his  third  argu- 
ment, that  a  vow  to  God  must  not  be  broken.  His  final  point 
is  that  monasticism  is  a  divine  institution.  In  this  treatise  he 
does  not  name  Gottschalk,  but  the  reference  is  unmistakeable. 
His  whole  conduct  towards  the  unfortunate  Gottschalk  was 
intolerant. 

(2)  The  reverence  of  children  to  their  parents,  and  of  subjects 
to  tJieir  Ung}  This  was  addressed  to  Louis  the  Pious  after 
his  deposition  and  imprisonment  in  the  year  833.  By  Biblical 
quotations  he  shows  that  God  has  commanded  children  to  honor 
their  parents  and  subjects  their  kings,  and  has  put  his  curse 
upon  those  who  do  not.  Then  coming  directly  to  the  point  he 
makes  the  application  to  the  existing  circumstances,  and  calls 
the  sons  of  Louis  to  obedience.  He  defends  Louis  against  the 
charge  of  homicide  in  executing  Bernard  ;  and  finally  address- 
ing the  emperor  he  comforts  him  in  his  sorrow  and  counsels 
liim  to  exercise  clemency  when  he  is  restored  to  power.  The 
whole  treatise  docs  great  credit  to  Raban's  head  and  heart. 

(3)  On  the  degrees  of  relationship  within  which  marnage  is 
permissible.* 

(4)  Magic  arts.*     Raban  was  singularly  free  from  the  super- 

»  Qumi  UK  libertatem  ac  nobilitatem  generis  sui  perdant  qui  servitium  aristi 
profilenlur.     CVII.  col.  431. 

2  Ibid.  col.  432. 

3  De  reverentia  filiorum  erga  patres  et  subditorum  erga  reqes.  Cf.  Ebert  /.  c. 
139,  140. 

«  Dr  ronsavguineorum  nuptiis  et  de  magorum  prcestigiis  fahismie  divinationibus 
traclatus,  CX.  col.  1087-1110. 


§  167.  RABANUS  MAURUS.  725 

stitions  of  his  time,  for  in  the  second  part  of  this  tract,  written 
in  842,  he  takes  strong  ground  against  necromancy  in  all  its 
forms,  of  which  he  gives  an  interesting  catalogue,  and  while 
explaining  the  appearance  of  ghosts,  evil  spirits  and  similar 
supposed  existences  on  the  ground  of  demoniac  influence,  he  yet 
admits  the  possibility  that  the  senses  may  be  deceived.  Curi- 
ously enough,  he  cites  in  point  the  appearance  of  Samuel  to 
Saul.  He  denies  the  reality  of  Samuel's  appearance  and  holds 
that  Saul  was  deceived  by  the  ^devil ;  for  two  reasons,  (1)  the 
real  Samuel,  the  man  of  God,  would  not  have  permitted  the 
worship  which  Saul  paid  to  the  supposed  Samuel ;  (2)  the  real 
Samuel  was  in  Abraham's  bosom ;  he  would,  therefore,  not  say 
to  the  impious  king,  "  To-morrow  thou  shalt  be  with  me."' 

(4)  A  Resjionse  to  certain  Canonical  Questions  of  the  Suffragan 
Bishop  Reginald? 

(5)  Whether  it  is  permissible  for  a  suffragan  bishop  to  ordain 
priests  and  deacons  with  the  consent  of  his  bishop?  He  replies 
in  the  affirmative. 

IV.  Writings  upon  Penance.  (1)  Two  Penitentials.*  They 
give  the  decisions  of  councils  respecting  penance.  (2)  Canonical 
questions  relating  to  penance.^  (3)  The  virtues  and  vices  and 
the  satisfaction  for  sin? 

V.  Miscellaneous.  (1)  Homilies?  There  are  two  collec- 
tions, the  first  seventy  in  number  upon  the  principal  feasts  and 
on  the  virtues;  the  second,  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  upon  the 
Gospels  and  Epistles.    The  first  collection  must  have  been  made 

1  ex.  col.  1100. 

"  Ee.iponsa  canonica  super  quibusdam  interrogationibus  Reginbaldi  choj-episcopi, 
ibid.  co].  1187-1196. 

3  Si  liceai  chorepiscopis  presbijteros  et  diaconos  ordinare  cum  consensu  episropi  sui, 
iiic/.  col.  1195-1206. 

*  Fceniteniiale,  ibid,  col-  407-494.     Pcenitentium  liber,  CXII.  col.  1397-1424. 

^  De  qucestionibus  canonum  poeniteniialium  libri  tres,  ibid.  col.  1333-1336. 
(Tbe  preface  only.) 

®  De  vitiis  et  virtutihus  et  peecatorum  satisfaetione,  ibid.  col.  133-5-1398.  (Only 
the  third  book.)  '  Homilioe,  CX.  col.  9-468. 


^ 


726  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

earlier  than  826,  for  it  is  dedicated  to  bishop  Haistulf,  who  died 
in  that  year.  The  most  of  these  homilies  were  doubtless  actu- 
ally delivered  by  Raban.  The  sermons  of  Leo  the  Great, 
Augustin,  Alcuin  and  others  have  been  liberally  drawn  on,  and 
so  the  homilies  arc  compilations  in  great  measure,  like  the  rest 
of  his  works.  Yet  a  few  are  apparently  original  and  have  the 
greatest  interest,  inasmuch  as  they  treat  of  the  vices  then  cur- 
rent and  so  furnish  a  picture  of  the  times.' 

(2)  Treatise  on  the  SouU  It  is  an  extract  with  slight  addi- 
tions from  Cassiodorus'  De  Anima,  as  he  acknowledges  in  his 
preface  to  king  Lothair.  To  it  are  appended  extracts  from  the 
De  discipUna  Romance  militice  of  Flavius  Vegetius  Reuatus. 
The  reason  given  for  this  strange  appendix  is  "the  frequent 
incursions  of  the  Barbarians."  The  treatise  was  perhaps  the 
last  product  of  Rabanus.^ 

(3)  A  martyrology}  The  saints  for  the  different  days  are 
noted,  in  most  cases  merely  the  name  is  given,  in  others  there 
are  short  sketches.  Its  principal  source  is  Jerome.  It  was 
prepared  at  the  request  of  Ratleik,  who  stole  the  relics  of  SS. 
^Marcellinus  and  Pctrus  for  Einhard ;  and  is  prefaced  by  a 
short  poem  addressed  to  the  abbot  Grimold. 

(4)  The  vidon  of  God,  purity  of  heart  and  mode  of  penance.^ 
Three  books  dedicated  to  the  abbot  Bonosus  (Hatto).  The 
first  is  mostly  extracted  from  Augustin's  De  vivendo  Deo;  the 
second  and  the  third  from  other  old  sources. 

1  Ebert,  I.  c.  p.  141,  mentions  particularly  Lib.  I.,  Horn.  XLII.,  XLIII.  and 
LXIJI.  The  first  is  directed  ag^iinst  the  ridiculous  custom  of  making  a  great 
noi-je,  shooting  arrows  and  throwing  fire  in  the  air  when  the  moon  is  waning  in 
order  to  prevent  its  being  swallowed  up  by  a  monster.  The  second  is  directed 
again<t  soothsaying  in  its  various  forms,  and  the  third  against  gluttony,  drunk-  • 
enne-s  and  scurrility. 

»  Traclatus  de  anima,  Migne,  CX.  col.  1109-1120.    The  Vegitian  extracts  are 
not  given  in  Migue,  but  by  Dummler,  cf  Ebert  I.  c.  p.  136. 

^  So  P^bert  conjectures,  I.e.  p.  136. 

*  Marfyrolor/ium,  Migne,  CX.  col.  1121-1188. 

*  I)e  vivendo  Deum,  depuritate  cordis  et  modo poenitertiice,  CXII.  col.  1261-1332. 


§  167.  RABANUS  MAUEUS. 

(5)  The  Passion  of  our  Lord,^  a  brief  and  pious  meditation 
upon  our  Lord's  sufferings. 

yi.  Letters.  (1)  A  letter  to  Bishop  Humbert  upon  law- 
ful degrees  of  relationship  between  married  persons.'  (2)  Seven 
miscellaneous  letters.^  Epist.  i.  to  suffragan  bishop  Regimbald 
on  discipline.  Epist.  iii.  to  Eigil  against  Radbertus's  view  of 
the  Lord's  Supper.  Epist.  iv.  v.  vi.  to  Hincmar,  Notingus 
and  Count  Eberhard  upon  predestination.  Epist.  vii.  to  Louis 
the  German  ;  the  acts  of  the  Mainz  council  of  848.  Epist.  viii. 
on  Gottschalk,  a  synodical  letter  to  Hincmar. 

VII.  Poems.  Raban  was  no  poetic  genius;  yet  he  had 
carefully  studied  prosody  and  he  was  able  to  write  verses  to 
his  friends  and  for  different  occasions.*  He  also  wrote  some 
epitaphs,  including  his  own.  His  most  extraordinary  produc- 
tion is  a  long  poem,  "The  praise  of  the  Cross."  This  was  begun 
at  the  suggestion  of  Alcuin  in  Tours,  but  not  completed  until 
815.  It  is  a  monument  of  misdirected  skill  and  patience.  He 
presents  twenty-eight  drawings  by  his  friend  Hatto.  Some 
are  geometrical,  others  are  of  persons  or  objects.  The  page  on 
which  is  the  drawing  is  filled  in  by  a  stanza  of  the  poem,  the 
letters  of  which  are  regularly  spaced  and  some  are  purposely 
arranged  in  prominent  and  peculiar  positions  so  that  they  catch 
the  eye  and  form  other  words.  Each  stanza  is  followed  by  an 
explanatory  section  in  prose,  and  the  second  book  is  a  prose 
treatise  upon  the  subject.  The  whole  is  prefaced  by  three 
poems ;  the  first  pleads  for  the  intercession  of  Alcuin,  the  sec- 
ond is  the  dedication  to  the  Pope,  and  the  third,  "  The  figure 
of  Caesar,"  is  the  dedication  to  Louis  the  Pious.  Alcuin  had 
written  a  poem,  "On  the  Holy  Cross,"  upon  a  somewhat  simi- 
lar plan.  So  that  the  suggestion  may  have  come  from  him, 
but    the   idea  may  be  traced  to  Fortunatus.      This  poem  of 

1  De  passione  Domini;  CXIT.  col.  1425-1430. 

2  Quota  generatione  lieita.v't  connubium  epistola.  CX.  col.  1083-1088. 

3  Epistoloe,  CXII.  col.  1507-1576.  *  Carmina,  ibid.  col.  1583-1682. 


J 


7^8  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Rabau   Maur  was  very  popular  in  the  Middle  Age   and  was 
considered  a  marvel  of  ingenuity. 

The  hymns  of  E,aban  are  few  in  number,  for  although  many 
have  been  attributed  to  him  his  right  to  most  of  them  is  very 
doubtful. 

§  168.    Haymo. 

I.  Haymo,  Halberstatensis  episcopus :    Opera,  in  Migne,  Tom.  CXVI.- 

CXVIII. 

II.  Paul  Anton  ;  De  vita  et  doctrina  Haymonis,   Halle,  1700,  2d  ed. 

1705 ;  C.  G.  Derling  :  Comm.  hist,  de  Haymone,  Helmstadt,  1747. 
Ceillier  XII.  434^439.  Hist.  lit.  de  la  France,  V.  111-126.  Bahr, 
408-413. 

Haymo  [Haimo,  Aymo,  Aimo)  was  a  Saxon,  and  was  probably 
born  about  778.  He  took  monastic  vows  at  Fulda,  was  sent  by 
his  abbot  (Ratgar)  with  his  intimate  friend  Rabanus  Maurus 
in  803  to  Tours  to  study  under  Alcuin  ;  on  his  return  he  taught 
at  Fulda  until  in  839  he  was  chosen  abbot  of  Hirschfeld.  In 
841  he  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Halberstadt.  In  848  he  sat 
in  the  Council  of  Mayence  which  condemned  Gottschalk.  He 
founded  at  considerable  expense  the  cathedral  library  of  Hal- 
berstadt, which  unfortunately  was  burnt  in  1179.  He  died 
March  27,  853.  He  was  an  excellent  scholar.  As  an  exegete 
he  was  simple  and  clear,  but  rather  too  verbal. 

Ills  WRITINGS  are  voluminous,  and  were  first  published  by 
the  Roman  Catholics  in  the  Reformation  period  (1519-36). 
They  teach  a  freer  and  less  prejudiced  Catholic  theology  than 
the  Ti-identiue.  Thus  he  denies  that  Peter  founded  the  Roman 
church,  that  the  pope  has  universal  supremacy,  and  rejects  the 
Paschasian  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  His  works  consist 
l)rincipally  of  (1)  Commentaries}  He  wrote  or  compiled  upon 
the  Psalms,  certain  songs  in  the  Old  Testament,  Isaiah,  the 
Minor  Prophets,  Canticles,  Pauline  Epistles  and  the  Apocalypse. 

Besides  these  commentaries,  (2)  Homilies,^  upon  the  festivals 

iMisne,  CXVI.  col.  193-CXVII.  col.  1220. 
»  UomilicE,  Migne,  CXVIII.  col.  11-816. 


f^ 


?  169.  WALAHFRID  STRABO.  729 

of  the  church  year  and  (3)  Miscellanies,  "The  Body  and  Blood 
of  the  Lord/'^  which  is  an  extract  from  his  commentary  on 
1st  Cor.,  "  Epitome  of  sacred  history," '  substantially  though 
not  entirely  an  extract  from  Rufinus'  Latin  translation  of 
Eusebius'  "  Ecclesiastical  history,"  and  an  ascetic  piece  in  three 
books,  "  The  love  for  the  heavenly  country."  ^ 
§  169.    Walahfrid  Strabo. 

I.  Walafridus  Strabus,  Fuldensis  monachus:   Opera,  in  Migne,  Tom. 

CXIII.-CXIV.  His  Carmina  have  been  edited  in  a  very  thorough 
manner  by  Ernst  DIjmmler  :  Poetce  Latini  ccvi  Carolini.  Tom. 
II.  (Berlin,  1884),  pp.  259-473. 

II.  For  his  life  see  the  Preface  of  DtJMMLER  and  Ebert.II.  145-166.   Cf. 

also  for  his  works  besides  Ebert,  Ceillier,  XII.  410-417  ;  Hist.  lit. 

de  la  France,  V.  59-76  ;  Bahr,  pp.  100-105,  398-401. 
Walahfrid,  poet  and  commentator,  theologian  and  teacher, 
was  born  of  obscure  parentage  in  Alemaunia  about  809,  and 
educated  in  the  Benedictine  abbey  school  of  Reichenau  on  the 
island  in  Lake  Constance.  His  cognomen  Strabus  or,  generally, 
Strabo  was  given  to  him  because  he  squinted,  but  was  by  him- 
self assumed  as  his  name.*  From  826  to  829  he  studied  at 
Fulda  under  Rabanus  Maurus.  There  he  formed  a  friendship 
with  Gottschalk,  and  there  he  appears  to  have  lived  all  alone 
in  a  cell,  the  better  perhaps  to  study.*  On  leaving  Fulda  he 
went  to  Aix  la  Chapelle,  and  was  befriended  by  Hilduin,  the 
lord  chancellor,  who  introduced  him  to  the  emperor  Lonis 
the  Pious.  The  latter  was  much  pleased  with  him  and  appre- 
ciating his  scholarship  made  him  tutor  to  his  son  Charles.  The 
empress  Judith  was  also  particularly  friendly  to  him.  In  838 
Louis  the  Pious  appointed  him  abbot  of  Reichenau,  but  two 
years  later  Louis  the  German  drove  him  from  his  post  and  he 

1  De  corpore  et  sanguine  Domini,  CXVTTT.  col.  815-818. 

2  EiMorios  saeroe  Fpiiome,  ibid.  col.  817-874. 

3  De  varietate  Ubrorum,  sive  de  amore  ccelexHs  patricr,  ibid.  col.  875-958.    ^  ^ 

*  E.  g.  in  preface    to   his   epitome   of  Eaban's  commentary  on  Leviticus, 
IV^igne,  CXIV.  col.  795. 
5  Ebert,  p.  147. 


I 


730  FOURTH  PEEIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

went  to  Spires,  wlierc  he  lived  until  842,  %vhen  the  same  Louis 
restored  him  to  his  abbotship,  probably  at  the  solicitation  of 
Griraald,  his  chancellor.^  In  849  he  went  over  to  France  on  a 
diplomatic  mission  from  Louis  the  German  to  Charles  the 
Bald,  but  died  on  August  18th  of  that  year  while  crossing  the 
Loire,  and  was  buried  at  Reichenau.^ 

Walahfrid  was  a  very  amiable,  genial  and  witty  man,  pos- 
sessed remarkable  attainments  in  both  ecclesiastical  and  classical 
literature,  and  was  moreover  a  poet  Avith  a  dash  of  genius,  and 
in  this  latter  respect  ig  a  contrast  to  the  merely  mechanical 
versifiers  of  the  period.  He  began  writing  poetry  while  a  mere 
boy,  and  in  the  course  of  his  comparatively  brief  life  produced 
many  poeilis,  several  of  them  of  considerable  length. 

His  Writings  embrace 

I.  Expository  Works.  1.  Glosses,^  i.  e.,  brief  notes  upon  the 
entire  Latin  Bible,  including  the  Apocrypha  ;  a  very  meritorious 
compilation,  made  esijecially  from  Augustin,  Gregory  the  Great, 
Isidore  of  Seville,  and  Bcdc,  with  very  many  original  remarks. 
This  work  was  for  five  hundred  years  honored  by  the  widest 
use  in  the  West.  Peter  Lombard  quotes  it  as  "  the  authority  " 
without  farther  designation  ;  and  by  many  its  notes  have  been 
given  equal  weight  with  the  Bible  text  they  accompany.  It 
was  one  of  the  earliest  printed  works,  notwithstanding  its  ex- 
tent.* 2.  Exposiiion  of  the  first  twenty  Psalms,^  rather  alle- 
gorical than  really  explanatory.  3.  Epitome  of  Rabanus  Mau- 
rus'  Commentary  on  Leviticus.^  This  work  is  an  indication  of 
Walahfrid's  reverence  for  his  great  teacher.  4.  Exposition  of 
the  Four  EvangelisUJ  It  was  formerly  printed  among  the 
works  of  Jerome.     The  notes  are  brief  and  designed  to  bring 

'  Diimmler,  /.  c.  261.  "  XV.  Kal.  Sept.  Diimmler,  I.  c.  261. 

«  Ohasa  ordinaria,  Migne,  CXTH.-CXIV.  col.  752. 

*  Biihr  (pp.  398  sq.)  gives  the  dates  of  nine  editions  between  1472  and  1634. 
^  Ezpnaitio  in  XX.  primns  Pmlmos,  Migne,  CXTV.  col.  752-794. 

"  Epitome  cmnmentariorum  Rahani  m  Leriticvm,  ibid.  col.  795-850. 

*  Expositio  in  quaiuor  Evangelia,  ibid.  col.  849-916. 


/ 


§  169.  WALAHFRID  STRABC  731 

out  the  "  inner  sense."  5.  The  beginnings  and  groidh  of  the 
divine  offices}  This  valuable  and  original  work  upon  the 
archeology  of  the  liturgy  was  written  about  840  at  the  request 
of  Keginbert,  the  learned  librarian  of  the  abbey  of  Rcichenau, 
who  desired  more  accurate  information  upon  the  origin  of  the 
different  parts  of  the  liturgy.  The  supplementary  character  of 
the  work  explains  its  lack  of  system.  Walahfrid  treats  in  dis- 
connected chapters  of  temples  and  altars ;  bells  ;  the  derivation 
of  several  w^ords  for  holy  places ;  the  use  of  "  pictures,"  as  orna- 
ments and  aids  to  devotion,  but  not  as  objects  of  worship  ;  the 
things  fitting  divine  worship  ;  "  the  sacrifices  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment" (in  this  chap.,  No.  XVI.,  he  dissents  from  the  tran- 
substantiation  theory  of  Radbertus,  saying,  Christ  "  after  the 
Paschal  supper  gave  to  his  disciples  the  sacrament  of  his  body 
and  blood  in  the  substance  of  the  bread  and  wine  and  taught 
them  to  celebrate  [the  sacrament]  in  memory  of  his  passion"*) ; 
then  follow  a  number  of  chapters  upon  the  Eucharist ;  sacred 
vestments ;  canonical  hours  and  hymns ;  baptisms  ;  titles,  &c. 
The  work  closes  with  a  comparison  of  ecclesiastical  and  secular 
dignities. 

II.  A  Homily  on  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem.^  Walahfrid  gives 
Josephus'  account  of  the  fall  of  the  city  and  then  proceeds  to 
the  spiritual    application    of  our   Lord's   prophetic   discourse 

(Matt.  xxiv.). 

III.  Biographies.  1.  Life  of  the  Abbot  St,  Gall*  the  apostle 
of  Switzerland  (d.  645  or  646).  It  is  not  original,  but  a  re- 
writing of  the  life  by  AVettin,  Walahfrid's  honored  teacher  r^t 
Reichrnau.  Walahfrid  reproduced  the  same  in  vcrse.^  2.  Lije 
of  St.  Othmar,  abbot  of  St.  Gall,«  similarly  reproduced.     3.  The 

1  De  ecdesimticarum  rerum  exordiis  el  increments,  CXIV.  col.  919-966. 

'  Derebuseccl.Xyi.     Ibid.  col.  936. 

»  De  subversione  Jerusalem,  ibid.  col.  965-974. 

♦  Vita  S.  GaUi,  ibid.  col.  975-1030. 

5  Dummler,  I.  c,  Vita  GalU,  pp.  428-473. 

«  Vita  S.  Othmari,  Migne,  CXIV.  col.  1031-1042. 


I 


732  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

prologue   to   his   edition  of  Einhard's   Life  of  Cliarlemagne, 
wliicli  gives  valuable  informatiou  about  Einhard.^ 

IV.  Poetry,  1.  The  Vision  of  Wettin?  This  is  the  oldest 
of  his  poems,  dating  according  to  his  own  assertion  from  his 
eighteenth  year^  {i.  c,  c.  826).  It  is  not  original,  but  a  versi- 
fication, with  additions,  of  the  prose  work  of  Heito.  The 
ultimate  source  is  Wettin  himself,  who  relates  what  he  saw 
(October  824)  on  his  journey,  under  angelic  guidance,  to  Hell, 
Purgatory,  and  Paradise.  The  fact  that  Wettin  was  very 
sick  at  the  time  explains  the  occasion  of  the  vision  and 
his  reading  its  contents,  but  the  poem  is  interesting  not  only 
in  itself,  but  as  a  precursor  of  Dante's  Divine  Comedy.*  2. 
The  Life  and  Death  of  St.  3Iammes,^  an  ascetic  from  childhood, 
who  preached  to  the  wild  sheep  gathered  by  a  strange  im- 
pulse in  a  little  chapel.  This  extraordinary  performance  at- 
tracted adverse  notice  from  the  authorities.  Mamraes  was  ac- 
cused of  witchcraft  and,  on  refusing  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods, 
also  of  atheism.  His  enemies  vainly  attempted  to  kill  him  by 
fire,  by  wild  beasts,  and  by  stoning.  Finally  he  was  peace- 
fully called  from  life  by  the  voice  of  God.  3.  The  Life  and 
Death  of  St.  Blaithmaic,  abbot  of  Hy  and  martyr.^  It  relates 
how  an  Irish  crown  prince  embraced  an  ascetic  life  in  child- 
hood and  attained  a  martyr's  crown  on  the  island  of  Hy.  4. 
Garden-culture,^  a  curious  poem  upon  the  plants  in  the  convent 
garden.  5.  On  the  Image  of  Tctrieus^  (Dietrich),  an  ingenious 
poem  in  laudation  of  Louis  the  Pious  and  his  family.^     6.  Mis- 

*  Jaffe,  Monumenta  Carolina,  pp.  507-8. 

»  De  visione  Weltini,  Migne,  CXIV.  col.  1063-1082.     Heito's  work  is  in  Tom. 
CV.  col.  771-780.     Both  are  given  by  Dummler,  I.  e.  pp.  267-275  ;  301-333. 
'  Migne,  CXIV.  col.  1064,  "(jid  pene  octavum  decimum  jam  annum  transegV 

*  Ebert,  I.  c.  149.     Cf.  Bernold's  Vision  in  section  on  Hincmar. 

5  Vtta  S.  Mammce,  Migne,  CXIV.  col.  1047-1062.   Diiraraler,  I.  c.  pp.  275-296. 

«  Vd,i  S.  JUailmaici,  Diimmler,  I.  c.  pp.  297-301.     Migne,  col.  1043-1046. 

'  Ilorttduti,  Diimmler,  pp.  335-3-50.     Migne,  col.  1121-1130. 

«  De  imagine  Telrici,  Diimmler,  pp.  370-378.     Migne,  col.  1089-1092. 

»  See  Ebert,  pp.  154-158. 


kVi 


/ 


2  170.  FLOKUS  M AGISTER  OF  LYONS.  733 

cellaneous  Poems/  including  epistles,  epigrams,  inscriptions  and 
hymns. 

§  170.  Florus  Magister,  of  Lyons. 

I.  Florus,  diaconus  Lugdunensis  :   Opera  omnia,  in  Migne,  Tom.  CXIX. 

col.  9-424.     His  poems  are  given  by  Dummler  :  Poet.  Lat.  av.  Caro- 
lini,  II.  (Berlin,  1884),  pp.  507-566. 

II.  Bach  :  Dogmengeschichte  des  Mittelalters,  Wien,  1873-1875,  2  Abth. 

I.  240.     Hist.  lit.  de  la  France,  V.  213-240.     Ceillier,  XII.  478- 
493.     Bahr,  108,  109  ;  447-453.     Ebert,  II.  268-272. 

Florus  was  probably  born  in  the  closing  year  of  the  eighth 
century  and  lived  in  Lyons  during  the  reigns  of  Louis  the 
Pious,  Charles  the  Bald  and  Louis  IT.  He  was  head  of  the 
cathedral  school,  on  which  account  he  is  commonly  called 
Florus  Magister.  He  was  also  a  deacon  or  sub-deacon.  He 
enjoyed  a  wide  reputation  for  learning,  virtue  and  ability.  He 
stood  in  confidential  relations  with  his  bishop,  Agobard,  and 
with  some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  his  time.  His 
library  was  a  subject  of  remark  and  wonder  for  its  large  size.^ 

Like  every  other  scholar  under  Charles  the  Bald,  he  made 
his  contribution  to  the  Eucharistic  and  Predestination  contro- 
versies. In  the  former  he  took  the  side  of  Rabanus  Maurus 
and  Ratramnus  against  the  trausubstantiation  theory  of  Pas- 
chasius  Radbertus ;  in  the  latter  he  opposed  Johannes  Scotus 
Erigena,  without,  however,  going  entirely  over  to  the  side  of 
Gottschalk.  He  sat  in  the  council  of  Quiercy  (849),  the  first  one 
called  by  Hincmar  in  the  case  of  Gottschalk.    He  died  about  860. 

His  complete  works  are  : 

1.  A  patristic  cento  on  the  election  of  Bishops,^  written  in  834, 
to  show  that  in  primitive  Christian  times  the  bishops  were  always 
chosen  by  the  free  vote  of  the  congregation  and  the  clergy.  There- 
fore the  interference  of  the  king  in  such  elections,  which  was 

1  Diiramler,  pp.  350-428.     Mifrne,  CXIV,_col.  1083-1120. 

2  Cf.  Wandalbert,  in  Migne,  CXXI.  col.  -577. 

3  Liber  de    electionibus    episcoporum,   collectus    ex  sententiis  patrum,  Migne 

CXIX.  col.  11-14. 


3 


734  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

one  of  the  growing  evils  of  the  time,  was  unwarranted  by  tradi- 
tion and  only  defensible  on  the  plea  of  necessity  to  preserve  the 
union  between  Church  and  State. 

2.  An  Exposition  of  the  Mass^  compiled,  according  to  his 
own  express  statement,  for  the  most  part,  from  Cyprian,  Am- 
brose, Augustin,  and  other  Fathers. 

3.  A  'Treatise  against  Amalarius,^  in  which  he  supports  Ago- 
bard  against  Amalarius,  who  had  explained  the  liturgy  in  a 
mystical  and  allegorical  manner.^ 

4.  A  Martyrology,^  a  continuation  of  Bede's. 

5.  Sermon  on  Predestination.^ 

6.  A  treatise  against  Scotus  En'gena's  errors,^  written  in  852, 
in  the  name  of  the  church  of  Lyons.  He  calls  attention  to 
Erigena's  rationalistic  treatment  of  the  Scriptures  and  the 
Fathers  ;  rejects  the  definition  of  evil  as  negation  ;  insists  that 
faith  in  Christ  and  an  inner  revelation  are  necessary  to  a  right 
understanding  of  the  Scriptures.  It  is  noticeable  that  while  he 
censures  Erigena  for  his  abuse  of  secular  science,  he  claims  that 
it  has  its  proper  use.^ 

7.  St.  Avgusiin's  Exposition  of  the  Pauline  Epistles^  long 
attributed  to  Bede. 

8.  Capitulary  collected  from  the  Laio  and  the  Canons.^ 

9.  3Hscellaneous  Poems^^  which  prove  him  to  have  had  a 
spark  of  true  poetic  genius." 

10.  There  is  also  extant  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  the  empress 
Judith.'- 

'  Optisculum  de  expnsilioe  missoe,  Migne,  CXIX,  col.  15-72. 
'  Opuneulum  adversus  Amcdai-ium,  ibid.  col.  71-96. 
'  See  Amalarius  in  Mijino,  CV.  col.  815  ?qq. 
*  Martyrolo'iivm,  Migne,  ^CIV.  col.  797  sqq. 
»  Sermo  de  pradestina'ionc,  Migne,  CXIX.  col.  95-102. 
8  Adversus  J.  S.  Erigenoe  crrnneas  definitioncs  liber,  ibid.  col.  101-250. 
'  See  his  preface  (col.  101-103). 

^  Eipositio  in  epistolas  Beati  Paidi  ex  operibus  Sancti  Angustini  collccta.  ibid.  col. 
279-420.  9  CiipituJa  ex  lege  et  eanone  coUecta,  ibid.  col.  419-422. 

10  O'irmina  varia,  ibid.  col.  249-278.      "  Ebert  discusses  tliem,  II.  2G9-272. 
"  Flori  epistola  ad  imperatricem  Judith,  Migne,  CXIX-  col.  423,  424. 


^^) ,// 


2  171.  SERVATUS  LUPUS.  735 

§  171.    Servatus  Lupus. 

I.  Beatus  Servatus  Lupus  :  Opera,  in  Migne,  Tom.  CXIX.  col.  423- 
6li4  (a  reprint  of  the  edition  of  Baluze.  Paris,  16G4,  2d  ed.  1710). 
Tiie  Homilies  and  hymns  given  by  Migne  (col.  693-700)  are  sjjurious. 

IL  Notitia  historica  et  bibliographica  in  Servatum  Lupum  by  Baluze  in 
Migne,  I.  c.  col.  423-6.  Nicolas  :  Etude  sur  les  lettres  de  Servat 
Lovp,  Clermont- Ferrant,  186];  Franz  Sprotte  :  Biograplde  des 
Abies  Servatus  Lvpus  von  Ferrilres,  Regensburg,  1880.  Du  Pix,  VII. 
169-73.  Ceillier,  XII.  500-514.  Hist.  lit.  dela  France,  V.  255-272. 
Bahr,  456-461.  Ebert,  IL  203-209.  J.  Bass  Mullinger  :  The 
Schools  of  Charles  the  Great.  Lopdon,  18*77,  pp.  158-170.  For  Lu- 
pus' part  in  the  different  councils  he  attended,  see  Hefele  :  Con- 
ciliengeschichte,  IV.  passim. 

Lupus,  surnamed  Servatus}  was  descended  from  a  promi- 
nent family.  He  was  born  in  Sens  (70  miles  S.  E.  of  Paris)  in 
the  year  805  and  educated  in  the  neighboring  Benedictine  mon- 
astery of  SS.  Mary  and  Peter  anciently  called  Bethlehem,  at 
Ferrieres,  then  under  abbot  Aldrich,  who  in  829  became  arch- 
bishop of  Sens,  and  died  early  in  836.  He  took  monastic  vows, 
was  ordained  a  deacon  and  then  taught  in  the  convent-school 
until  in  830  on  advice  of  Aldrich  he  went  to  Fulda.  Einhard, 
whose  life  of  Charlemagne  had  already  deeply  impres.scd  him,' 
was  then  abbot  of  Seligenstadt,  only  a  few  miles  away,  but  his 
son  Wussin  was  being  educated  at  Fulda,  and  it  was  on  a  visit 
that  he  made  to  see  his  son  that  Lupus  first  met  him.  With 
him  and  Avith  the  abbot  of  Fulda,  the  famous  Rabamis  Maurus, 
he  entered  into  friendship.  It  was  he  who  incited  Rabanus  to 
make  his  great  compilation  upon  the  Epistles  of  Paul ;  ^  and  to 
him  Einhard  dedicated  his  now  lost  treatise  De  adoranda  crucc* 
He  pursued  his  studies  at  Fulda  and  also  gave  instruction  until 
the  spring  of  836,  when  he  returned  to  Ferrieres.'     He  then 

'  Perhaps  in  memory  of  his  recovery  from  some  severe  illness,  as  thnt  which 
in  the  winter  of  838-9  confined  him  for  a  time  in  the  convent  of  Sf.  Trend  in 
the  diocese  of  Liejje.  ^  liiitms,  Epist.  I.  (Migno,  CXIX.  col.  4.S3). 

3  Balnze,  in  Migne,  ibid.  col.  425.  *  Migne,  i^i'i  col.  445. 

5.\lihoiigh  he  thus  lived  six  years  in  Germany  he  never  obtained  a  uiasterj 
of  German.     Wetzer  u.  Wette,  Kirchenlexicon,  s.  v.  Lupus. 


\ 


736  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

took  priest's  orders  and  taught  grammar  and  rhetoric  in  the 
abbey  school.  In  837  he  was  presented  at  the  court  of  Louis 
the  Pious,  and  by  special  request  of  the  empress  Judith  appeared 
the  next  year  (Sept.  22,  838).'  The  favor  showed  him  led  him 
naturally  to  expect  speedy  preferment,  but  he  was  doomed  to 
disappointment.  In  the  winter  of  838  and  839  he  accompa- 
nied Odo,  Avho  had  succeeded  Aldrich,  to  Frankfort,^  where  the 
emperor  Louis  spent  January  and  February,  839.  Louis  died 
in  840  and  was  succeeded  by  Charles  the  Bald.  In  842  Charles 
deposed  Odo  because  of  his  connection  with  Lothair,  and  by 
request  of  the  emperor  the  monks  elected  Lupus  their  abbot, 
Nov.  22,  842,^  and  the  emperor  confirmed  the  election.  It  was 
with  diffiulty  that  Odo  was  removed.  The  year  844  was  an 
eventful  one  with  Lupus.  The  monks  of  Ferri^res  were  bound 
yearly  to  supply  money  and  military  service  to  Charles,  and 
Lupus  had  to  take  the  field  in  person.*  In  this  year  he  went 
against  the  rebellious  Aquitanians.  On  June  14th  he  was 
taken  prisoner  by  them  in  the  battle  of  Angouleme,  but  re- 
leased after  a  few  days  by  intervention  of  Turpio,  count  of 
Angouleme,  and  on  July  3d  he  was  back  again  in  Ferrieres. 
Later  on  he  was  sent  by  Charles,  with  Prudentius,  bishop  of 
Troyes,  to  visit  the  monasteries  of  Burgundy,  and  at  the  close 
of  the  year  he  sat  in  the  council  of  Verneuil.  and  drew  up  the 
canons.^  Can.  XII.  is  directed  against  the  king's  seizure  on 
ecclesiastical  property.  His  own  special  grievance  was  that 
Charles  had  rewarded  the  fidelity  of  a  certain  Count  Odulf  by 
allowing  him  the  revenues  of  the  cell  or  monastery  of  St.  Judo- 
cus  on  the  coast  of  Picardy  [St.  Josse  sur  mer),  which  had  be- 
longed to  Alcuin,  but  was  given  to  Ferrieres  by  Louis  the 
Pious,  and  the  loss  of  which  greatly  crippled  his  already  ex- 

'  So  Baluze,  in  Miene,  CXIX   col.  423. 

*  It  was  upon  this  journey  that  Lupus  fell  sick.     See  n.  1  on  p.  735. 
'  So  Baluze,  ibid.  col.  425.  *■  Pertz,  Legg.  I.  223. 

*  Hefele,  IV.  111.     Pertz,  Legg.  I.  383. 


§  171.  SERVATUS  LUPUS.  737 

pensive  monastery.'  It  was  not,  however,  until  849  that  the 
cell  Avas  restored.  This  is  the  more  strange  because  Charles  had 
a  high  regard  for  his  learning  and  diplomatic  skill,  as  is  shown 
by  his  employment  of  Lupus  in  delicate  public  business.  Thus 
in  847  Lupus  sat  in  the  peace  congress  at  Utrecht  between 
Lothair,  Louis  and  Charles  the  Bald.  In  midsummer  849 
Charles  sent  him  to  Leo  IV.  at  Rome  concerning  the  ecclesi- 
astical encroachments  of  the  Breton  Duke  Nominoi.  In  the 
spring  of  853  he  sat  in  the  council  of  Soissons  and  took  Ilinc- 
mar's  side  regarding  the  deposition  of  those  priests  whom  Ebo 
had  ordained,  after  his  own  deposition  in  835.  In  the  same 
year  he  attended  the  convocation  of  the  diocese  of  Sens  and 
there  sided  with  Prudentius  against  Hincmar's  deliverances  in 
the  Gottschalk  controversy.  It  is  supposed  that  he  was  also  at 
the  council  of  Quiercy,  857,  because  his  Admonitio^  is  written  in 
the  spirit  of  the  deliberations  of  that  council  respecting  the 
troubles  of  the  times.  In  858  he  was  sent  on  dijjlomatic  busi- 
ness to  Louis  the  German.  But  in  the  same  year  he  was  forced 
by  the  exigencies  of  the  times  to  deposit  the  abbey's  valuables 
with  the  monks  of  St.  Germain  Auxerrois  for  safe  keeping.     In 

861  Foleric  of  Troyes  oifered  protection  to  his  monastery.     In 

862  he  was  at  Pistes,  and  drew  up  the  sentence  of  the  council 
against  Robert,  archbishop  of  ^Mans.  As  after  this  date  all 
trace  of  Lupus  is  lost,  his  death  during  that  year  is  probable. 

Servatus  Lupus  was  one  of  the  great  scholars  of  the  ninth 
century.  But  he  gained  knowledge  under  groat  difficulties,  for 
the  stress  of  circumstances  drove  him  out  of  the  seclusion  he 
loved,  and  forced  him  to  appear  as  a  soldier,  although  he  knew 
not  how  to  fight,  to  write  begging  letters  instead  of  pursuing  his 
studies,  and  even  to  suffer  imprisonment.  Yet  the  love  of 
learning  which  manifested  itself  in  his  childhood  and  increased 
with  his  years,  notwithstanding  the  poor  educational  arrange- 

1  Epist.  71,  Migne,  CXIX.  col.  533. 
*  It  appears  as  Bpist.  100  in  Migne,  ibid.  col.  575. 
47 


V 


738  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

ments  at  Fcrrieres,^  became  at  length  a  master  passion  and  domi- 
nated his  thoughts.^  It  mattered  not  how  pressing  was  the 
business  in  hand,  he  would  not  let  business  drive  study  out 
of  his  mind.  He  set  before  him  the  costly  and  laborious 
project  of  collecting  a  library  of  the  Latin  classics,  and  applied 
to  all  who  could  assist  him,  even  to  the  pope  (Benedict  III.). 
He  was  thankful  for  the  loan  of  codices,  so  that  by  compari- 
son he  might  make  a  good  text.  He  was  constantly  at  work 
upon  the  classics  and  gives  abundant  evidence  of  the  culture 
which  such  study  produces,  in  his  "  uncommon  skill  in  the 
lucid  exposition  of  a  subject."  ^ 

His  Works  are  very  few.  Perhaps  the  horrible  confusion 
of  the  period  hindered  authorship,  or  like  many  another  scholar 
he  may  have  shrunk  from  the  labor  and  the  after  criticism.  In 
his  collected  works  the  first  place  is  occupied  by  his 

1 .  Letters*  one  hundred  and  thirty  in  number.  They  prove 
the  high  position  he  occupied,  for  his  correspondents  are  the 
greatest  ecclesiastics  of  his  day,  such  as  Raban  Maur,  Hinc- 
mar  of  Rheims,  Einhard,  Radbert,  Ratramn  and  Gottschalk.  His 
letters  are  interesting  and  instructive.' 

2.  The  Canons  of  Verneuil,  844.^     See  above. 

3.  The  Tliree  Questions,  in  852.^  They  relate  to  free  will,  the 
two-fold  predestination,  and  whether  Christ  died  for  all  men  or 
only  for  the  elect.  It  was  his  contribution  to  the  Gottschalk  con- 
troversy in  answer  to  Charles  the  Bald's  request.  In  general 
he  sides  with  Gottschalk,  or  rather  follows  Augustin.  In  tone 
and  style  the  book  is  excellent. 

'  Fpist.  1,  ibid.  col.  433.  J  Epist.  35,  ibid.  col.  502. 

'  Neander,  vol.  iii.  p.  4S2.  Ebert  has  a  good  passage  on  this  point  (I.  e.  p. 
205-206).     Also  Mullinger,  p.  165  sqq. 

*  Epistolx,  Migne,  CXIX.  col.  431-610. 

6  "  No  other  correspondence,  for  centuries,  reveals  Huch  pleasant  glimpses  of 
a  scholar's  life,  or  better  illustrates  the  difficulties  which  attended  its  pursuits." 
Mullinger  p.  166. 

*  Canones  concilii  in  Vernn,  Migne,  I.  c.  col.  611-620. 
'  Liber  de  tribus  quxstionibus,  ibid.  col.  621-666. 


/ 


2  172.  DRUTHMAB.  739 

4.  Life  of  St.  Maximinus,  bishop  of  Treves.^  It  is  in  fifteen 
chapters  and  was  written  in  839.  It  is  only  a  working  over  of 
an  older  Vita,  and  the  connection  of  Lupus  with  it  is  question- 
able.^ 

5.  Life  of  St.  Wighert,  in  thirty  chapters,  written  in  836  at 
the  request  of  Bun,  abbot  of  Hersfeld.^  It  tells  the  interestino- 
story  of  how  Wigbert  came  from  England  to  Germany  at  the 
request  of  Boniface,  how  he  became  abbot  of  Fritzlar,  where  he 
died  in  747,  how  he  wrought  mtracles  and  how  miracles  at- 
tended the  removal  of  his  relics  to  Hersfeld  and  were  performed 
at  his  tomb. 

§  172.  Druthmar. 

I.  Christiaistjs  Deuthmarus  :  Opera  omnia,  in  Migne,  Tom.  CVI.  col. 

1259-1520. 
IT.  Ceillier,  XII.  419-423.     Eist.  lit.  de  la  France,  V.  84-90.    BAhr, 

401-403. 

Christian  Druthmar  was  born  in  Aquitania  in  the  first 
part  of  the  ninth  century.  Before  the  middle  of  the  century  he 
became  a  monk  of  the  Benedictine  monastery  of  old  Corbie.* 
About  850  he  was  called  thence  to  the  abbey  of  Stavelot-Mal- 
m6dy,  in  the  diocese  of  Liege,  to  teach  the  Bible  to  the  monks.' 
It  is  not  known  whether  he  died  there  or  returned  to  Corbie. 

He  was  a  very  superior  scholar  for  his  age,  well  versed  in 
Greek  and  with  some  knowledge  of  Hebrew.  Hence  his 
epithet,  the  "Grammarian"  {i.  e.  Philologist).     His  fame  rests 

1  VHa  Sancti  Maximini,  Bpiscopi  Trevirensis,  Migne,  CXIX-  col.  665-680. 

*  Cf.  Baluze  (Migne,  I.  c  col.  425)  and  Ebert,  I.  r.  p.  208. 

'  Vita  Sancti  W/ffberti,  ahbatis  Fritzlariensis,  Migne,  I.  c.  679-694. 

*  The  monastery  of  Old  Corbie  was  in  Picardy,  in  tlie  present  department 
of  Somme,  nine  miles  by  rail  east  of  Amiens.  That  of  New  Corbie  was  in 
Westphalia,  and  was  founded  by  Louis  the  Pious  in  822  by  a  colony  of  monks 
from  Old  Corbie. 

*  Stavelot  is  twenty-four  miles  southeast  of  Liege,  in  present  Belgium.  It 
is  now  a  busy  manufacturing  place  of  four  thousand  inhabitants.  Its  abbey 
was  founded  in  651,  and  its  abbots  had  princely  rank  and  independent  juris- 
diction down  to  the  peace  of  Luneville  in  ISOl.  The  town  of  Maimed r  liei 
about  five  miles  to  the  northeast,  and  until  1815  belonged  to  the  abbey  of 
Stavelot.     It  is  now  in  Prussia. 


^ 


740  FOURTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

upon  his  Commentary  on  3Iatthew\s  Gospel,^  a  work  distinguished 
for  its  clearness  of  statement,  and  particularly  noticeable  for  its 
insistence  upon  the  paramount  importance  of  the  historic  sense, 
as  the  foundation  of  interpretntion.^  To  such  a  man  the  views 
of  Paschasius  Eadbertus  upon  the  Lord's  Supper  could  have  no 
attraction.  Yet  an  attempt  has  been  persistently  made  to  show 
that  in  his  comments  upon  JNIatt.  26 :  26-28,  he  teaches  tran- 
substantiation.  Curiously  enough,  his  exact  language  upon  this 
interesting  point  cannot  be  now  determined  beyond  peradven- 
ture,  because  every  copy  of  the  first  printed  edition,  prepared  by 
Wimphelin  de  Schelestadt,  Strassburg  1514,  has  perished,  and 
in  the  MS.  in  possession  of  the  Cordelier  Fathers  at  Lyons  the 
critical  passage  reads  differently  from  that  in  the  second  edition, 
by  the  Lutheran,  Johannes  Secerius,  Hagenau  1530.  In  the 
Secerius  text,  now  printed  in  the  Lyons  edition  of  the  Fathers, 
and  in  Migne,  the  words  are,  verse  26,  "  Hoc  est  corpus  meum. 
Id  est,  in  sacramento  "  ("  This  is  my  body.  That  is,  in  the  sac- 
rament," or  the  sacramental  sign  as  distinct  from  the  res  sacra- 
menti,  or  the  substance  represented).  Verse  28,  "  Transfer  ens 
spiritaliter  corpus  in  panem,  vinum  in  sanguinem "  ("  Transfer- 
ring spiritually  body  into  bread,  wine  into  blood  ").^  In  the 
MS.  the  first  passage  reads:  "/cZ  est,  vere  in  sacramento  sub- 
sistens^'  ("That  is,  truly  subsisting  in  the  sacrament");  and  in 
the  second  the  Avord  "spiritaliter^'  is  omitted.  The  Koman 
Catholics  now  generally  admit  the  correctness  of  the  printed 
text,  and  that  the  IMS.  has  been  tampered  with,  but  insist  that 
Druthmar  is  not  opposed  to  the  Catholic  doctrine  on  the 
Eucharist. 

The  brief  expositions  of  Luke  and  John*  are  probably  mere 

"  Exposilio  in  Matthxum  Evangelistam,  Migne,  CVI.  col.  1261-1504. 

*  "  Studui  autem  plus  historicum  sensum  segui  quam  spiritalem,  quia  irraiionabile 
mihi  videtur  spiritalem  intelligcntiam  in  libro  aliquo  guserere,  et  historicam  penitus 
ignorare:  cum  historia  fundamentum  omnis  intclligentise  sit,"  etc.  Ibid.  col.  1262, 
I  6,  fr.  bel. 

» Ibid.  col.  1476,  1.  16  and  3  fr.  bel.        *  Ibid.  col.  1503-1514,  1515-1520. 


§  173.  ST.  PASCHASIUS  RADBEKTUS.  741 

notes  of  Druthmar's  expository  lectures  on  those  books,  and  not 
the  works  he  promises  in  his  preface  to  Matthew.^ 
§  173.  St.  Paschasius  Badbertus. 

I.  Sanctus  Paschasius   Radbertus:    Opera   omnia,   in   Migne    Tom 

cxx. 

II.  Besides  the  Prolegomena  in  Migne,  see  Melchior  Hausher  :  Der 

heilige  Paschasius  Radbertus.  Mainz  1862.  Carl  Rodenberg  :  Die 
Vita  Walae  als  historische  Quelle  (Inaugural  Dissertation).  Guttingen 
1877.  Du  Pin,  VII.  69-73,  81.  Ceillier.  XII.  528-549.  Hist.  lit. 
de  la  France,  V.  287-314.  Bahr,  233,  234,  462-471.  Ebert,  II. 
230-244. 

Eadbertus,  surnamed  Paschasius,^  the  famous  promulgator 
of  the  doctriue  of  Trausubstantiatiou,  was  born  of  poor  and  un- 
known parents,  about  790,  in  or  near  the  city  of  Soissons  in 
France.  His  mother  died  while  he  was  a  very  little  child,  and 
as  he  was  himself  very  sick  he  was  "exposed"  in  the  church  of 
Soissons.  The  nuns  of  the  Benedictine  abbey  of  Our  Lady  in 
that  place  had  compassion  upon  him  and  nursed  him  back  to 
health.'  His  education  was  conducted  by  the  adjoining  Benedic- 
tine monks  of  St.  Peter,  and  he  received  the  tonsure,  yet  for  a 
time  he  led  a  secular  life.  His  thirst  for  knowledge  and  his 
pious  nature,  however,  induced  him  to  take  up  again  with  the 
restraints  of  monasticism,  and  he  entered  (c.  812)  the  Benedictine 
monastery  at  Corbie,  in  Picardy,  then  under  abbot  Adalhard. 
There  he  applied  himself  diligently  to  study  and  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  monastic  virtues,  and  so  successfully  that  he  soon  won 
an  enviable  reputation  for  ascetic  piety  and  learning.  He  was 
well  read  in  classical  literature,  particularly  familiar  with  Virgil, 
Horace  and  Terence,  and  equally  well  read  in  the  Fathers.  He 
knew  Greek  and  perhaps  a  little  Hebrew.  His  qualifications 
for  the  post  of  teacher  of  the  monastery's  school  were,  therefore, 
for  that  day  unusual,  and  he  brought  the  school  up  to  a  high 

1  Ibid.  col.  1263. 

*  From  Pascha,  probably  in  allusion  to  his  position  in  the  Eucharistic  con- 
troversy. 
3  Their  abbess  was  Theodrada.     Mabillon,  Annates,  lib.  27  (vol.  2,  p.  371). 


M 


> 


742  FOURTH  PERIOD.     A.  D.  590-1049. 

grade  of  proficiency.  Among  his  famous  pupils  were  Adalhard 
the  Younger,  St.  Ansgar,  Odo,  bishop  of  Beauvais,  and  Warinus, 
abbot  of  New  Corbie.  He  preached  regularly  and  with  great 
accc])tauce,  and  was  strict  in  the  observance  by  himself  and 
others  of  the  Benedictine  rule. 

In  the  year  822  he  accompanied  his  abbot,  Adalhard,  and  the 
abbot's  brother  and  successor,  Wala,  to  Corbie  in  Saxony,  in 
order  to  establish  there  the  monastery  which  is  generally  known 
as  New  Corbie.  In  826  Adalhard  died,  and  Wala  was  elected 
his  successor.  With  this  election  Kadbertus  probably  had  much 
to  do  ;  at  all  events,  he  was  deputed  by  the  community  to  secure 
from  Louis  the  Pious  the  confirmation  of  their  choice.  This 
meeting  with  the  emperor  led  to  a  friendship  between  them,  and 
Louis  on  several  occasions  showed  his  appreciation  of  Radbertus. 
Thus  in  831  he  sent  him  to  Saxony  to  consult  with  Ansgar  about 
the  latter's  northern  mission,  and  several  times  asked  his  advice. 
Louis  took  the  liveliest  interest  in  Radbertus's  eucharistic  views, 
and  asked  his  ecclesiastics  for  their  opinion. 

In  844  Radbertus  was  elected  abbot  of  his  monastery.  He 
was  then,  and  always  remained,  a  simple  monk,  for  in  his 
humility,  and  probably  also  because  of  his  view  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  he  refused  to  be  ordained  a  priest.  His  name  first 
appears  as  abbot  in  the  Council  of  Paris,  Feb.  14,  846.  He 
was  then  able  to  carry  through  a  measure  which  gave  his  mon- 
astery freedom  to  choose  its  abbot  and  to  govern  its  own  pro- 
perty.' These  extra  privileges  are  proofs  that  the  favor  shown 
toward  him  by  Louis  was  continued  by  his  sons.  Radbertus 
was  also  present  in  the  Council  of  Quiercy  in  849,  and  joined  in 
the  condemnation  of  Gottschalk.  Two  years  later  (851)  he 
resigned  his  abbotship.  He  had  been  reluctant  to  take  the  posi- 
tion, and  had  found  it  by  no  means  pleasant.  Its  duties  were 
so  multiform  and  onerous  that  he  liad  little  or  no  time  for  study; 

1  Privilegium  monasieni  Corbeiensis,  in  Migne,  CXX.  col.  27-32.  Cf.  Hefele, 
IV.  119. 


\i? 


g  173.  ST.  PASCHASIUS  RADBERTUS.  743 

besides,  his  strict  discipline  made  his  monks  restive.  But  per- 
haps a  principal  reason  for  retiring  was  the  fact  that  one  of  his 
monks,  Ratramnus,  had  ventured  to  criticize,  publicly  and 
severely,  his  position  upon  the  Eucharist ;  thus  stirring  up  oppo- 
sition to  him  in  his  own  monastery. 

Immediately  upon  his  resignation,  Radbertus  went  to  the 
neighboring  abbey  of  St.  Riquier,  but  shortly  returned  to  Corbie, 
and  took  the  position  of  monk  under  the  new  abbot.  His  last 
days  were  probably  his  pleasantest.  He  devoted  himself  to  the 
undisturbed  study  of  his  favorite  books  and  to  his  beloved 
literary  labors.  On  April  2G,  865,^  he  breathed  his  last.  He 
was  buried  in  the  Chapel  of  St.  John.  In  the  eleventh  century 
miracles  began  to  be  wrought  at  his  tomb.  Accordingly  he  was 
canonized  in  1073,  and  on  July  12th  of  that  year  his  remains 
were  removed  with  great  pomp  to  St.  Peter's  Church  at  Corbie. 

The  fame  of  Paschasius  Radbertus  rests  upon  his  treatise  on 
The  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord^  which  appeared  in  831,  and  in 
an  improved  form  in  844.  His  arguments  in  it  and  in  the 
Epistle  to  Frudegard^  on  the  same  subject  have  already  been 
handled  at  length  in  this  volume.*  His  treatise  on  The  birth  by 
the  Virgin,^  i.  e.  whether  Christ  was  born  in  the  ordinary  man- 
ner or  not,  has  also  been  sufficiently  noticed.® 

Besides  these,  Eadbertus  wrote,  1.  An  Exposition  of  the  Gospel 
of  Matthew?  He  exiilaincd  this  Gospel  in  his  sermons  to  the 
monks.  At  their  request,  he  began  to  write  out  his  lectures, 
and  completed  four  of  the  twelve  books  before  his  election  as 
abbot,  but  was  then  compelled  to  lay  the  work  aside.  The 
monks  at  St  Riquier's  requested  its  continuance,  and  it  finally 
was  finished.      The  special   prefaces  to  each  book  are  worth 

1  This  is  the  date  given  in  the  Necrology  of  Nevelgn.  See  Mabillon,  An- 
rudes,  lib.  XXXVI.  (vol.  III.  p.  119). 

*  De  corpore  et  ganguine  Domini,  in  Migne,  CXX.  col.  1259-1350. 

3  Episiola  de  corpore  et  sanguine  Domini  ad  Frudegardum.    Ibid.  col.  1351-1366. 

*  Pp.  543,  546  sqq.        ^  De  partu  virginis,  Migne,  CXX.  col.  1367-1386. 

6  Page  553.        '  Expositio  in  evangdium  Matthcd,  Migne,  CXX.  col.  31-994. 


/ 


744  FOURTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

atteutivB  reading  for  their  information  concerning  the  origin  and 
progress  of  the  commentary,  and  for  the  views  they  jjreseut  upon 
Biblical  study  in  general.  As  the  prologue  states,  the  principal 
sources  are  Jerome,  Ambrose,  Augustin,  Chrysostom,  Gregory 
the  Great,  and  Bede.^  Of  these,  Jerome  was  most  used.  His 
excerpts  are  not  always  literal.  He  frequently  alters  and  expands 
the  expressions.^  Radbertus  was  particular  to  mark  on  the 
margin  of  his  pages  the  names  of  the  authors  drawn  upon,  but 
in  transcribing  his  marks  have  been  obliterated.  His  interpre- 
tation is  rather  more  literal  than  was  customary  in  his  day,  and 
he  enlivens  his  pages  with  allusions  to  passing  events,  dwelling 
especially  upon  the  disorders  of  the  time,  the  wickedness  of  the 
clergy  and  monks,  the  abuses  of  the  confessional,  and  the  errors 
of  the  Adoptiouists,  Claudius  of  Turin  and  of  Scotus  Erigena. 
He  also  frequently  quotes  classic  authors.^ 

2.  An  Exposition  of  Psalm  XLIV}  It  was  written  for  the 
nuns  of  Soissons,  to  whom  he  owed  his  life,  and  the  dedication 
to  them  is  an  integral  part  of  the  first  of  its  four  books.  It  is 
allegorical  and  very  diifuse,  but  edifying. 

3.  An  Exposition  of  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah.^  This  was 
the  fruit  of  his  old  age,  and  once  more,  as  in  his  early  manhood, 
he  deplored  the  vices,  both  lay  and  clerical,  which  disgraced  his 
times.  His  allusion  to  the  Norman  incursions  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Paris,^  which  took  place  in  857,  proves  that  he  must 
have  written  the  work  after  that  date.  In  his  prologue,  Rad- 
bertus states  that  he  had  never  read  a  commentary  on  Lamenta- 
tions written  by  a  Latin  author.  Hence  his  information  must 
have  been  derived  from  Greek  sources,  and  he  was  unacquainted 
with  the  similar  work  by  Rabanus  Maurus.  He  distinguished 
a  triple  sense,  a  literal,  spiritual,  and  a  moral,  and  paid  especial 
regard  to  types  and  prophecies,  as  he  considered  that  there  were 
prophecies  in  Lamentations  which  referred  to  his  own  day. 

'  Ibid.  col.  35.  2  Ibid.  col.  394.  »  Biihr,  465. 

*  Expositio  in  Psalmum  XLIV.     Ibid.  col.  993-1060. 

*  In  Threnos  sive  Lamentationes  Jeremice.  Ibid.  col.  1059-1256.   ^  Ibid.  col.  1220. 


'.I 


I  173.  ST.  PASCHASIUS  RADBERTUS.  745 

4.  Faith,  Hope  and  Love}  This  work  is  preceded  by  an 
acrostic  poem,  the  first  letters  of  each  line  formiug  the  name  "  Rad- 
bertus  Levita."  Each  of  the  three  books  is  devoted  to  one  of  the 
Christian  virtues.  Eadbertus  wrote  the  treatise  at  the  request  of 
abbot  Wala,  for  the  instruction  of  the  younger  monks.  Tlie  book 
on  faith  is  remarkable  for  its  statement  that  faith  precedes  knowl- 
edge, thus  antedating  the  scholastics  in  their  assertion,  which  is 
most  pregnantly  put  in  the  famous  expression  of  Anselm,  Credo 
ut  intelllgam}  The  third  book.  On  Love,  is  much  later  than  the 
others  on  account  of  the  author's  distractions. 

5.  Life  of  AdaJhard^  the  first  abbot  of  New  Corbie.  It  is  a 
panegyric  rather  than  a  strict  biography,  but  contains  much  in- 
teresting and  valuable  information  respecting  the  abbot  and  the 
founding  of  the  German  monastery  of  Corbie.  The  model  for 
the  work  is  the  funeral  oration  of  Ambrose  upon  Valentinian  II. 
Its  date  is  826,  the  year  of  Adalhard's  death.  It  contains  much 
edifying  matter. 

6.  Life  of  Wala,*  the  brother  of  Adalhard  at  Old  Corbie, 
and  his  successor.  It  is  in  the  peculiar  form  of  conversations. 
In  the  first  book  the  interlocutors  are  Paschasius,  as  he  calls  him- 
self, and  four  fellow  Corbie  monks — Adeodatus,  Severus,  Chremes, 
Allabicus ;  and  in  the  second,  Paschasius,  Adeotatus  and  Thco- 
phrastus.  These  names  are,  like  Asenius,  as  he  calls  Wala,  mani- 
festly pseudonyms.  He  borrowed  the  idea  of  such  a  dialogue 
from  Sulpicius  Severus,  who  used  it  in  his  life  of  St.  INIartin  of 
Tours.     The  date  of  the  book  is  836,  the  year  of  Wala's  death. 

7.  The  Passion  of  Rufinus  and  Valerius,^  who  were  martyrs 
to  the  Christian  faith,  at  or  near  Soissons,  in  the  year  287.  In 
this  work  he  uses  old  materials,  but  weakens  the  interest  of  his 
subject  by  his  frequent  digressions  and  long  paraphrases. 

.  Be  fide,  spe  et  charitate.     Migne,  CXIX,  col.  1387-1490.    '  Ebert,  /.  c.  235- 
3  VUa  Sancti  Adalhardi,  Migne.  CXX.  col.  1.007-1556.     Ebert,  I.  c.  23G-244, 
gives  a  full  account  of  Pasrhasius'  Lives  of  Adalhard  and  Wala. 

*  Epitaphium  Arsenii  sen  vita  venerabilis  Wales.    ]\Iigne,  CXX.  col.  1559-1650. 
6  De  Passione  SS.  Rufini  et  Valerii.    Ibid.  col.  1489-1508. 


; 


746  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

§  174.  Ratramnus. 

I.  Ratramnus,   Corbeiensis  monavhus:    Opera  omnia,  in  Migne,  Tom. 

CXXI.  The  treatise  De  corpore  et  sanguine  Domini  was  first  pub- 
lished by  Johannes  Prael  under  the  title  Bertrami  presby/eri  ad  Car- 
olum  Magnum  imperatorum,  Cologne,  1532.  It  was  translated  into 
German,  Zurich  1532,  and  has  repeatedly  appeared  in  English  under 
the  title.  The  Book  of  Bertram  the  Priest,  London  1549, 1582,  1623, 
1686,  1688  (the  last  two  editions  are  by  Hopkins  and  give  the  Latin 
text  also),  1832;  and  Baltimore,  U.  S.  A.,  1843.  The  best  edition  of 
the  original  text  is  by  Jacques  Roileau,  Paris,  1712,  reprinted  with 
all  the  explanatory  matter  in  Migne. 

II.  For  discussion  and  criticism  see  the  modern  works,  Du  Pin,  VII.  pas- 
sim; Ceillier,  XII.  555-568.  Hist  lit.  de  la  France,  V.  332-351. 
Bahr,  471-479.  Ebert,  II.  244-247.  Joseph  Bach:  Dogmenge- 
schichfe  des  Mittelalters,  Wien,  1873-75,  2  parts  (I.  193  sqq.);  Joseph 
SciiWANE :  Dogmengeschichte  dermittleren  Zeit,  Freiburg  in  Br.,  1882 
(pp.  631  sqq.)     Also  Neander,  III.  482,  497-501,  567-68. 

Of  Ratramnus^  very  little  is  known.  He  was  a  monk  of 
the  monastery  of  Corbie,  in  Picardy,  which  he  had  entered  at 
some  time  prior  to  835,  and  was  famed  for  his  learning  and 
ability.  Charles  the  Bald  frequently  appealed  to  his  judgment, 
and  the  archbishop  of  Rheims  gave  over  to  him  the  defense  of 
the  Roman  Church  against  Photius.  He  participated  in  the 
great  controversies  upon  Predestination  and  the  Eucharist.  He 
was  an  Augustinian,  but  like  his  fellows  he  gathered  his  argu- 
ments from  all  the  patristic  writers.  In  his  works  he  shows 
independence  and  ingenuity.  One  of  his  peculiarities  is,  that 
like  Bishop  Butler  in  the  Analogy,  he  does  not  name  those 
whom  he  opposes  or  defends.  He  was  living  in  868  ;  how 
long  thereafter  Is  unknown. 

He  was  not  a  prolific  author.  Only  six  treatises  have  come 
down  to  us. 

1 .  A  letter  upon  the  cynocephali?  It  is  a  very  curious  piece, 
addressed   to   the   presbyter   Rimbert  who   had   answered  his 

*  Bertramnus,  although  a  common  variant,  is  due  to  a  slip  of  the  pen  on  the 
part  of  a  scribe,  and  is  therefore  not  an  allowable  form. 
"  Epistola  de  cynocephalis,  Migne,  CXXI.  col.  1153-1156. 


§  174.  RATRAMNUS.  747 

queries  in  regard  to  the  cynocephali,  and  had  asked  in  return  for 
an  opinion  respecting  their  position  in  the  scale  of  beingJ  Ra- 
tramnus  replied  that  from  what  he  knew  about  them  he  con- 
sidered them  degenerated  descendants  of  Adam,  although  the 
Church  generally  classed  them  with  beasts.  They  may  even 
receive  baptism  by  being  rained  upon.' 

2.  How  Christ  was  born?  In  this  treatise  Ratramnus  refutes 
the  theory  of  some  Germans  that  Christ  issued  from  the  body 
of  the  Virgin  Mary  in  some  abnormal  way.*  He  maintains, 
on  the  contrary,  that  the  birth  was  one  of  the  ordinary  kind,  ex- 
cept that  his  mother  was  before  it,  during  it,  and  after  it  a 
virgin,*  because  her  womb  was  closed.  He  compares  Christ's 
birth  to  his  issuing  from  the  sealed  tomb  and  going  through 
closed  doors.^  The  book  is  usually  regarded  as  a  reply  to  the 
De  portu  virginis  of  Radbertus,  but  there  is  good  reason  to  con- 
sider it  independent  of  and  even  earlier  than  the  latter.^ 

3.  The  soul  {De  anima).  It  exists  in  MS.  in  several  English 
libraries,  l)nt  has  never  been  printed.  It  is  directed  against  the 
view  of  Macarius  (or  Marianus)  Scotus,  derived  from  a  misin- 
terpreted sentence  of  Augustin  that  the  whole  human  race  had 
only  one  soul.  The  opinion  was  condemned  by  the  Lateran 
council  under  Leo  X.  (1512-17). 

4.  Divine  'predestination?  It  was  written  about  849  at  the 
request  of  Charles  the  Bald,  who  sought  Ratramnus'  opinion  in 
the  Gottschalk  controversy.  Ratramnus  defended  Gottschalk,  al- 
though he  does  not  mention  his  name,  maintaining  likewise  a 
two-fold  predestination,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  the  synods  of 
Mayence  (848)  and  of  Quiercy  (849)  had  condemned  it,  and 
Gottschalk  had  been  cruelly  persecuted  by  Hincmar  of  Rheims. 

1  "  Nam  et  baptismi  sacramentum  divmitus  ilium  eonsecutum  fuisse,  mdtis  mini»- 
terio  eum  perfundenle,  sicut  libellus  ipse  testatur,  creditur,"  col.  1155. 

»  De  eo  quod  Christm  ex  virgine  natus  e.t  liber,  ibid.  col.  81  [not  31.  as  in  table 
ofcontents]-102.   3  Chap.  I.  col.  83.    ^  Chap.  11.  col.  84.      ^  Chap.  VIIL  col.  96. 

6  See  Steitz  in  Herzog'^  (art.  Radbertus)  XII.  482-483. 

T  Be  prcBdestinaticme  Dei  libri  duo,  Migne,  CXXI.  col.  11-80. 


3 


748  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

In  the  first  book  Ratramnus  maintains  the  predestination  of  the 
good  to  salvation  by  an  appeal  to  the  patristic  Scriptural  quota- 
tions and  interpretations  upon  this  point,  particularly  those  of 
Auo-ustin.  In  the  second  book  he  follows  the  same  method  to 
prove  that  God  has  predestinated  the  bad  to  eternal  damnation. 
But  this  is  not  a  predestination  to  sin.  Rather  God  foresees 
their  dctermininatiou  to  sin  and  therefore  withholds  his  help, 
so  that  they  are  lost  in  consequence  of  their  own  sins. 

5.  Four  books  upon  the  Greeks'  indictment  of  the  Roman 
Church.^  Like  the  former  work,  it  was  written  by  request. 
In  967  Photius  addressed  a  circular  letter  to  the  Eastern 
bishops  in  which  he  charged  the  Roman  Church  with  certain 
errors  in  faith  and  practice :  e.  g.,  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  the  Sabbath  and  Lent  fasts. 
Nicholas  I.  called  upon  his  bishops  to  refute  this  charge.  Hinc- 
mar  of  Rheims  commissioned  Odo  of  Beauvais  to  write  an  apolo- 
getic treatise,  but  his  work  not  proving  satisfactory  he  next 
asked  Ratramnus.  The  work  thus  produced  is  very  famous. 
The  first  three  books  are  taken  up  with  the  doctrine  of  the 
Holy  Spirit ;  but  in  the  fourth  he  branches  out  upon  a  general 
defense  of  the  ecclesiastical  practices  of  the  Latin  Church.  He 
does  this  in  an  admirable,  liberal  and  Christian  spirit.  In 
the  first  chapter  of  the  fourth  book  he  mildly  rebukes  the  Greeks 
for  prescribing  their  peculiar  customs  to  others,  because  the 
difference  in  such  things  is  no  hindrance  to  the  unity  of  the 
faith  which  Paul  enjoins  in  1  Cor.  i.  10.  This  unity  he  finds  in 
the  faith  in  the  Trinity,  the  birth  of  Christ  from  a  Virgin,  his 
sufferings,  resurrection,  ascension,  session  at  God's  right  hand, 
return  to  judgment,  and  in  the  baptism  into  Father,  Son  and 
Holy  Spirit.^  In  the  first  three  chapters  of  the  book  he  proves 
this  proposition  by  a  review  of  the  condition  of  the  Early 
Church.     He  then  passes  on  to  defend  the  Roman  customs.' 

*  Contra  Orcecorum  opposita  Romanam  ecclesiam  infamantiiim  libri  quatuor,  ibid. 
col.  225-346.  « IV.  1.     Ibid.  col.  303. 

'  It  is  instructive  to  compare  the  apology  of  ^neas,  bishop  of  Paris  (re- 


^v 


I  174.  EATRAMNUS.  749 

6.  The  Body  and  Blood  of  the  Lord}  This  is  the  most  valu- 
able writing  of  Ratramnus.  It  is  a  reply  to  Paschasiu.s  Rad- 
bert's  book  with  the  same  title.^  It  is  dedicated  to  Charles  the 
Bald  who  had  requested  (in  944)  his  opinion  in  the  eucharistic 
controversy.  Without  naming  Radbert,  who  was  his  own  abbot, 
he  proceeds  to  investigate  the  latter's  doctrines.  The  whole  con- 
trovery  has  been  fully  stated  in  another  section.^ 

The  book  has  had  a  strange  fate.  It  failed  to  turn  the  tide 
setting  so  strongly  in  favor  of  the  views  of  Radbertus,  and  was 
in  the  Middle  Age  almost  forgotten.  Later  it  was  believed  to 
be  the  product  of  Scotus  Erigena  and  as  such  condemned  to  be 
burnt  by  the  council  of  Yercelli  (1050).  The  first  person  to 
use  it  in  print  was  John  Fisher,  bishop  of  Rochester,  who  in 
writing  against  Oecolampadius  quotes  from  it  as  good  Catholic 
authority.*  This  called  the  attention  of  the  Zwinglian  party  to 
it  and  they  quickly  turned  the  weapon  thus  furnished  agaiustthe 
Catholics.  In  the  same  year  in  which  it  was  published  at  Co- 
logne (1532),  Leo  Judse  made  a  German  translation  of  it  (Zurich, 
1532)  which  was  used  by  the  Zurich  ministers  in  proof  that  the 
Zwinglian  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  no  novelty.'  But 
the  fact  that  it  had  such  a  cordial  reception  by  the  Reformed 
theologians  made  it  suspicious  in  Catholic  eyes.  The  Council  of 
Trent  pronounced  it  a  Protestant  forgery,  and  in  1559  it  was 
put  upon  the  Index.  The  foremost  Catholic  theologians  such  as 
Bellarmin  and  Allan  agreed  with  the  Council.  A  little  later 
(1571)  the  theologians  of  Louvain  (or  Douay)  came  to  the  de- 
fense of  the  book.  In  1655  Sainte  Beuve  formally  defended 
its  orthodoxy.  Finally  Jacques  Boileau  (Paris,  1712)  set  all 
doubt  at  rest,  and  the  book  is  now  accepted  as  a  genuine 
production  of  Ratramnus. 

printed  in  the  same  vol.  of  Migne,  col.  685-762),  which  is  a  mere  cento  of 
patristic  passages. 

'  De  corpore  et  sanguine  Domini  liber.     Ibid.  col.  125-170. 

»  See  p.  743.  '  ?•  5-13  sqq. 

*  De  Verit.  corp.  et  sang.  Christi  contra  CEcolampad.,  Cologne,  1527. 

'  Euchat,  Bpform.  de  la  Suisse,  vol.  iv.  p.  207 ;  ed.  Vulliemin,  vol.  iii.  p.  122. 


f 


750  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

It  remains  but  to  add  that  in  addition  to  learning,  perspicuity 
and  judgment  Ratramnus  had  remarkable  critical  power.  The 
latter  was  most  conspicuously  displayed  in  his  exposure  of  the 
fraudulent  character  of  the  Apocryphal  tale,  De  nativitate  Vir- 
ginis,  and  of  the  homily  of  Pseudo-Jerome,  De  assumptione 
Vliyinis,  both  of  which  Hiucmar  of  Rheims  had  copied  and 
sumptuously  bound. 

§  175.   Hincmar  of  Rheims. 

I.  HiNCMARUS,  Rhemensis  archiepiscopus :   Opera  omnia,  in  Migne,  Tom. 

CXXV.-CXXVI,,  col.  G48.  First  collected  edition  by  Sirmond. 
Paris,  1645. 

II.  Prolegomena  in  Migne,   CXXV.    Wolfgang    Friedeich    Gess: 

Merkwiirdigkeiten  aus  dem  Leben  und  Schriften  Hincmars,  Gottingen, 
1806.  Prichard:  The  life  and  times  of  Hincmar,  Littlemore,  1849. 
Carl  von  Noorden  :  Hinkmar,  Erzbischof  von  Rheims^  Bonn,  1863. 
LOTJPOT:  Hincmar^  eveque  de  Reims,  sa  vie,  ses  ceuvres,  son  influence, 
Reims,  1869.  Auguste  Vidieu:  Hincmar  de  Reims,  Paris,  1875. 
Heinrich  Schrors:  Hincmar,  Erzbischof  von  Reims,  Freiburg  im 
Br.,  1884  (588  pages). 

III.  Cf.  also  Flodoard:  Historia  ecclesi(v  Remensis,  in  Migne,  CXXXV., 
col.  25-328  (Book  III.,  col.  137-262,  relates  to  Hincmar) ;  French 
trans,  by  Lejeune,  Reims,  1854,  2  vols.  G.  Marlot:  Hisfoire  de 
Reims,  Reims,  1843-45,  3  vols.  F.  Mounter :  Luttes  politiques  et 
religieuses  sous  les  Carlovingiens,  Paris,  1852.  Max  Sdralek  : 
Hinkmar  von  Rheims  kanonistisches  Gutachten  fiber  die  Ehescheidung 
des  Konigs  Lothar  H.  Freiburg  im  Br.,  1881.  Du  Pin,  VII.  10-54. 
Ceillier,  XII.  654-689,  Hist.  lit.  de  la  France,  V.,  544-594  (reprinted 
in  Migne,  CXXV.  col.  11-44).  Bahr,  507-523.  Ebert,  II.  247- 
257.     Hefele  :  Conciliengeschichte,  2d  ed.  IV.  passim. 

Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  was  born  of  noble  and 
distinguished  ancestry,  probably  in  the  province  of  that  narae,^ 
in  the  year  806.  His  name  is  also  spelled  Ingnmar,  Ingmer 
and  Igraar.  He  was  educated  in  the  Benedictine  monastery 
of  St.  Denis,  near  Paris,  under  abbot  Hilduin.  When  the  lat- 
ter was  appointed  (822)  chancellor  to  Louis  the  Pious  he  took 
young  Hincmar  to  court^  with  him.  There  his  talents  soon 
brought  him  into  prominence,  while  his  asceticism  obtained  for 
'  Schxors,  I.  c.  p.  9. 


^ 


2  175.  HINCMAE  OF  KHEIMS.  751 

him  the  especial  favor  of  Louis  the  Pious.  Tliis  interest  he 
used  to  advance  the  cause  of  reform  in  the  mouastery  of  St. 
Denis,  which  had  become  lax  in  its  discipline,  and  when  the 
Synod  of  Paris  in  829  appointed  a  commission  to  bring  this 
about  he  heartily  co-operated  with  it,  and  entered  the  monastery 
as  a  monk.  In  830,  Hilduin  was  banished  to  New  Corbie,  in 
Saxony,  for  participation  in  the  conspiracy  of  Lothair  against 
Louis  the  Pious.  Hincmar  had  no  part  in  or  sympathy  with 
the  conspiracy,  yet  out  of  love  for  Hilduin  he  shared  his  exile. 
Through  his  influence  with  Louis,  Hilduin  was  pardoned  and 
re-instated  in  his  abbey  after  only  a  year's  absence.  Hincmar 
for  the  next  nine  or  ten  years  lived  partly  at  the  abbey  and 
partly  at  court.  He  applied  himself  diligently  to  study,  and 
laid  up  those  stores  of  patristic  learning  of  which  he  afterwards 
made  such  an  effective  use.  In  840  Charles  the  Bald  succeeded 
Louis,  and  soon  after  took  him  into  his  permanent  service,  and 
then  began  that  eventful  public  life  which  was  destined  to  render 
him  one  of  the  most  famous  of  churchmen.  After  his  ordina- 
tion as  priest  in  844,  Charles  the  Bald  gave  him  the  oversight 
of  the  abbeys  of  St.  Mary's,  at  Compiegne,  and  of  St.  Germer's, 
at  Flaix.  He  also  gave  him  an  estate,^  which  he  made  over  to 
the  hospice  of  St.  Denis,  on  his  elevation  to  the  archiepiscopate. 
In  December,  844,  Hincmar  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  coun- 
cil at  Verneuil,  and  in  April  of  the  following  year  at  the  council 
of  Beauvais  he  was  elected  by  the  clergy  and  people  of  Rheims 
to  be  their  archbishop.  This  choice  being  ratified  by  Charles 
the  Bald,  and  the  permission  of  his  abbot  being  received,  lie  was 
consecrated  by  Rothad,  bishop  of  Soissons,  archbishop  of  Rheims 
and  metropolitan,  May  3,  845. 

No  sooner  had  he  been  established  in  his  see  and  had  secured 

from  Charles  the  restitution  of  all  property  that  belonged  to  it, 

than  trouble  broke  out.     His  diocese  had  fallen  into  more  or 

less  disorder  in  consequence  of  the  ten  years  which  had  elapsed 

1  August  12,  844.    See  Schrors,  I.  c.  p.  26. 


f 


752  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

between  Ebo's  deposition  and  his  election.  Hincmar's  first 
trouble  came  from  Ebo,  who  contested  Hincmar's  election,  on 
the  ground  that  he  was  still  archbishop.  But  the  council  of 
Paris  in  846  affirmed  Hincmar's  election,  and,  in  847,  Leo  IV. 
sent  him  the  pallium.  The  first  difficulty  being  overcome,  a 
second  presented  itself.  For  a  few  mouths  in  840  Ebo  had  oc- 
cupied his  old  see  by  force,  and  during  this  time  had  ordained 
several  priests.  Hincmar  degraded  them  and  the  council  of 
Soissons  in  853  approved  his  act.  But  naturally  his  course  was 
opposed.  The  leader  of  the  malcontents  was  AYulfad,  one  of 
the  deposed  priests.  The  matter  was  not  disposed  of  until  868, 
when  Pope  Hadrian  decided  practically  in  favor  of  the  deposed 
priests,  for  while  exonerating  Hincmar  of  all  blame,  at  the 
same  time  he  confirmed  the  election  of  Wulfad  (866)  as  arch- 
bishop of  Bourges. 

Another  trouble  came  from  Rothad,  bishop  of  Soissons,  who 
had  consecrated  him,  and  who  was  one  of  his  suffragans. 
Rothad  had  deposed  a  priest  for  unchastity  and  the  deposition 
was  confirmed  by  an  episcopal  council.  Hincmar  took  the 
ground  that  Rothad,  being  only  a  suffragan  bishop,  had  no 
right  of  deposition,  and  also  no  right  to  call  a  council.  He  also 
brouo-ht  formal  charges  of  disobedience  against  him  and  de- 
manded the  re-instatement  of  the  deposed  priest.  Rothad  per- 
sistently refusing  compliance  was  then  himself  deposed  (861). 
Both  parties  appealed  to  the  pope,  who  at  last  (January  21,  865) 
decided  in  Rothad's  favor  and  re-instated  him.^ 

In  863  Hincmar  refused  to  give  his  assent  as  metropolitan  to 
the  elevation  of  Hilduin,  brother  of  Giinther  of  Cologne,  to  the 
bishopric  of  Cambrai.  Hilduin  had  been  nominated  to  this  posi- 
tion by  Lothair,  but  Hincmar  said  that  he  was  unfit,  and  the 
pope  approved  of  his  action. 

His  longest  and  hardest  fight  w^as  with  his  nephew  and  name- 
sake, Hincmar,  bishop  of  Laon.  The  latter  was  certainly  very 
1  Hefele,  IV-  292. 


^^ 


§  175.  HINCMAE  OF  KHEIMS.  753 

insubordinate  and  disobedient  both  to  his  metropolitan  and  his 
king.  In  consequence  Hincmar  of  Eheims  deposed  him  (871) 
and  the  king  took  him  prisoner  and  blinded  him.  Pope  Had- 
rian II.  (d.  872)  defended  him  but  accomplished  nothing.  Pope 
John  VIII.  also  pleaded  his  cause,  and  in  878  gave  him  permis- 
sion to  recite  mass.     He  died  in  882. 

These  controversies,  and  those  upon  Predestination  and  the 
Eucharist,  and  his  persecution  of  Gottschalk,  elsewhere  treated 
at  length,^  have  tended  to  obscure  Hincmar's  just  reputation  as  a 
statesman.     Yet  he  was  unquestionably  the  leader  in  the  West 
Frankish  kingdom,  and  by  his  wisdom  and  energy  preserved  the 
state  during  a  sadly  disordered  time.     His  relations  with  Louis 
the  Pious,  Charles  the  Bald  and  Carloman  were  friendly.     He 
crowned  several  queens  of  the  Carol ingian  family,  and  in  869 
Charles  the  Bald.    He  also  solemnized  their  marriages.     In  859 
he  headed  the  German  delegation  to  Louis,  and  in  8G0  conducted 
the  peace  deliberations  at  Coblenz.     He  took  the  side  of  Charles 
the  Bald  in  his  fight  with  Pome,  and  in  871  wrote  for  him  a  very 
violent  letter  to  Pope  Hadrian  11.^    It  may  be  said  that  in  state 
politics  he  was  more  successful  than  in  church  politics.     He  pre- 
served his  king  from  disgrace,  and  secured  his  independence,  but 
he  was  unable  to  secure  for  himself  the  papal  sanction  at  all 
times,  and  the  much  coveted  honor  of  the  primacy  of  France 
Mliich  John  YIIL,  in  876,  gave  to  Ansegis,  archbishop  of  Sens. 
One  of  the  most  important  facts  about  these  Hincmarian  con- 
troversies is  that  in  them  for  the  first  time  the  famous  pscudo- 
Isidorian    decretals^    are    quoted ;    and    that   by   all    parties. 
Whether  Hincmar  knew  of  their  fraudulent  character  may  well 
be  questioned,  for  that   he  had  little  if  any  critical  ability  is 
proved  by  his  belief  in  two  literary  forgeries,  an  apociyplial  tale 
of  the  birth  of  the  Virgin,  and  a  homily  upon  her  assumption,* 

1  See  pp.  528  sqq ;  552. 

«  See  Hefele.  IV.  507.    The  letter  is  in  Migne,  CXXIV.  col.  881-896. 
3  See  pp.  268  sqq.  *  See  p.  760, 

48 


r 


754  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

attributed  to  Jerome.  The  fraud  was  exposed  by  Ratramnus. 
His  use  of  the  decretals  was  arbitrary.  He  quoted  them  when 
they  would  help  him,  as  against  the  pope  in  contending  for  the 
liberty  of  the  Frankish  Church.  He  ignored  them  when  they 
opposed  his  ideas,  as  in  his  struggle  with  his  nephew,  because  in 
their  original  design  they  asserted  the  independence  of  bishops 
from  their  metropolitans. 

Hincmar  was  not  only  a  valiant  fighter,  but  also  a  faithful 
shepherd.  He  performed  with  efficiency  all  the  usual  duties  of 
isl  bishop,  such  as  holding  councils,  hearing  complaints,  settling 
difficulties,  laying  plans  and  carrying  out  improvements.  He 
paid  particular  attention  to  education  and  the  promotion  of  learn- 
ing generally.  He  was  himself  a  scholar  and  urged  his  clergy 
to  do  all  in  their  power  to  build  up  the  schools.  He  also  gave 
many  books  to  the  libraries  of  the  cathedral  at  Rheims  and  the 
monastery  of  St.  Remi,  and  had  many  copied  especially  for  them. 
His  own  writings  enriched  these  collections.  His  attention  to 
architecture  was  manifested  in  the  stately  cathedral  of  Rheims, 
begun  by  Ebo,  but  which  he  completed,  and  in  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  monastery  of  St.  Remi. 

The  career  of  this  extraordinary  man  was  troubled  to  its  very 
end.  In  881  he  came  in  conflict  with  Louis  the  Third  by  ab- 
solutely refusing  to  consecrate  one  of  the  king's  favorites,  Odo- 
acer,  bishop  of  Beauvais.  Hincmar  maintained  that  he  was 
entirely  unfit  for  the  office,  and  as  the  Pope  agreed  with  him 
Odoacer  was  excommunicated.  In  the  early  part  of  the  follow- 
ing year  the  dreaded  Normans  made  their  appearance  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Rheims.  Hincmar  bethought  himself  of  the 
precious  relics  of  St.  Remi  and  removed  them  for  safety's  sake 
to  Epernay  when  he  himself  fled  thither.  There  he  died,  Dec. 
21,  882.      He  was  buried  two  days  after  at  Rheims. 

Looking  back  upon  Hincmar  through  the  vista  of  ten  cen- 
turies, he  stands  forth  as  the  determined,  irrepressible,  tireless 
opponent   of  both  royal  and  papal  tyranny  over  the  Church. 


^ 


§  175.  HINCMAK  OF  EHEIMS.  755 

He  asserted  the  liberty  of  the  Gallican  Church  at  a  time  when 
the  State  on  the  one  hand  endeavored  to  absorb  her  revenues 
and  utilize  her  clergy  in  its  struggles  and  wars,  and  the  Pope  on 
the  other  hand  strove  to  make  his  authority  in  ecclesiastical 
matters  supreme.  That  Hiucmar  was  arrogant,  relentless,  self- 
seeking,  is  true.  But  withal  he  was  a  pure  man,  a  stern  moral- 
ist, and  the  very  depth  and  vigor  of  his  belief  in  his  own  opinions 
rendered  him  the  more  intolerant  of  the  opinions  of  opponents 
as  of  those  of  the  unfortunate  Gottschalk.  The  cause  he  defended 
was  a  just  and  noble  one,  and  his  failure  to  stem  the  tide  setting 
toward  anarchy  in  Church  and  State  was  fraught  with  far-reach- 
ing consequences. 

HIS   WHITINGS. 

His  writings  reveal  his  essentially  practical  character.  They 
are  very  numerous,  but  usually  very  short.  In  contents  they 
are  designed  for  the  most  part  to  answer  a  temporary  purpose. 
This  makes  them  all  the  more  interesting  to  the  historian,  but 
in  the  same  degree  of  less  permanent  importance.  The  patris- 
tic learning  they  exhibit  is  considerable,  and  the  ability  great ; 
but  the  circumstances  of  his  life  as  prelate  precluded  him  from 
study  and  quiet  thought,  so  he  was  content  to  rely  upon  the 
labors  of  others  and  reproduce  and  adapt  their  arguments  and 
information  to  his  own  design.  Only  the  more  important  can 
be  here  mentioned.  Some  twenty-three  writings  are  known  to 
be  lost.^ 

I.  Writings  in  the  Gottschalk  Controversy.'' 

1.  The  first  was  in  855,  Divine  Predestination  and  the  Free- 
dom of  the  inU.  It  was  in  three  books.  All  has  perished, 
except  the  prefatory  epistle  to  Charles  the  Bald.' 

*  See  ffist.  lit.  de  la  France,  I.  c.  The  philosophical  treatise  De  diversa  et  muU 
tiplici  animm  ratione  (Migne,  CXXV.  col.  929-952)  is  probably  falsely  attributed 
to  him.     Cf.  Ebert,  I.  c.  p.  250. 

*  See  pp.  528  sqq.  '  Migne,  CXXV.  col.  49-56. 


756  FOURTH  PEEIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049.] 

2.  At  tlie  request  of  this  king  he  wrote  a  second  treatise  upon 
the  same  subject.* 

3.  In  857  he  refuted  the  charge  made  against  him  by  Gott- 
schalk  and  Ratramnus  that  in  altering  a  line  of  a  hymn  from 
"  Te,  trina  Deltas,"  to  "  Te,  mnda  Deltas/'  he  showed  a  Sabellian 
leaning.^ 

II.  Writings  in  the  Hinemar  of  Laon  Controversy.^  They 
consist  of  letters  from  each  disputant  to  the  other,  formal  charges 
against  Hinemar  of  Laon,  the  sentence  of  his  deposition,  the 
sy nodical  letter  to  Pope  Hadrian  II.  and  the  letter  of  Hine- 
mar of  Laon  to  the  same. 

III.  Writings  relative  to  political  and  social  aifairs. 

1.  The  divorce  of  king  Lothair  and  queen  Theuiberga.^  This 
treatise  dates  from  863  and  is  the  reply  to  thirty  questions  upon  the 
general  subject  asked  Hinemar  by  diiferent  bishops.  It  reveals 
his  firm  belief  in  witches,  sorcery  and  trial  by  ordeal,  and 
abounds  in  interesting  and  valuable  allusions  to  contemporary 
life  and  manners.^ 

2.  Addresses  and  prayers  at  the  coronation  of  Charles  the 
Bald,  his  son  Louis  II.  the  Stammerer,  his  daughter  Judith, 
and  his  wife  Plermintrude.^ 

3.  The  personal  charaoter  of  the  king  and  the  royal  adminis- 
traiionJ  It  is  dedicated  to  Charles  the  Bald,  and  is  avowedly  a 
compilation.  The  Scriptures  and  the  Fathers,  chiefly  Ambrose, 
Augustin,  and  Gregory  the  Great  are  its  sources.  Its  twenty-three 
chapters  are  distributed  by  Hinemar  himself^  under  three  heads : 
(a)  the  royal  person  and  office  in  general  [chaps.  1-15] ;  (b)  the 

'  De  Prxdesdnatione,  ibid.  col.  55-474. 

*  Collectio  de  una  et  non  trina  Deitnte,  ibid.  col.  473-618. 

'  Opiiscvla  et  epistolce  in  causa  Hinemari  Laudunensis,  Migne,  CXXVI.  col. 
279-648. 

*  De  divortio  Lotharii  regis  et  Tetbergoe  reginoe,  Mipjne,  CXXV.  col.  619-772. 

*  See  especially  Inter,  vi..  xvii.,  xviii.,  ibid.  col.  659-673,  726-730. 
®  Cororudlones  regies,  ibid.  col.  803-818. 

*  De  regis  persona  et  regio  ministerio,  ibid.  col.  833-856. 

*  See  preface,  col.  833,  834. 


1 175.  HINCMAE  OF  RHEIMS.  757 

discretion  to  be  shown  in  the  administration  of  justice  [chaps. 
16-28]  ;  (c)  the  duty  of  a  king  in  the  unsparing  punishment 
of  rebels  against  God,  the  Church  and  the  State,  even  though 
they  be  near  relatives  [chaps.  29-33].  It  was  composed  in  a 
time  of  frequent  rebellion,  and  therefore  the  king  had  need 
to  exercise  severity  as  well  as  gentleness  in  dealing  with  his 
subjects.'     Hincmar  delivers  himself  with  great  plainness  and 

gives  wise  counsels. 

4.  The  vices  to  be  shunned  and  the  virtues  to  be  exercised.^  An- 
other treatise  designed  for  the  guidance  of  Charles  the  Bald, 
compiled  chiefly  from  Gregory  the  Great's  Homilies  and  3Iorah, 
Its  occasion  was  Charles's  request  of  Hincmar  to  send  hira 
Gregory  the  Great's  letter  to  king  Reccared,  when  the  latter 
came  over  to  Catholicism.  Hincmar's  treatise  is  a  sort  of  ap- 
pendix It  begins  with  a  reference  to  the  letter's  allusion  to 
the  works  of  mercy,  and  then  out  of  Gregory's  writings  Hmo- 
mar  proceeds  to  treat  of  these  works  and  their  opposite  vices. 
In  chaps.  9  and  10  Hincmar  discusses  the  eucharist  and  shows 
his  acceptance  of  the  view  of  Paschasius  Radbertus. 

5,  6.  Treatises  upon  rape,  a  common  offense  in  those  lawless 

^T'  To  the  noblemen  of  the  Kingdom,  for  the  instruction  of  King 
Carloman.^  It  was  Hincmar's  response  to  the  highly  compli- 
mentary request  of  the  Frankish  nobles,  that  he  draw  up  some 
instructions  for  the  young  King  Carloman,  on  his  ~n  m 
882.     It  was  therefore  one  of  the  last  pieces  the  old  si^t^sman 

''Tr  Writings  upon  ecclesiastical  affairs.    1.  The  Capitularies 

r  Ebert  (II.  251)  accordingly  finds  the  explanation  of  the  treatise  in  its  third 

division.  .     ...,       i   Q(;7_Qqft 

•^  De  cavendiis  vUiis  el  virtutibus  exercendw,  ^btd.  col.  857-y^u^ 

.,.  •  -o  nnd  De  coercendo  et  exstirfando  rapiu  viduarum, 

3  De  coercendis  mUitum  rapims,  ^nd^e  coerce  ^ 

puellarum  ac  sanctimonialium,  ibid.  col.  9o3-956,  1017  1036. 
*  Ad  proceres  regni,  ibid.  col.  993-1008. 


f 


758  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

of  852,  874,  877,  881/  2.  A  defense  of  the  liberties  of  the  church, 
addressed  to  Charles?  It  is  iu  three  parts,  called  respectively 
Quaterniones,  Rotula  and  Admonitio ;  the  first  sets  forth  the 
necessity  of  the  independence  of  the  Church  of  the  State,  and 
quotes  the  ancient  Christian  Roman  imperial  laws  on  the  subject. 
The  second  is  on  the  trial  of  charges  against  the  clergy  as  laid 
down  in  synodical  decrees  and  papal  decisions.  The  third  is  an 
exhortation  to  the  king  to  respect  ecclesiastical  rights. 

3.  The  criminrttion  of  priests,  a  valuable  treatise  upon  the 
way  in  which  their  trials  should  be  conducted,  as  shown  by 
synodical  decrees  and  quotations  from  Gregory  the  Great  and 
others.^ 

4.  Tlie  case  of  the  presbyter  Teutfrid,  who  had  stolen  Queen 
Imma's  tunic,  a  golden  girdle  set  with  gems,  an  ivory  box,  and 
other  things.*  The  treatise  deals  with  the  ecclesiastico-legal 
aspects  of  the  case,  and  shows  how  the  criminal  should  be  treated. 
Gregory  the  Great  is  freely  quoted. 

V.  Miscellaneous.  1.  Exposition  of  Psalm  civ.  17.^  In  the 
Vulgate  the  second  clause  of  the  verse  reads,  "  the  nest  of  the 
stork  is  their  chief."  The  treatise  was  written  iu  answer  to  Louis 
the  German's  question  as  to  the  meaning  of  these  words.  He 
begins  with  a  criticism  of  the  text,  in  which  he  quotes  the  Sep- 
tuagint  rendering,  the  exposition  of  Jerome,  Augustin,  Prosper 
and  Cassiodorus.  The  meaning  he  advocates  is  that  the  nest  of 
the  stork  surpasses  that  of  the  little  birds  of  which  it  is  the 
chief  or  leader.  The  treatise  is  particularly  interesting  for  its 
manner  of  dealing  with  one  of  the  so-called  Scripture  difficulties. 

2.  The  vision  of  Bernold.^  This  interesting  little  story  dates 
from  877,  the  year  of  Charles  the  Bald's  death.     Bernold  lived 

»  Capitula,  ibid.  col.  773-804,  1069-1086. 

*  Pro  ecclesice  libertatum  defensione.  ibid.  col.  1035-1070. 
'  De  presbyteris  criminosis,  ibid.  col.  1093-1110. 

*  De  cmum  Teutfridi prestbyteri,  ibid.  col.  1111-1116. 

*  -De  verbis  P.'^almi :  Herodli  domux  dux  esl  eorum,  ibid.  col.  957-962. 
°  Be  visione  Bernoldi  presbyteri,  ibid.  col.  1115-1120. 


2  175.  HLNCMAR  OF  KHEIMS.  759 

in  Rheims,  and  was  known  to  Hincraar,     He  had  a  vision  after 
he  had  been  four  days  at  the  point  of  death,  which  he  related  to 
his  confessor,  and  the  confessor  to  llincmar,  who  for  obvious 
reasons  published  it.      Bernold  regained  his  health,  and  was 
therefore  a  living  witness  to  the  accuracy  of  his  story.     In  his 
vision  he  went  to  "  a  certain  place,"  L  e.  purgatory,  in  which  he 
found  forty-one  bishops,  ragged  and  dirty,  exposed  alternately  to 
extreme  cold  and  scorching  heat.    Amoug  them  was  Ebo,  Hinc- 
mar's  predecessor,  who  immediately  implored  Boruold  to  go  to 
their  parishioners  and  clergy  and  tell  them  to  offer  alms,  prayers 
and  the  sacred  oblation  for  them.    This  he  did,  and  on  his  return 
found  the  bishops  radiant  in  countenance,  as  if  just  bathed  and 
shaved,  dressed  in  alb,  stole  and  sandals,  but  without  chasubles. 
Leaving  them,  Bernold  went  in  his  vision  to  a  dark  place,  where 
he  saw  Charles  the  Bald  sitting  in  a  heap  of  putrefaction,  gnawed 
by  worms  and  worn  to  a  mere  skeleton.     Charles  called  him  by 
name  and  implored  him  to  help  him.     Bernold  asked  how  he 
could.     Then  Charles  told  him  that  he  was  suffering  because  he 
had  not  obeyed  Hincmar's  counsels,  but  if  Bernold  would  secure 
Hincmar's  help  he  would  be  delivered.     This  Bernold  did,  and 
on  his  return  he  found  the  king  clad  in  royal  robes,  sound  in  flesh 
and  amid  beautiful  surroundings.     Bernold  went  fuither  and 
encountered  two  other  characters — Jesse,  an  archbishop,  and  a 
Count  Othar,  whom  he  helped  by  going  to  the  earth  and  securing 
the  prayers,  alms  and  oblations  of  their  friends.     He  finally 
came  across  a  man  who  told  him  that  in  fourteen  years  he  would 
leave  the  body  and  go  back  to  the  place  he  was  then  in  for  good, 
but  that  if  he  was  careful  to  give  alms  and  to  do  other  good 
works  he  would  have  a  beautiful  mansion.     A  rustic  of  stern 
countenance  expressed  his  lack  of  faith  in  Bernold's  ability  to  do 
this,  but  was  silenced  by  the  first  man.     "Whereupon  Bernold 
asked  for  the  Eucharist,  and  when  it  was  given  to  him  he  drank 
almost  half  a  goblet  of  wine,  and  said,  "  I  could  eat  some  food, 
if  I  had  it."    He  was  fed,  revived  and  recovered.     Hincmar,  in 


760  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

relating  this  vision,  calls  attention  to  its  similarity  to  those  told 
in  the  Dialogues  of  Gregory  the  Great,  the  Ecclesiastical  History 
of  Bcde,  in  the  writings  of  St.  Boniface,  and  to  that  of  Wettin, 
which  AValahfrid  Strabo  related.^  He  ends  by  exhorting  his 
readers  to  be  nioi'e  fervent  in  their  prayers,  and  especially  to 
pray  for  king  Charles  and  the  other  dead. 

3.  The  life  of  SL  Remigius,^  the  patron  saint  of  Eheims.  This 
is  an  expansion  of  Fortunatus'  brief  biography  by  means  of 
extracts  from  the  Gesta  Francorum,  Gregory  of  Tours,  and 
legendary  and  traditional  sources,  and  particularly  by  means  of 
moralizing  and  allegorizing.  The  length  of  the  book  is  out  of 
all  proportion  to  its  value  or  interest.  To  the  life  he  adds  an 
Encomium  of  St.  Remigius.^  The  object  of  these  two  books  is 
not  to  produce  history  or  criticism,  but  an  edifying  work  and  to 
exalt  the  church  of  Rheims  by  exalting  its  patron.  Perhaps 
also  he  would  hint  that  the  gift  which  Chlodwig  made  to  E,e- 
migius  might  be  acceptably  imitated.^ 

4.  Ilincmar  appears  as  a  genuine  historian  in  the  third  part 
of  the  Bertinian  Annals,^  so  called  because  first  published  from 
a  MS.  found  in  the  convent  of  St.  Bertin.  These  Annals  of  the 
West  Frankish  Kingdom  begin  with  the  year  741  and  go  down 
to  882.  Hincmar  wrote  them  from  861  to  882.  He  evidently 
felt  the  responsibility  of  the  work  he  conducted,  for  he  put  every 
fact  down  in  a  singularly  impartial  manner,  especially  when  it  is 
remembered  that  he  was  himself  an  important  part  of  contem- 
porary history.^ 

5.  LeitersJ    These  are  fifty-five  in  number,  and  are  upon 

»  See  §  169,  p.  732. 

»  Vita  Sandii  Remigii,  Migne,  CXXV.  col.  1129-1188. 
»  Enr.cmium  ejmdem  S.  Remujii,  ibid.  col.  1187-1198. 
*  Ihvrl,  I.  c.  p.  256. 

^  Annalhim  Bertinianorum  pars  lertia,  Migne,  CXXV.  col.  1203-1302.     Re- 
print f  f  Pertz,  "Monum.  Germ,  hist.  Script."  I.  455-515. 
«  Ebert,  /.  c.  367,  368. 
'  Epistoloe,  Migne,  CXXVI.  col.  9-280. 


2  176.  JOHANNES  SCOTUS  ERIGENA.  761 

weighty  matters;  indeed  they  are  official  documeuts,  and  not 
familiar  correspondence. 

6.  Poems.^     They  are  very  few  and  devoid  of  poetical  mcrit.^ 

§  176.  Johannes  Scotus  Erigena. 

I.  Johannes  Scotus:   Opera  omnia,  in  Migne,  Tom.  CXXII.  (1853). 

IT.  J.  Floss  prepared  -this  edition,  which  is  more  complete  than  any 
other,  for  Migne's  series.  The  De  divisione  naturae  was  separately 
edited  by  C.  B.  SchUUer,  Munster,  1838,  who  reprints  in  the  same  vol. 
(pp.  593-610)  thirteen  religious  poems  of  Scotus  as  edited  by  Cardinal 
Mai  ( Class.  AucL  V.  426  sqq.).  i>.  Haur6au  has  edited  Scotus's  com- 
mentary on  Marcianus  Capella,  Paris,  1861 ;  and  Cardinal  Mai  the 
fragments  of  his  commentary  on  Dionysius  Areopagita  [Appendix  ad 
opera  edita  ab  Angela  Mai,  Rome,  1879).  There  is  an  excellent  Ger- 
man translation  of  the  De  Div.  Nat.  by  L.  Noack  [Erigena  iiber  die 
Eintheilung  der  Natur,  mit  einer  Schlussabhandlung,  Leipzig,  1874-7, 
3  pts.). 

II.  Besides  the  Prolegomena  and  notes  of  the  works  already  mentioned, 
see  Peder  Hjort  :  J.  S.  E.,  oder  von  dem  Ursprung  einer  christlichen 
Philosophie  und  ihrem  heiligen  Beruf,  Copenhagen,  1823.  F.  A. 
Staudenm AIER :  /.  S.  E.,  u.  d.  Wissenschaft  s.  Zeit.,  vol.  I.  (all  pub- 
lished), Frankfort-on-the-Main,  1834.  St.  Rene  Taillandier: 
S.  E.  et  la  philosophie  scholastique,  Strasbourg,  1843.  N.  Moller  : 
J.  S.  E.  u.  s.  Irrthilmer,  Mayence,  1844.  Theodok  Christlieb 
Leben  u.  Lehre  d.  J.  S.  E.,  Gotha,  1860 ;  comp.  also  his  article  in 
Herzog,^  XIII.  788-804  (1884).  Johannes  Huber:  /.  S.  E.  Ein 
Beitrag  zur  Geschichte  der  Philosophie  und  Theologie  im  Mittelalter, 
Munich,  1861.  A.  Stockl  :  Z>e  J. /S.  ^.,  Munster,  1867.  O.Hermens: 
Das  Leben  des  J.  8.  E.,  Jena,  1869.  R.  Hoffmann  :  De  J.  S.  E.  vita 
et  doctri/'ia,  Halle,  1877  (pp.  37).  Cf.  Baur  :  Geschichte  der  Lehre  v<on 
der  Dreieinigkeit,  II.  263-344.  Dorner  :  Gesch.  d.  Lehre  v.  d.  Person 
Christi,  II.  344-359.     Neander,  III.  461-466. 

III.  On  particular  points.  Torstrick:  Philosophia  Erigence ;  1.  Trini- 
tatis  7iotio,  Gottingen,  1844.  Francis  Monnier  :  De  Gothescalci  etJ. 
S.  E.  controversia,  Paris,  1853.  W.  Kaulich  :  Das  speculative  System 
des  J.  S.  E.,  Prag,  1860.  Meusel  :  Doetrina  J.  S.  E.  cum  Christiana 
comparavit,  Budissre  (Bautzen),  1869.  F.  J.  Hoffmann:  Der 
Gottes-  u.  Schopfungshegriff  des  J.  S.  E.,  Jena,  1876.     G.  Anders: 

1  Carmina,  Migne,  CXXV.  col.  1201-1202.  There  are  a  few  verses  else- 
where in  Migne,  and  a  poem  on  the  Virgin  Mary  in  Mai,  "GUiss.  auctor.  e 
Vaticanis  codicibiis,"  452  sqq. 

»  Ebert,  I.  c.  257, 


T 


762  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

Darstellung  u.  Kritik  d.  Ansicht  doss  d.  Eategorien  nicht  auf  Gott 
anwendbar  seien,  Sorau,  1877  (pp.  37).  G.  BuCHWALD:  Der 
Logosbegriff  de  J.  S.  E.,  Leipzig,  1884.  For  his  logic  see  Prantl  : 
Geschichte  d.  Logik  im  Abendlande,  Leipzig,  1855-70,  4  vols.  (IL 
20-37).  For  his  philosophy  in  general  see  B.  H aureau  :  Histoire  de 
la  philosophie  scholastique,  Paris,  1850,  2  vols.,  2cl  ed.  1872-81,  (chap, 
viii).  F.  D.  Maurice:  Mediceval  Philosophy,  London,  1856,  2d  ed. 
1870  (pp.  45-79).  F.  Ueberweg:  History  of  Philosophy,  Eng. 
trans.  I.,  358-365.  Reuter  :  Geschichte  d.  religibsen  Aufkldrung  im 
Mittelalter,  Berlin,  1875-1877,  2  vols.  (I.  51-64).  J.  Bass  Mull- 
inger:  The  Schools  of  Charles  the  Great,  London,  1877  (pp.  171- 
193).  Also  Du  Pin,  VIL  82-84.  Ceillier,  XII.  605-609.  Hist, 
lit.  de  la  France,  V.  416-429.     Bahr,  483-500.     Eeejit,  II.  257-267. 

HIS   LIFE. 

Of  Johannes  Scotus  Eeigena,  philosopher  and  theologian, 
one  of  the  great  men  of  history,  very  little  is  known.  His  an- 
cestry, and  places  of  birth,  education,  residence  and  death  are 
disputed.  Upon  only  a  few  facts  of  his  life,  such  as  his  position 
at  the  court  of  Charles  the  Bald,  and  his  literary  works,  can  one 
venture  to  speak  authoritatively. 

He  was  born  in  Ireland  ^  between  800  and  815,  educated  in 
one  of  its  famous  monastic  schools,  where  the  Greek  Fathers, 
particularly  Origen,  were  studied  as  well  as  the  Latin.  He  went 
to  France  about  843,  attracted  the  notice  of  Charles  the  Bald, 
and  was  honored  with  his  friendship.^  The  king  appointed  him 
j)rincipal  of  the  School  of  the  Palace,  and  frequently  deferred 
to  his  judgment.  John  Scotus  was  one  of  the  ornaments  of 
the  court  by  reason  of  his  great  learning,  his  signal  ability  both 
as  teacher  and  philosopher,  and  his  blameless  life.  He  was 
popularly  regarded  as  having  boundless  knowledge,  and  in 
reality  his  attainments  were  uncommon.  He  knew  Greek  fairly 
well  and  often  introduces  Greek  words  into  his  writings.  He 
owed  much  to  Greek  theologians,  especially  Pseudo-Dionysius 

*  See  supplementary  note  to  this  section. 

'  He  even  stood  on  a  very  familiar  footing  if  the  story  of  Matthew  of  Paris 
mentioned  on  p.  539  may  be  credited.  Cf.  Matthew  Paris,  Chronica  major,  ed. 
Luard,  pp.  415  sq. 


l^.  k  JOHANNES  SCOTUS  ERIGENA.  763 

and  Maximus.^  He  was  acquainted  with  the  Tiniceus  of  Plato  ia 
the  translation  of  Chalcidus  and  with  the  Categories  of  Aristotle.^ 
He  was  also  well  read  in  Augustin,  Boethius,  Cassiodorus  and 
Isidore.  He  took  a  leading  part  in. the  two  great  doctrinal 
controversies  of  his  age,  on  predestination  and  the  eucharist,'* 
and  by  request  of  Charles  the  Bald  translated  into  Latin  the 
Pseudo-Dionysian  writings.  The  single  known  fact  about  his 
personal  appearance  is  that,  like  Einhard,  he  was  of  small  stature. 
He  died  about  877,  probably  shortly  after  Charles  the  Bald. 

HIS  WRITINGS. 

Besides  the  treatise  upon  Predestination  and  the  translation 
of  Dionysius,  already  discussed,*  Scotus  Erigena  wrote : 

1.  A  translation  of  the  Obscurities  of  Gregory  Nazianzcn,  by 
Maximus  Confessor.^  This  was  made  at  the  instance  of  Charles 
the  Bald,  in  864. 

2.  Expositions  of  the  Heavenly  Hierarchy,  the  Eoclesiastical 
Hierarchy,  and  the  Mystical  Theology  of  Dionysius.^ 

3.  Homily  upon  the  prologue  to  John's  GospelJ 

4.  A  commentary  upon  John's  Gospel^  Only  four  fragments 
of  it  have  as  yet  been  found. 

5.  A  commentary  upon  the  Dialectic  of  Mariianm  Capella. 
This  has  been  published  by  Haur^au.^ 

6.  The  out-going  and  in-coming  of  a  soul  to  God}^  Of  this 
only  a  small  fragment  has  as  yet  been  found. 

1  His  affinity  with  Maximus  has  been  shown  by  Baur  and  Doraer. 

2  Ueberweg,  I.  e.  p.  359. 

5  See  full  account  in  this  vol.  pp.  539  sqq.  and  551  sqq. 

*  These  works  are  in  Migne,  CXXII.  col.  35.5-440.  and  col.  1029-1194. 

6  Versio  Ambiguorum  S.  3Iaximi.     Migne,  CXXH.  col.  1193-1222. 

6  Expositiones  super  ierarchiam  ccelestem  S.  Dionysii,  etc.     Ibid.  col.  12&-284. 
T  Homilia  in  prologum  S.  Evangdii  secundum  Joannem.     Ibid.  col.  2^83-296. 
8  Commentarius  in  S.  Evangelium  secundum  Jounnan.     Ibid.  col.  297-.j48. 

10  Liher  de  egressu  etregressu  anima:  ad  Deum.  Migne,  CXXH.  co».  1023, 1024. 


f 


7Q4  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

7.  The  vision  of  God.  This  is  in  MS.  at  St.  Omer  and  not 
yet  printed. 

8.  Verses.^  Among  them  are  some  Greek  verses,  with  a  self- 
made  Latin  interlineal  translation.  He  introduces  both  single 
Greek  words  and  verses  similarly  interlineated  into  his  other 

poems. 

9.  The  great  work  of  Scotus  Erigena  is  The  Division  of  Na- 
ture.'^ It  consists  of  five  books  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  between 
a  teacher  and  a  disciple.  The  latter,  generally  speaking,  repre- 
sents the  ecclesiastical  conscience,  but  always  in  the  end  echoes 
his  teacher.  The  style  is  lively  and  the  range  of  topics  em- 
braces the  most  important  theological,  cosmological  and  anthro- 
pological questions.  The  work  was  the  first  practical  attempt 
made  in  the  AVest  to  unite  philosophy  and  theology.  As  in  the 
dedication  to  AVulfad,  the  well-known  opponent  of  Hincmar, 
John  calls  him  simply  •''brother,"  the  work  must  have  been 
written  prior  to  865,  the  year  of  Wulfad's  elevation  to  the 
archiepiscopate  of  Bourges.^ 

HIS  THEOLOGICAL  TEACHING. 

In  the  Division  of  Nature  Scotus  Erigena  has  embodied  his 
theology  and  philosophy.  By  the  term  "Nature"  he  means  all 
that  is  and  is  not.*  The  latter  expression  he  further  interprets 
as  including,  1st,  that  which  is  above  the  reach  of  our  senses  or  our 
reason ;  2d,  that  which  though  known  to  those  higher  in  the 
scale  of  being  is  not  known  to  those  lower ;  3d,  that  which  is  yet 
only  potentially  existent,  like  the  human  race  in  Adam,  the  plant 
in  the  seed,  etc. ;  4th,  the  material  which  comes  and  goes  and 
therefore  is  not  truly  existent  like  the  intelligible ;  5th,  sin  as 

I  Ibid.  Verses,  col.  1221-1240. 

'  Uepl  <p'vaeu)q  fiepiafiov.     Id  est,  de  divisione  nalurce.     Ibid.  col.  411-1022. 
3  V.  40,  ibid.  col.  1022,  1.  13. 

*  "  Est  igitur  natura  yenercde  nomen,  ut  diximus,  omnium  quce  sunt  et  quae  non 
su,fU."     De  Div.  nat.  I.    Ibid.  col.  441, 1.  10. 


?  176.  JOHANNES  SCOTUS  ERIGENA.  765 

being  the  loss  of  the  Divine  image.^  Nature  is  divided  into 
four  species :  (1)  that  which  creates  and  is  not  created,  (2j  that 
which  is  created  and  creates,  (3)  that  which  is  created  and  does 
not  create,  (4)  that  which  neither  creates  nor  is  created.  The 
first  three  divisions  are  a  Neo-Platonic  and  Christian  modifica- 
tion of  the  three-fold  ontological  division  of  Aristotle :  ^  the  un- 
moved and  the  moving,  the  moved  and  moving,  and  the  moved 
and  not  moving.  The  fourth  form  was  suggested  by  the  Pseudo- 
Dionysian  doctrine  of  the  return  of  all  things  to  God. 

One  of  the  fundamental  ideas  of  his  theology  is  the  identity 
of   true  philosophy  and  true  religion.      Both   have  the  same 
divine  source.^  "  True  religion  "  and  authority,  i.  e.  the  Church 
doctrine,  are  however  not  with  him  exactly  identical,  and  in  a 
conflict  between  them  he  sides  with  the  former.     In  his  use  of 
Scripture   he    follows   the   allegorical  method.      He  puts  the 
Fathers  almost  upon  a  level  with  the  Sacred  Writers  and  claims 
that  their  wisdom  in  interpreting  Scripture  must  not  be  ques- 
tioned.    At  the  same  time  he  holds  that  it  is  permissible,  espe- 
cially when  the  Fathers  differ  among  themselves,  to  select  that 
interpretation  of  Scripture  which  most  recommends  itself  to  reason 
as  accordant  with  Scripture.^   It  is,  he  says,  the  province  of  reason 
to  bring  out  the  hidden  meaning  of  the  text,  which  is  manifold, 
inexhaustible,  and  striking  like  a  peacock's  feathers.*     It  is  in- 
terestinor  to  note  in  this  connection  that  John  Scotus  read  the 
New  Testament  in  the  original  Greek,  and  the  Old  Testament 
in  Jerome's  version,  not  in  the  Septuagint.®     And  it   is  still 
more  interesting  to  know  that   he  prayed  most  earnestly  for 
daily  guidance  in  the  study  of  the  Scriptures.^ 

1  I.  3-7.     Cf.  Ueberweg,  I.  c,  p.  361. 

*  Melaph.  XII.  7 ;   cf.  Augnstin,  who  mentions  the  first  three  forms,  De  civ. 
Dei,  V.  9,  and  Ueberweg,  I.  c.  I.  363. 

3  "Ambo  sequidem  ex  unofonte,  divina  videlicet  sapientia,  manare  dvbium  non  est." 
De  div.  nai.  T.  66,  Migne,  ed.  col.  511,  1.  28. 
*  Ihid.  II.  16,  col.  548.     IV.  16.  col.  816,  cf.  col.  829. 

6  Ibid.  IV.  5,  col.  749.  «  "Septuagintaproe  manibus  non  habemus."   Migne,  col.  243. 
T  Neander,  III.  p.  462. 


< 


766  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

The  doctrinal  teaching  of  Scotus  Erigena  can  be  reduced,  as 
he  himself  states,  to  three  heads.  (1)  God,  the  simple  and  at 
the  same  time  the  multiform  cause  of  all  things ;  (2)  Procession 
from  God,  the  divine  goodness  showing  itself  in  all  that  is, 
from  general  to  particular ;  (3)  Return  to  God,  the  manifold 
going  back  into  the  one. 

First  Head.  God,  or  Nature,  which  creates  but  is  not  created, 
a.  The  Being  of  God  in  itself  considered.  God  is  the  essence 
of  all  things,  alone  truly  is,^  and  is  the  beginning,  middle  and 
end  of  all  things.^  He  is  incomprehensible.^  While  the  pre- 
dicates of  essence,  truth,  goodness,  wisdom,  &c.,  can  be,  accord- 
ing to  the  "affirmative"  theology,  applied  to  God,  it  can  only  be 
done  metaphorically,  because  each  such  predicate  has  an  opposite, 
while  in  God  there  is  no  opposition.  Hence  the  "negative" 
theology  correctly  maintains  they  can  not  be.*  Neither  can  self- 
consciousness  be  predicated  of  God.^  Although  not  even  the 
angels  can  see  the  essence  of  God,  yet  his  being  [i.  e.  the  Father) 
can  be  seen  in  the  being  of  things ;  his  wisdom  [i.  e.  the  Son) 
in  their  orderly  arrangement,  and  his  life  [i.  e.  the  Holy  Spirit) 
in  their  constant  motion.®  God  is  therefore  an  essence  in  three 
substances.  Scotus  Erigena  takes  up  the  doctrine  of  John  of 
Damascus  concerning  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
applies  it  to  the  relation  of  the  Son  to  the  Father :  "  As  the 
Holy  Spirit  proceeds  from  the  Father  through  the  Son,  so  is 
the  Son  born  of  the  Father  through  the  Holy  Spirit."  ^  In 
the  old  patristic  fashion  he  compares  the  Three  Persons  to  light, 
heat  and  radiance  united  in  the  flame.     But  he  understood  under 


^  "  Ipse  namque  omnium  essentia  csf ,  qui  solus  vere  est."     Migne,  Ibid.  I.  3  (col. 
443).     '  ^' Est  icjitur  principium,  medium  et  finis."     I.  11  (col.  451). 
'  "  Deus  per  seipsum  incomprehensibilis  est."    1. 10  (col.  451). 

*  I.  14  (col.  459). 

*  II.  28  (col.  593).     For  a  discussion  of  this  point  see  Christlieb,  J.  S  E., 
pp.  1G8-176. 

*  De  div.  Nat.  T.  13  (col.  455).     Ueberweg,  I.  c,  p.  361. 
'  De  div.  Nat.  II.  33  (col.  612). 


2  176.    JOHANNES  SCOTUS  ERIGENA.  767 

*'  persons  "  no  real  beings,  only  names  of  the  aspects  and  rela- 
tions under  which  God's  being  comes  out.  God  realizes  himself 
in  creation,  and  in  every  part  of  it,  yet  he  does  not  thereby 
yield  the  simplicity  of  his  essence.  He  is  still  removed  from 
all,  subsists  outside  of  and  above  the  world,  which  has  no  inde- 
pendent existence  apart  from  God,  but  is  simply  his  manifes- 
tation. He  is  both  the  substance  and  the  accidents  of  all  that 
exists.  "God  therefore  is  all  and  all  is  God."^  But  God  reveals 
himself  to  the  creature.  He  appeared  first  to  the  pious  in  visions, 
but  this  was  only  occasional.^  He  then  appeared  constantly  in 
the  form  of  the  different  virtues.^  The  intellect  is  itself  a 
theophany ;  and  so  is  the  whole  world,  visible  and  invisible.* 

2.  The  Procession  from  God  or  Nature,  a.  Nature  which 
creates  and  is  created,  or  the  primordial  ideas  of  the  world  and 
their  unity  in  the  Logos.  God  is  the  nature  and  essence  of  the 
world.  Creation  is  the  effect  of  the  divine  nature,  which  as 
cause  eternally  produces  its  effects,  indeed  is  itself  in  the 
primordial  ideas  the  first  forms  and  grounds  of  things.'^  As  the 
pure  Being  of  God  cannot  immediately  manifest  itself  in  the 
finite,  it  is  necessary  that  God  should  create  the  prototypes  in 
which  he  can  appear.  In  creation  God  passes  through  these 
prototypes  or  primordial  causes  into  the  world  of  visible  crea- 
tures. So  the  Triune  God  enters  the  finite,  not  only  in  the 
Incarnation,  but  in  all  created  existences.  Our  life  is  God's  life 
in  us.  As  remarked  above,  we  know  God  because  in  us  he  re- 
veals himself.  These  prototypes  have  only  subjective  existence, 
except  as  they  find  their  unity  in  the  Logos.«       Under  the 

1  III  10  (col  650).  This  is  the  remark  of  the  "disciple,"  but  the  "  master" 
does  not  contradict  it.    Cf.  Ill-  17,  V.  30  ;  I.  13. 

2  17    8  (cols.  445-448).  .  ,  •     ,  , 

3  -Igiiur  omnis  theophania,  id  est  omnis  virtus,  et  in  hac  mta  .  .  .  et  m  futura 

vita,"  I.  9  (col.  449). 

*  I.  7,  8,  13  (cols.  445-448.  454-459). 

» III.  23  (col.  689).  . 

6  II.  15,  22  (cols.  545-548,  562-566,  especially  col.  566). 


I 


768  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  tliey  produce  the  external  world  of 
time  and  space. 

b.  Nature,  which  is  created  and  does  not  create,  or  the  phe- 
nomenal world  and  its  union  in  man.  In  the  Logos  all  things 
existed  from  eternity.  Creation  is  their  appearance  in  time. 
The  principle  of  the  development  of  the  primordial  ideas  is  the 
Holy  Spirit.^  The  materiality  of  the  world  is  only  apparent, 
space  and  time  only  exist  in  the  mind.  The  "nothing"  from 
which  God  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth  was  his  own  incom- 
prehensible essence.^  The  whole  phenomenal  world  is  but  the 
shadow  of  the  real  existence.^  Man  is  the  centre  of  the 
phenomenal  world,  uniting  in  himself  all  the  contradictions 
and  dilferences  of  creation.*  His  intellect  has  the  power  to 
grasp  the  sensuous  and  intelligible,  and  is  itself  the  substance 
of  things.^  So  all  nature  is  created  in  man,  and  subsists  in  him, 
because  the  idea  of  all  its  parts  is  implanted  in  him.®  The 
divine  thought  is  the  primary,  the  human  the  secondary 
substance  of  things.^ 

Paradise  is  to  be  interpreted  spiritually.  Adam  is  not  so 
much  an  historical  personage  as  the  human  race  in  its  preexistent 
condition.  Man  was  never  sinless,  for  sin,  as  a  limitation  and 
defect,  is  not  accidental  or  temporal,  but  original  in  the  creation 
and  nature  of  man.^ 

c.  The  union  of  divinity  and  created  existence,  or  the  God- 
man.  Scotus  Erigcna  shows  upon  this  point  the  duality  of  his 
system.  On  the  one  hand  he  presents  Christ  as  an  historical 
character,  with  body,  mind,  soul,  spirit,  in  short  the  union  of 

»  II.  22  (col.  566). 

*  III.  19  Ccol.  680). 

8  I.  27,  56-58  (col.  474,  475;  498-501). 

♦  II.  9  (col.  536). 

^  "  Litellcctus  omnium  esi  omnia,"  III.  4  (col.  632,  1.  3  fr.  bel.).  " Inielledus 
rerum  veraciler  ipsce  res  sunt"  II.  8  (col.  535). 

®  IV.  7  (cols.  762-772),  e.  g.  In  homine  omnis  creatura  substantialiter  creata  »it 
(col.  772). 

■'  IV.  7  (col.  762-772).  a  IV.  14  (col.  807,  808). 


§  176.    JOHANNES  SCOTUS  ERIGENA.  760 

the  entire  sensible  and  intellectual  qualities  of  the  creature.' 
But  on  the  other  hand  he  maintains  that  the  Incarnation  was  an 
eternal  and  necessary  fact/  and  that  it  came  about  through  an 
ineifable  and  multiplex  theophany  in  the  consciousness  of  men 
and  angels.^ 

3.  The  return  to  God,  or  the  completion  of  the  world  in 
Nature,  which  creates  not  and  is  not  created,  a.  The  return  to 
God  according  to  its  pre-temporal  idea,  or  the  doctrine  of  pre- 
destination. There  is  only  one,  true  predestination,  viz.  to 
holiness.  There  is  no  foreknowledge  of  the  bad.  God  has 
completest  unity  and  simplicity ;  hence  his  being  is  not  different 
from  his  knowledge  and  will;  and  since  he  has  full  liberty,  the 
organization  of  his  nature  is  free.  But  this  organization  is  at 
the  same  time  to  the  world  law  and  government,  i.  e,  its  predes- 
tination ;  and  because  God  is  himself  goodness,  the  predestination 
can  only  be  to  good.  The  very  character  of  wickedness,— it  is  oyy- 
posed  to  God,  not  substantial  in  nature,  a  defect  mixed  up  with 
the  good,  transitory,  yet  essential  to  the  development  of  the  world, 
— renders  it  unreal  and  therefore  not  an  object  of  divine  know- 
ledge. God  does  not  know  the  bad  as  such,  but  only  as  the 
negation  of  the  good.  "  God's  knowledge  is  the  revelation  of 
his  essence,  one  and  the  same  thing  with  his  willing  and  his 
creating.  As  evil  cannot  be  derived  from  the  divine  causality, 
neither  can  it  be  considered  as  an  object  of  divine  knowledge."  * 
Nor  is  there  any  divine  predestination  or  foreknowledge 
respecting  the  punishment  of  the  bad,  for  this  ensues  in  con- 
sequence of  their  violation  of  law.     They  punish  themselves.' 

1  " '  Corpus  qui-ppe,^  inquit,  'et  sensum  el  ammnm  aenivdum  T?o.<t  hahern,'  Chrishu 
videlicet,  'et  intellectum.'  His  enim  veluti  qualuor  partibiia  humana  naiura  con- 
stituitur."    ir.  13  (col.  541). 

2  V.  25  (col.  912). 

3  V.  25  (col.  912). 

*  Neander,  I.  c.  IIF.  p.  465. 

5  "  Nullum  peccatum  est  quod  non  se  ipsum  punint.  occiilte  tamfn  in  hoe  mta,  apnt» 
vero  in  altera,  qux  estfutura."     De  Divina  Prxdestmatione,  XVI.  vi.  (col.  4236). 
49 


r 


770  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  690-1049. 

Hell  is  in  the  rebellious  will.  Predestination  is,  in  brief,  the 
eternal  law  and  the  immutable  order  of  nature,  whereljy  the 
elect  are  restored  from  their  ruin  and  the  rejected  are  shut  up  in 
their  ruin.^ 

h.  The  return  of  all  things  to  God  considered  according  to 
their  temporal  principles,  or  the  doctrine  of  salvation.  There 
are  only  a  few  scattered  remarks  uj^on  this  subject  in  Scotus 
Erigena.  Christ  is  the  Saviour  by  what  he  is  in  himself,  not  by 
what  he  does.  His  death  is  only  important  as  the  means  of 
resurrection;  which  began  with  the  resurrection  and  exaltation 
of  Christ,  because  then  all  things  began  to  return  to  their  union 
in  their  primordial  causes,  and  this  return  constitutes  salvation. 
The  consequences  of  salvation  are  therefore  felt  by  angels  as  well 
as  men,  and  even  by  inanimate  things.^  Salvation,  as  far  as  we 
are  concerned,  consists  in  speculative  knowledge.  We  unite 
ourselves  with  God  by  virtue  of  contemplation.^ 

c.  The  return  of  all  things  to  God  considered  according  to 
their  future  completion.  All  things  came  out  from  God,  all 
things  go  back  to  God.  This  is  the  law  of  creation.  The 
foundation  of  this  return  is  the  return  of  man  to  the  Logqs. 
The  steps  are,  1st,  deliverance  from  the  bodily  forms ;  2d, 
resurrection  and  the  abrogation  of  sex ;  3d,  the  transformation 
of  body  into  spirit ;  4th,  the  return  to  the  primordial  causes; 
5th,  the  recession  of  nature,  along  with  these  causes,  into  God. 
But  this,  of  course,  implies  that  God  alone  will  exist  forever, 

1  "  Sicut  enim  Deus  clectorum,  quos  prsedestinavit  ad  gratiam,  Uheravit  voluntatem, 
camqve  caritatis  sttve  affectihus  impUvit,  tit  non  solum  intra  fines  eeternse  legis  gaudeant 
contincri,  sed  ctiam  ipsos  transire  nee  vel'e.  nee  pos.se  maximum  sitie  gloriie  miinus  esse 
non  dnhitrnt :  ita  reproboriim,  quos  prxdestinavit  ad  pcenam  turpissimam,  coercet 
voluntatem,  ut  e  eontrario,  quiequid  illis  pertinet  ad  gandium  beatse  viie,  istis  verta- 
tur  in  snpplicium  miseriue."    De  div.  Prxd.  XVIII.  vii.  (col.  434),  cf.  XVII.  i.  v. 

'  "  Nonne  Verbum  asmimens  hominem,  omnem  creaturam  visibilem  et  invidhilem 
accrpit,  et  totum,  quod  in  hnmine  accepit  salvum  fecit.''    De  div.  nat.  V.  25  (col.  913). 

'  "  Commune  ommium,  qucefarla  simt.  quodnni  veluli  intrrif.it,  redire  in  cauiias,  quxz 
in  Deo  ifubaiiiiuvt  ;  pmprium  vero  inlellectuali^  et  raitonaUst  s^bsianli-f,  unumcum 
Deo  virlule  contemplationis,  et  Deus  per  gratiam  Jien."    V.  21  (col.  898j. 


§176.    JOHANNES  SCOTUS  ERIGENA.  771 

and  that  there  can  be  no  eternal  punishment.     Scotus  Erio-ena 
tries  in  vain  to  escape  both  these  logical  conclusions.^ 

HIS   PHILOSOPHY. 

Ueberweg  thus  states  Scotus  Erigena's  philosophical  position 
and  teachings :  ^  "  The  fundamental  idea,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  fundamental  error,  in  Erigena's  doctrine  is  the  idea  that  the 
degrees  of  abstraction  correspond  with  the  degrees  in  the  scale 
of  real  existence.  He  hypostasizes  the  Tabula  Logica.  The 
universals  are  before  and  also  in  the  individual  objects  Avliich 
exist,  or  rather  the  latter  are  in  the  former:  the  distinction  be- 
tween these  (Realistic)  formulae  appears  not  yet  developed  in 
his  writings.  ...  He  is  throughout  a  Realist.  He  teaches,  it  is 
true,  that  grammar  and  rhetoric,  as  branches  of  dialectic  or 
aids  to  it,  relate  only  to  words,  not  to  things,  and  that  they  are 
therefore  not  properly  sciences;  but  he  co-ordinates  dialectic 
itself  with  ethics,  physics  and  theology,  defining  it  as  the  doc- 
trine of  the  methodical  form  of  knowledge,  and  assigning  to  it 
in  particular,  as  its  work,  the  discussion  of  the  most  general 
conceptions  or  logical  categories  (predicaments);  which  cate- 
gories he  by  no  means  regards  as  merely  subjective  forms  or 
images,  but  as  the  names  of  the  highest  genera  of  all  created 
things 

"  The  most  noteworthy  features  in  his  theory  of  the  categories 
are  his  doctrine  of  the  combination  of  the  categories  with  each 
other,  and  his  attempt  to  subsume  them  under  the  conceptions 
of  motion  and  rest;  as  also  his  identification  of  the  categories  of 
place  with  definition  in  logic,  which,  he  says,  is  the  work  of  the 
understanding.  The  dialectical  precepts  which  relate  to  the 
form  or  method  of  philosophising  are  not  discussed  by  him  in 
detail;  the  most  essential  thing  in  his  regard  is  the  use  of  the 
four  forms,  called  by  the  Greeks  division,  definition,  demoustra- 

>  II.  6,  8,  V.  7,  8,  3-6.     Cf.  Christlieb,  /.  c.  p.  802. 
2  I.  pp.  360,  363,  364. 


/ 


772  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  590-1049. 

tion  and  analysis.  Under  the  latter  he  understands  the  re- 
duction of  the  derivative  and  composite  to  the  simple,  universal 
and  fundamental ;  but  uses  the  term  also  in  the  opposite  sense, 
to  denote  the  unfolding  of  God  in  creation." 

HIS  INFLUENCE  AND  IMPOETANCE. 

Scotus  Erigena  was  considered  a  heretic  or  a  madman  while 
he  lived,  and  this  fact  joined  to  the  other  that  his  views  were 
far  in  advance  of  his  age,  caused  his  influence  to  be  at  first  mucli 
less  than  might  have  been  expected.  He  passed  into  almost  com- 
plete obscurity  before  he  died,  as  the  conflicting  reports  of  his 
later  years  show.  Yet  he  did  Avield  a  posthumous  influence. 
His  idea  of  the  unity  of  philosophy  and  theology  comes  up  in 
Anselra  and  Thomas  Aquinas ;  his  speculation  concerning 
primordial  causes  in  Alexander  of  Hales  and  Albertus  Magnus. 
From  him  Amalrich  of  Bena,  and  David  of  Dinanto  drew 
their  pantheism ;  and  various  mystical  sects  of  the  Middle  Ages 
were  inspired  by  him.  The  Church,  ever  watchful  for  ortho- 
doxy, perceived  that  his  book,  De  Divisione  Naturce,  was  doing 
mischief.  Young  persons,  even  in  convents,  read  it  eagerly. 
Everywhere  it  attracted  notice.  Accordingly  a  council,  at  Sens, 
formally  condemned  it,  and  then  the  Pope  (Honorius  III.)  or- 
dered, by  a  bull  of  Jan.  23,  1225,  the  destruction  of  all  copies 
that  could  be  found,  styling  it  "a  book  teeming  with  the  worms 
of  heretical  depravity."  ^  This  order  probably  had  the  desired 
effect.  The  book  passed  out  of  notice.  But  in  1681  Thomas 
Gale  issued  it  in  Oxford.  Again  the  Roman  Church  was 
alarmed,  and  Gregory  XIII.,  by  bull  of  April  3,  1685,  put  it 
on  the  Index. 

Scotus  Erigena  was  a  man  of  rare  originality  and  mental 
vigor.  His  writings  are  full  of  ideas  and  bold  arguments. 
His  strongly  syllogistic  mode  of  developing  his  theme  was  all 
his   own,   and   the   emphasis   he   put   upon    logic    proves   his 

»  The  full  text  of  the  bull  is  given  by  Floss,  Migne,  CXXII.  col.  439. 


5  176.    JOHANNES  SCOTUS  ERIGENA.  773 

superiority  to  his  age.  Unlike  tlie  scholastics,  who  meekly 
bowed  to  tradition,  he  treated  it  with  manly  independence. 
To  his  "disciple"  he  said:  "Let  no  authority  terrify  thee."' 
Hence  it  is  erroneous  to  call  him  "  the  Father  of  Scholasti- 
cism;" rather  is  he  the  founder  of  Speculative  Philosopiiy.^  The 
scholastics  drew  from  him,  but  he  was  not  a  scholastic.  The 
mystics  drew  from  him,  but  he  was  not  a  mystic.  As  a  path- 
finder it  was  not  given  to  him  to  thoroughly  explore  the  rich 
country  he  traversed.  But  others  eagerly  pressed  in  along  the 
way  he  opened.  He  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  figures 
among  the  mediaeval  writers.  He  demands  study  and  he 
rewards  it.  De  Bivisione  Naturce  is  a  master-piece,  and,  as 
Baur  well  says,  *'  an  organized  system  which  comprehends  the 
highest  speculative  ideas."  ^ 

NOTE    ON    THE    COUNTRY   OF  BIRTH    AND    DEATH    OF    SCOTtTS 

ERIGENA. 
The  statement  that  John  was  born  in  Ireland  rests  upon  the  interpreta- 
tion of  his  name.  Scotus  is  indefinite,  since  it  was  used  of  both  Ireland 
and  Scotland,  the  former  country  being  called  Scotia  Major.  But  Erigena 
is  most  probably  a  corruption  of  'lepo'v  [sc.  v^mv]  yeva,  Hierugena,  which 
John,  with  his  fondness  for  using  Greek  words  on  all  occasions,  added  to 
his  original  name  to  indicate  his  birth  in  the  "  holy  isle,"  or  "  isle  of 
saints,"  a  common  designation  of  Ireland.  The  derivation  is  the  more 
probable  since  he  himself  calls  Maximus  Confessor  Graiga-gena,  to  indi- 
cate the  latter's  birth  in  Greece.  By  his  contemporaries  and  in  the 
oldest  codices  he  is  called  Joannes  Scotus  or  Scottus,'  but  in  the  oldest 
MSS.-  of  his  translation  of  Dionysius  Joannes  lerugena}  In  course  of 
time,  owing  to  his  scribes'  ignorance  of  Greek,  the  epithet  was  written 
Eriugena,   Erygena,   and  finally  Erigena.    Another  derivation  of  the 

1  De  div.  Nat.  I.  66  (col.  511).  „      ,     /^     .i       ♦»,„, 

2  In  the  line  of  Spinoza,  Schelling,  and  especially  HeRel     On   the  other 
hand  he  sums  up  the  ancient  philosophy  in  its  Christianized  shape. 

3  "£m  organisch  gegliedertes,  die  hochsten  speculativen  Ideen  umfassendes  Syo- 

%o  ^;  Ni^  I.  (Epist.  C.V.  in  Migne.  P.roLL..  CX^  co.  1 1 10) ; 
Prudentius  {De  Prcedestinatione  contra  J  Scolum.,  m  Migne,  tXV.col.  lUll), 
and  the  council  of  Langres  (859). 

sChristlieb  in  Herzog*  vol.  xiii.  p.  789. 


'^ 


774  FOUKTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

epithet,  wliich  has  less  to  commend  it,  is  from  'lipvrj  +  yha,  'lepvTj  being 
the  Greek  name  for  Ireland.  But  this  leaves  the  disappearance  of  the 
first  V  to  be  accounted  for.  The  far-fetched  explanations  of  Erigena 
either  from  Ayr,  a  city  on  the  west  coast  of  Scotland,  or  Ergene  in  Here- 
ford, a  shire  in  England  on  the  south  Welsh  border,  and  gena,  may  be 
dismissed  without  discussion. 

The  absence  of  authentic  information  to  the  contrary  makes  it  probable 
that  Scotus  Erigena  died  in  France.  But  there  is  a  tradition  that  he  was 
called  by  Alfred  the  Great  into  England  and  made  abbot  of  Malmes- 
bury,  and  there  died  a  violent  death  at  the  hands  of  his  scholars.  It  is 
inherently  improbable  that  a  conservative  and  loyal  son  of  the  church 
like  Alfred,  would  invite  to  any  position  so  eccentric,  if  not  heretical,  a 
man  as  Scotus  Erigena.  Charles  the  Bald  died  in  877.  It  is  not  likely 
that  Erigena  would  leave  France  before  that  date,  but  then  he  was  at 
least  sixty-two,  and  hence  rather  old  to  change  his  residence.  A  refer- 
ence to  xVssc-r's  biography  of  King  Alfred  affords  a  rational  explanation 
of  the  tradition.  Asser  says  that  Alfred  invited  from  Gaul  a  priest  and 
monk  named  John,  who  was  remarkable  for  energy,  talent  and  learn- 
ing, in  order  that  the  king  might  profit  by  his  conversation.  A  few 
pages  further  on,  Asser  calls  this  John  an  old  Saxon,  and  says  that  Alfred 
appointed  him  the  first  abbot  of  Athelney,  and  that  he  was  almost  mur- 
dered by  hired  ruQans.  Mon.  hist.  Brit.  vol.  i.  [1848],  pp.  489,  493,  4 
Eng.  trans.  Six  Old  English  Chronicles  in  Bohn's  "Antiquarian  Library," 
pp.  70,  80,  81.  It  needed  only  that  the  fame  of  John  Scotus  should 
reach  England  for  the  John  of  Asser's  biography  to  be  confounded  with 
him,  and  thus  the  story  arose  as  it  is  found  in  Ingulph,  William  of 
Malmesbury,  and  Matthew  Paris. 

§  177.  Anastasius. 

I.  Anastasius  Bibliothecarius :  Opera  omnia  in  Migne,  Tom.  CXXVII.- 

CXXIX.  col.  744. 

II.  The  Prolegomena  in  Migne,  CXXVII.     Ceillier,  XII.  712-718. 

Bahr,  261-271. 

Anastasius,  librarian  of  the  Roman  Church,  hence  surnamed 
"  the  Librarian,"  to  distinguish  him  from  others  of  the  same 
name,  was  abbot  of  the  monastery  of  Sancta  Maria  trans 
Tiberim  under  Nicolas  I.  (858-867).  He  was  sent  in  869  to 
Constantinople  as  ambassador  to  arrange  a  marriage  between 
tlie  daughter  of  Louis  II.  and  a  son  of  Basil  the  Macedonian. 
While  there  the  eighth  oecumenical  council  was  in  session,  and 
by  his  knowledge  of  Greek  he  was  very  useful  to  the  Papal 


217V.    ANASTASIUS.  775 

ambassador  in  attendance.  He  brought  back  with  him  the 
canons  of  the  council  and  at  the  request  of  Hadrian  II.  trans- 
lated them  into  Latin.     He  died,  according  to  Baronius,  in  88G. 

He  has  been  identified  by  some  {e.g.  Fabricius^  and  Her- 
genrbther^)  with  the  Cardinal  presbyter  Anastasius  who  was 
deposed  and  excommunicated  in  850,  anathematized  in  853 
but  elected  pope  in  855  in  opposition  to  Benedict  III.  whom  he 
imprisoned.  He  was  deposed  in  856  and  died  in  879.  Those 
who  accept  the  statement  are  obliged  to  suppose  that  for  some 
reason  Nicolas  and  Louis  XL  condoned  his  fault  and  Hadrian  II. 
continued  him  in  favor.  The  name  Anastasius  is  too  common 
in  Church  history  to  render  it  necessary  or  safe  to  resort  to 
such  an  improbable  identification. 

The  fame  of  Anastasius  rests  upon  his  numerous  translations 
from  the  Greek  and  his  supposed  connection  with  the  Liber 
Pontificfdis.^  His  style  is  rude  and  semi-barbarous,  but  he 
brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Latins  much  information  about 
the  Greeks.  He  translated  the  canons  of  the  sixth,  seventh 
and  eighth  oecumenical  councils ;  *  the  Chronology  of  Niceph- 
orus ;  ^  the  collection  of  documents  in  Greek  for  the  history  of 
Monotheletism  which  John  the  Deacon  had  made ;  ®  and  the 
lives  of  several  saints.^  He  also  compiled  and  translated  from 
Nicephorus,  George  Syncellus,  and  Theophanus  Confessor  a 
church  history,  which  has  been  incorporated  with  the  so-called 
Hhtoria  3Iiscella  of  Paulus  Diaconus. 

His  original  writings  now  extant  consist  of  a  valuable  histori- 
cal introduction  to  the  translation  of  the  canons  of  the  Eighth 
CEcumenical  Council,  a  preface  to  that  of  the  Collectanea,  tiiree 

1  Blh.  Lat.  med.,  Hamburo:,  1734,  I.  230. 

a  Photius,  II.  230-240.     Wetzer  11.  Wette,  2d  ed.  I.  col.  788-792. 

3  Migne,  CXXVII.  col.  103-CXXVIII. 

*  Migne,  CXXIX.  col.  27-512.    That  of  the  sixth  council  is  unprinted. 

6  Idem.  col.  511-554. 

6  Collecteana.     Idem.  col.  557-714. 

■'Idem.  col. 713-738. 


776  FOUETH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

letters  (two  to  Charles  the  Bald  and  one  to  archbishop  Ado)/ 
and  probably  the  life  of  Pope  Nicolas  I.^  in  the  Liber  Pontifi- 
calis. 

§  178.  Ratherius  of  Verona. 

I.  Ratherius,    Veronensis   episcopus :     Opera  omnia,   in   Migne,  Tom. 

CXXXVI.  col.  9-768  (reprint  of  ed.  by  Peter  and  Jerome  Ballerini, 
Verona,  1765). 

II.  See  Vita  by  Ballerini  in  Migne,  I.  c.  col.  27-142.    Albrecht 

Vogel:  Ratherius  von  Verona  und  das  10.  Jahrhundert.  Jena,  1854, 
2  vols.  Cf.  his  art.  in  Herzog^  XII.  503-506.  Du  Pin,  VIII.  20-26. 
Ceillier,  XII.  846-860.  Hist,  de  la  France,  VI.  339-383.  Bahr, 
546-553. 

Ratherius  (Rathier)  was  born  of  noble  ancestry  at  or  near 
Liege  in  890  (or  891)  and  educated  at  the  convent  of  Lobbes. 
He  became  a  monk,  acquired  much  learning  and  in  931  was 
consecrated  bishop  of  Verona.  By  his  vigorous  denunciation 
of  the  faults  and  failings  of  his  clergy,  particularly  of  their 
marriages  or,  as  he  called  them,  adulteries,  he  raised  a  storm  of 
opposition.  When  Arnold  of  Bavaria  took  Verona  (934),  king 
Hugo  of  Italy  deposed  him  for  alleged  connivance  with  Arnold 
and  held  him  a  close  prisoner  at  Pavia  from  February,  935, 
until  August,  937,  when  he  was  transferred  to  the  oversight  of 
the  bishop  of  Como. 

In  the  early  part  of  941  Ratherius  escaped  to  Southern 
France,  was  tutor  in  a  rich  family  of  Provence,  and  in  944 
re-entered  the  monastery  of  Lobbes.  Two  years  later  he  was 
restored  to  his  see  of  Verona ;  whence  he  was  driven  again  in 
948.  From  953  to  955  he  was  bishop  of  Liege.  On  his  de- 
position he  became  abbot  of  Alna,  a  dependency  of  the  monas- 
tery of  Lobbes,  where  he  stirred  up  a  controversy  upon  the 
eucharist  by  his  revival  of  Paschasian  views.  In  961  he  was 
for  the  third  time  bishop  of  Verona,  but  having  learned  no 
moderation  from  his  misfortunes  he  was  forced  by  his  indignant 

»  Idem.  col.  737-742. 

>  CXXVIII.  col.  1357-1378. 


§  179.   GERBERT  (SYLVESTER  II.).  777 

clergy  to  leave  in  968.  He  returned  to  Li^ge  and  the  abbot- 
ship  of  Alna.  By  money  he  secured  other  charges,  and  even 
for  a  year  (971)  forcibly  held  the  abbotship  of  Lobbcs.  On 
April  25,  974,  he  died  at  the  court  of  the  count  of  Xaniur. 

Ratherius  '"  deserves  in  many  respects  to  be  styled  the  Tertul- 
lian  of  his  time."  ^  Some  see  in  his  castigation  of  vice  the 
zeal  of  a  Protestant  reformer,  but  his  standpoint  was  ditferent. 
He  was  learned  and  ambitious,  but  also  headstrong  and  envious. 
His  works  are  obscure  in  style^  but  full  of  information.  The 
chief  are 

1.  TJie  Combat,  also  called  PreUminary  discourses-,  in  six  books.^ 
It  treats  in  prolix  style  of  the  different  occupations  and  relations 
in  life,  and  dwells  particularly  upon  the  duties  of  bishops.  It 
was  the  fruit  of  his  prison-leisure  (935-937),  when  he  was 
without  books  and  friends. 

2.  On  contempt  for  canonical  law^.  It  dates  from  961,  and  is 
upon  the  disorders  in  his  diocese,  particularly  his  clergy's  op- 
position to  his  dispensation  of  its  revenues.  In  all  this  Rathe- 
rius  sees  contempt  of  the  canons  which  he  cites. 

3.  A  conjecture  of  a  certain  quality}  This  is  a  vigorous  de- 
fense of  his  conduct,  written  in  966.  Fourteen  of  his  Letters 
and  eleven  of  his  Sermons  have  been  printed.'  In  the  first  letter 
he  avows  his  belief  in  transubstantiation. 

§  179.   Gerbert  {Sylvester  II). 

I.  SiLVESTEK  II.  PAPA  (Gerbertus)  :  0;5rm,  in  Migne,  Tom.  CXXXIX. 
col  57-350.  Contains  also  the  biograpliical  and  literary  notices  of 
Natalis  Alexander,  Fabricius,  and  the  Bened.  Hist.  lit.  de  la  France. 
(EuvresdeGj^v.BERTparA.Ol[eris.  Clermont,  ISCT.  Pertz-  Monum. 
Germ  Tom  V  Script.  HI.  contains  Gerberti  archiep.  Rcmemis  Acta 
ConcUli  Bemensis,  and  the  Libri  IV.  Historiarum  of  Richerus  mona- 

1  Neander.  H/s<.  ar.  a.  III.  469.  ^^^,r,      ,   ,.-  -iAA 

2  Agnosticon  or  Libri  Pra^loquiomm.     Migne,  CXXX\  I.  col.  U0-6U. 

3  De  contemptu  canonum.     Ihid.  col.  485-522. 

*  Qualitatis  covjeclura  ciiju^dam.     Ibid.  col.  521-550.  ^ 

^Epistolce.     /6td.  col.  643-688.     Semioncs.    Ibid,  col  m-,o8. 


f 


778  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

c/tMs  S.  Eemigii.  Richer  was  a  pupil  of  Gerbert,  and  his  history  of 
France  was  first  edited  by  Pertz. 
11.  Abr.  Bzovius  :  Sylvester  vincUcatus.  Rom.,  1629.  Hist.  lit.  de  la 
France,  VI.,  559-614.  C.  F.  Hock  :  Gerbert  oder  Papst  Sylvester  und 
sein  Jahrh.  Wien,  1837.  Max  Budinger  :  Ueber  Gerberts  wissen- 
schaftl.  und  polit.  Stellung.  Marburg,  1851.  Gfrorer:  Allgem. 
Kirchengeschichte,  Bd.  III.  Abth.  3.  WiLMANNS:  Jahrbiicher  des 
deutschen  Reichs  unter  Otto  III.  Berlin,  1840.  Giesebrecht: 
Geschiehte  der  deutschen  Kaiserzeif,  Bd.  I.  613-616;  712-715:  842 
(3d  ed.  1865).  Hefele  :  Conciliengesch.  Bd.  IV.  637  and  j^assim. 
(2d  ed.  1879).  A.  Olleris  :  Vie  de  Gerbert.  Clermont-Ferrand, 
1867.  Eduard  Barthelemy  :  Gerbert,  etude  sur  sa  vie  et  ses  ouvr- 
ages,  suivie  de  la  traduction  de  ses  lettres.  Paris,  1868.  Loupot  : 
Gerbert,  sa  vie  et  ses  ecrits.  Lille,  1869.  Karl  Werner  :  Gerbert 
von  Aurillac  Wien,  1878.  Hauck  :  Silvester  II.,  in  Herzog,  XIV. 
233-240.  Comp.  also  Ceillier,  XII.  901-911.  Neander:  III. 
371-374,  and  Reuter:  Avfkldrung  im  Mittelalter,  I.  78-84. 

Gerbert,  the  scholar  and  philosopher  in  the  Fisherman's 
chair,  and  the  brightest  light  in  the  darkness  of  the  tenth 
century,  was  born  before  950,  of  low  parentage,  in  or  near 
Aurilac  in  Auvergne,  and  educated  as  a  monk  in  the  Benedic- 
tine convent  of  that  place.  He  accompanied  Count  Borel  of 
Barcelona  to  Spain  and  acquired  there  some  knowledge  of 
Arabic  learning,  but  probably  only  through  Latin  translations. 
He  also  visited  Rome  (968)  in  company  of  his  patron  Borel, 
and  attracted  the  attention  of  Pope  John  XIII.,  who  recom- 
mended him  to  Emperor  Otho  the  Great.  He  afterwards  be- 
came the  tutor  and  friend  of  the  youthful  Otho  III.,  and  in- 
spired him  with  the  romantic  and  abortive  scheme  of  re-estab- 
lishing the  Graeco-Roman  empire  of  Constantine  the  Great  in 
the  city  of  Rome.  He  was  ambitious  and  fond  of  baskino;  in 
the  sunshine  of  imperial  and  royal  favor. 

Gerbert  became  master  of  the  cathedral  school  of  Rheims 
and  acquired  great  fame  as  a  scholar  and  teacher.  He  collected 
rare  and  valuable  books  on  every  subject.  He  was  intensely 
interested  in  every  branch  of  knowledge,  divine  and  human, 
especially  in  mathematics,  astronomy,  physics,  and  music ;  he  first 


§  179.   GERBERT  (SYLVESTER  II.).  779 

introduced  the  Arabic  numerals  and  the  decimal  notation  into 
France,  and  showed  his  scientific  and  mechanical  genius  by  the 
construction  of  astronomical  instruments  and  an  organ  blown 
by  steam.  At  the  same  time  he  was  a  man  of  affairs,  a  states- 
man and  politician.^ 

In  972  he  obtained  through  imperial  favor  the  abbey  of 
Bobbio,  but  was  involved  in  contentions  with  the  neighboring 
nobles  and  left  in  disgust,  though  retaining  his  dignity.  "All 
Italy,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  "  apjjears  to  me  a  Rome,  and  the 
morals  of  the  Romans  are  the  horror  of  the  world."  He  re- 
turned to  his  position  at  Rheims,  attracted  pupils  from  near  and 
far  and  raised  the  cathedral  school  to  the  height  of  prosperity. 
He  was  the  secretary  of  the  council  held  in  the  basilica  of  St. 
Basolus  near  Rheims  in  991,  and  gave  shape  to  the  flaming 
speech  of  the  learned  bishop  Arnulf  of  Orleans  against  the 
assumptions  and  corruptions  of  the  papacy.^  No  Gallican 
could  have  spoken  more  boldly.  By  the  same  synod  Arnulf, 
archbishop  of  Rheims,  an  illegitimate  sou  of  one  of  the  last 
Caroliugian  kings,  was  deposed  on  the  charge  of  treason  against 
Hugh  Capet,  and  Gerbert  was  chosen  in  his  place,  at  the  desire 
of  the  king.  But  his  election  ^vas  disputed,  and  he  assumed  an 
almost  schismatical  attitude  towards  Rome.  He  was  deposed, 
and  his  rival  Arnulf,  with  the  aid  of  the  pope,  reinstated  by  a 
Council  of  Senlis  or  Rheims  (996).^     He  now  left  France  and 

1  Giesebrecbt  (I.  615)  says  of  Gerbert ':  " Er  gehijrte  zu  den  seltenen  Gehhrten, 
die  in  den  weltlichen  Dingen  gleich  heimisch  sind,  icie  in  dem  Reich  dcr  Idem,  die  von 
unbegrenzter  Empfdnglichkeit  sichjeden  Stoff  aneignen,  leicht  alle  Verhdltnisse  durch- 
Schmien  und  bemeistern,  denen  die  HiVfsmittel  des  Geistes  nie  versiegen,  und  dcren 
Krafte  auch  die  zerstrciiteste  Thdtigheit  kaum  ersc/idp/t." 

^  See  above,  p.  290  sqq.  Baronius  declares  this  synod  a  fiction  of  Gerbert, 
and  makes  him  responsible  for  the  sentiments,  the  Benedictine  editors  of  the 
Hist.  lit.  only  for  the  style,  of  the  ^cts,  "qui  est  beaucoup  au-dessiis  de  cf/ui.i  de 
(fiantite  d'  autres  ecrils  dii  milme  temps"  The  acts  were  first  published  in  the 
Magdeburg  Centuries,  and  then  by  Mansi  and  Pertz.     See  Hefcle,  IV.  647  sq. 

'  Richer  says  Senlis  (in  the  province  of  Rheimsi;  Aimons,  his  continuaton 
says  Rheims.     The  acts  of  that  synod  are  lost.     See  Hefele,  IV.  646. 


r 


780  FOURTH  PEKIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

accepted  an  invitation  of  his  pupil  Otho  III.  to  Magdeburg, 
followed  him  to  Italy  (996),  was  by  imperial  favor  made  arch- 
bishop of  Kavenna  (998),  and  a  year  afterwards  raised  to  the 
papal  throne  as  Sylvester  II.  He  was  the  first  French  pope. 
The  three  R's  (Rheims,  Ravenna,  Rome)  mark  his  highest  dig- 
nities, as  expressed  in  the  line  ascribed  to  him  : 

"  Scandit  ah  R.  Gerbertus  in  R.,  fit  postea papa  vigtns  R." 

As  Gerbert  of  Rheims  he  had  advocated  liberal  views  and 
boldly  attacked  the  Roman  Antichrists  who  at  that  time  were 
seated  in  the  temple  of  God ;  but  as  Sylvester  II.  he  disowned 
his  Gallican  antecedents  and  supported  the  claims  of  the  papacy.^ 
He  did,  however,  nothing  remarkable  during  his  short  and 
troublesome  pontificate  (between  999-1003),  except  crown  King 
Stephen  of  Hungary  and  give  the  first  impulse,  though  prema- 
turely, to  the  crusades  at  a  time  when  hundreds  of  pilgrims 
flocked  to  the  Holy  Land  in  expectation  of  the  end  of  the  world 
after  the  lapse  of  the  first  Christian  millennium.^ 

His  character  has  been  very  differently  judged.  The  papal 
biographers  of  the  later  middle  ages  malignantly  represent  him 
as  a  magician  in  league  with  the  devil,  and  his  life  and  pontifi- 
cate as  a  series  of  monstrous  crimes.^     This  story  arose  partly 

^  Hefele  (IV.  654)  assumes  a  gradual  change  in  his  views  on  the  papal 
power  in  consequence  of  deeper  reflection  and  bitter  experience,  and  applies 
to  him  the  words  of  Pius  II.:  '' JEneam  rejicile,  Flum  recipite."  Renter  says 
(I.  84) :  "Der  Heros  der  Aufkldrung  wurde  der  Reprdsentant  der  auf  ubernatur- 
lichem  Fandament  basirten  Autoritdt."  But  Gerberfwas  a  strong  snpernaturalist 
before  that  time,  as  his  book  on  the  Lord's  Supper  proves.  His  controversy 
with  the  papacy  had  notliing  to  do  with  doctrine  any  more  than  the  contro- 
versy between  Gallicanism  and  Ultramontanism.  It  was  simply  a  question 
as  to  the  extent  of  papal  jurisdiction. 

^  See  above,  p.  295  sq. 

*  Doliinger,  in  his  Papstfabeln  des  3TiUelaIters  (English  transl.  ed.  by  Henry 
B.  Smith,  pp.  267-272),  devotes  several  pages  to  this  fable,  and  traces  it  to 
Rome  and  to  Cardinal  Benno,  the  calumnious  enemy  of  Gregory  VII.,  who 
was  likewise  accused  of  black  arts.  According  to  Benno,  Satan  promised  his 
pupil  Gerbert  that  ho  should  not  die  till  he  had  said  mass  in  Jerusalem. 
Gerbert  thought  himself  safe  till  he  .should  get  to  Palestine;  but  when  he  read 


2  179.   GERBERT  (SYLVESTER  II.).  781 

from  his  uncommon  learning  and  supposed  contact  with  Mo- 
hammedanism, partly  from  his  former  antagonistic  position  to 
Rome.  Some  modern  historians  make  him  an  ambitious  in- 
triguer.' 

His  literary  labors  are  chiefly  mathematical.^  His  theologi- 
cal works  are  few  and  unimportant,  and  do  not  rise  above  the 
superstition  of  his  age.  His  short  treatise,  "i)e  Corpore  et  San- 
guine Domini/^  is  a  defense  of  the  doctrine  of  transubstautia- 
tion  as  taught  by  Paschasius  Radbertus,  with  the  additional 
notion  that  the  consecrated  elements  are  not  digested  like  other 
food  (as  the  Stercorianists  held),  but  are  imperishable  spiritual 
nourishment  for  the  inner  man,  and  constitute  the  germ  of  tlie 
future  resurrection  body.^  Where  words  give  out  there  is  the 
more  room  for  faith.* 

In  his  sermon  De  mformaiione  ejnscoporum,  if  genuine,'^  he 
presents  the  high  theocratic  view  of  the  middle  ages,  raises  the 
episcopate  far  above  royalty,*  and  attacks  the  common  traffic  in 
ecclesiastical   dignities   (simony),   but   maintains  also   that  all 

raass  in  the  Jerusalem  church  (Santa  Croce  in  Jerusalemme)  at  Rome,  he  was 
summoned  to  die,  and  caused  liis  tongue  and  hand  to  be  cut  off  by  way  of  ex- 
piation. Tlie  Dominicang  adopted  the  myth,  and  believed  that  Gerbert  early 
sold  himself  to  Satan,  was  raised  by  liim  to  the  papal  tbrone,  and  had  daily 
intercourse  with  him,  but  confessed  at  last  his  enormous  crimes,  and  showed  his 
repentance  by  hacking  off  one  limb  after  another.  Since  that  time  the  rattling 
of  his  bones  in  the  tomb  gives  notice  of  the  approaching  death  of  the  pope. 

^  So  especially  Gfrorer,  partly  also  Hauck.  But  Hock,  Biidinger  and  Dam- 
berger  defend  his  character  and  orthodoxy.  Neander,  Htfele,  Giesebrecht 
deal  justly  with  him. 

2  "Xe  savoir  dominant  de  Gerbert  etait  la  science  des  mathematiqucs."  (Ilisl.  lit. 
de  la  France.)  He  wrote  Be  numerorum  divisione;  De  geometria;  De  sphera 
constructione  ;  De  Rationali  et  Ratione  uti,  etc.     See  Migne,  /.  c.  125  sqq. 

'In  Migne,  col.  179-188.     Comp.  above,  p.  552. 

*ne  Corp.  et  Sang.  D.  c.  7  (col.  185) :  "  Ecce  quantum  fides  proficit,  ubisermo  deficit:' 

*  Olleris  and  Giesebrecht  doubt  the  genuineness. 

6  L.  c.  col.  170:  "Sublimitas  episcopalis  nullis  potent  comparationihm  lequari. 
Si  regum  compares  infulas  et  principum  diademata,  lunge  erit  in/eriiu,  quasi  plumbi 
metallum  ad  auri  fulgorem  compares." 


7b2  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

bishops  share  with  Peter  the  care  of  Clirist's  flock.^  This  indi- 
cates that  the  tract  was  written  before  his  elevation  to  the 
papacy,  and  that  he  did  not  hold  the  ultramontane  or  Vatican 
doctrine  of  papal  absolutism. 

His  Epistles  to  popes,  emperors,  kings,  queens,  archbishops 
and  other  dignitaries,  shed  light  on  the  history  of  the  times, 
and  show  his  high  connections,  and  his  genius  for  politics  and 
intrigue.^  Thev  are  mostly  short,  and  include  also  some  letters 
of  Otho  III.  The  longest  and  most  interesting  is  addressed  to 
Queen  Adelaide,  wife  of  Hugo  Capet,  and  the  suiFragans  of 
the  diocese  of  Rheirns,^  in  defense  of  his  ordination  as  arch- 
bishop of  Rheims  in  opposition  to  his  rival  Arnulf,  whom  he 
afterwards  reinstated  in  his  see  as  soon  as  he  became  poj)e.'' 

§  180.  Fulhert  of  Chartres. 

I.  Sanctus  Fulbertus,  Carnotensis  episcopiis:    Opera,  in  Migne,  Tom. 

CXLI.  col.  163-374.  They  were  first  printed  by  Masson  at  Paris,  1585. 

II.  Du  Pin,  IX.  1-6.     Ceillier,  XIII.  78-89.    Hist.  lit.  de  la  France, 

VII.  261-279  (reprinted  in  Migne,  I.  c  col.  167-184).  Neander,  III. 
passim.  Reuter:  Gesch.  der  ret.  AufkUirung  im  Mittelalter  (1875), 
I.  89-91.  J.  B.  Souchet  :  Hist,  du  diocese  et  de  la  ville  de  Chartres. 
Chartres,  1867-1876.  4  vols.  Cf.  Karl  Werner  :  Gerbert  von  Au- 
rillac.     Wien,  1878.     A.  Vogel  in  Herzog^  IV.  707  sq. 

The  most  distinguished  pupils  of  Gerbert  were  the  Emperor 
Otho  III.,  King  Robert  of  France,  Richer,  the  historian  of 
France,  and  Fulbcrt  of  Chartres,  the  most  renowned  teacher  of 
his  age.  They  represent  the  rise  of  a  new  zeal  for  learning 
which  began  to  dispel  the  darkness  of  the  tenth  century. 
France  took  the  lead,  Italy  followed. 

^  L.c.  col.  171,  in  explaining  "  Pa  see  oves  meas"  (John  21:  15  sqq.),  he  says: 
"  Qua.i  oven  von  solum  tunc  bealus  suscepit  apostolus,  sed  et  nobiscum  eas  accepit,  et 
cum  illo  eas  susciphmis  omnes.^' 

"^  Mienc,  col.  201-286. 

'  "  Dominte  et  gloriosm  Adelaidi  reginx  semper  Augustce  Gerbertus,  gratia  Domini 
Rrmornm  episcopus,  et  omnibus  suis  confratribus  et  coepiscopis  Remorum  diceceseoa, 
bene  valere  in  Christo.''     Migne,  242-244. 

♦  Mansi,  XIX.  242;  Hefele,  IV.  054. 


I  180,    FULBERT  OF  CHARTRES.  783 

FuLBERT,  called  by  his  admiring  disciples  "the  Socrates  of 
the  Franks,"  was  born  of  poor  and  obscure  parents,  probably  at 
Chartres,  about  950,  and  educated  in  the  cathedral  school  of 
Eheims  by  Gerbert.  He  founded  a  similar  school  at  Chartres, 
which  soon  acquired  a  brilliant  reputation  and  rivalled  tiiat  of 
Rheims.  About  1003  he  was  elected  chancellor  of  the  church 
of  Chartres,  and  in  1007  its  bishop.  When  the  cathedral  burned 
down  (1020),  he  received  contributions  from  all  parts  of  France 
and  other  countries  for  its  reconstruction,  but  did  not  live  to 
finish  it.  He  was  involved  in  the  political  and  ecclesiastical 
disturbances  of  his  country;  opposed  the  iLse  of  the  sword  by  the 
bishops,  and  the  appropriation  of  church  property  and  sale  of 
offices  by  the  avaricious  laity.  He  lost  the  favor  of  the  court 
by  his  opposition  to  the  intrigues  of  Queen  Constantia.  He 
died  April  10,  1029.' 

Fulbert's  fame  rests  chiefly  on  his  success  as  a  living  teacher. 
This  is  indicated  by  his  surname.^  He  was  not  an  original 
thinker,  but  knew  how  to  inspire  his  pupils  with  enthusiasm.' 
His  personality  was  greater  than  his  learning.  He  wisely  com- 
bined spiritual  edification  with  intellectual  instruction,  and 
aimed  at  the  eternal  welfare  of  his  students.  He  used  to  walk 
with  them  at  eventide  in  the  garden  and  to  engage  in  familiar 
conversations  on  the  celestial  country;  sometimes  he  was  over- 

1  An  epitaph  (in  Migne,  I.  c  165)  describes  Fulbert  as  "suce  temprstntis  [sui 
iemporis]  pontificum  decus,  lux  prneclara  vmndo  a  Deo  data,  pavperum  su,<itentator, 
desolatorum  consolator,  prmdonum  et  latronum  refrenalor,  vir  eloquent i&iimus,  et 
sapientissimus  tarn  in  divinis  quam  in  liberalium  artium  Itbris."  There  is  also  an 
epitaph  in  poetry,  /.  c.  col.  171. 

2  "  Venerabilis  ille  Socrates"  he  is  called  by  Adelmann. 

SEeuter  (1.89)  characterizes  him  very  well:  "Ein  ungervohnlichrs  pad.ipo- 
gisches  Talent  ist  sicker  demjenigen  eigen  gewesen,  welchen  die  bewundemden  Schiiler 
den  Socrates  der  Franken  nannten.  Die  Per.'^onlichkeit  war  ungleich  grosser  ah  die 
wissemchaftliche  Leistung,  das  individuell  An/assende  bedeutsamer  ah  die  matrr.rlU 
Unterweisung.  Nicht  fiihlg  origmdle  Gedanken  zu  entwickeln  und  miUutheden,  hat 
Fulbert  ah  Bildner  der  Eigcnthumlichkeit  begabicr  Schulcr  seine  VirtuosUdt  in  der 
anregenden  Kraft  seines  Umnangs  gezeigt.  Dieser  Lehrer  wurde  der  Valer  gar  ver- 
ichiedcn  gestimmter  wissenschaflUcher  Sofi?ic." 


784  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D,  590-1049. 

come  by  his  feelings,  and  adjured  them  with  tears,  never  to 
depart  from  the  path  of  truth  and  to  strive  with  all  might  after 
that  heavenly  home.^ 

His  ablest  pupil  was  Berengar  of  Tours,  the  vigorous  oppo- 
nent of  transubstantiation,  and  it  has  sometimes  been  conjectured 
that  he  derived  his  views  from  him.^  But  Fulbert  adhered  to 
the  traditional  orthodoxy,  and  expressed  himself  against  innova- 
tions, in  letters  to  his  metropolitan,  Leutherich,  archbishop  of 
Sens.  He  regarded  the  real  presence  as  an  object  of  faith  and 
adoration  rather  than  of  curious  speculation,  but  thought  that  it 
is  not  more  difficult  to  believe  in  a  transformation  of  substance 
by  Divine  power  than  in  the  creation  of  substance.^  He  was  a 
zealous  worshipper  of  the  saints,  especially  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
and  one  of  the  first  who  celebrated  the  festival  of  her  Nativity. 

The  works  of  Fulbert  consist  of  one  hundred  and  thirty -nine 
(or  138)  Letters,  including  some  letters  of  his  correspondents;* 
nine  Sermons;^  twenty-seven  Hymns  and  Poems,^  and  a  few 


'  Adelmann,  one  of  his  pupils,  in  a  letter  to  Berengar,  his  fellow-student, 
reminded  him  of  these  memorable  conversations,  and  warned  him  against 
error.     See  p.  554,  and  Neander,  III.  502. 

'  By  Bishop  Cosin  (in  his  Hist.  TranssubstarUiationis),  as  quoted  by  Robert- 
son, II.  607. 

'  Fp.  V.  (Migne,  col.  201)  -.  "Jam  mine  ad  illud  Dominici  corporis  et  sanguinis 
transeamus  venerabile  sacrnmentum,  quod  quidem  tantum  forrmdabile  est  ad  loquen- 
dum:  quantum  non  terrenum,  sed  ccehste  est  mysterium;  non  humanx  sestimationi 
comparabile,  sed  admirabile ;  non  disputandum,  sed  metuendum.  De  quo  sihre  potius 
festimaveram  quam  temeraria  disputatione  indigne  aliquid  definire ;  quia  caelestis  alti- 
tudo  mi/sterii  plane  non  %ialet  officio  lingux  corruptibilis  exponi.  Est  enim  mysterium 
fide  non  specie  wstimandiim,  non  visu  corporeo,  sed  spiritu  intuendum."  Then 
towards  the  close  of  the  same  letter  (col.  204)  he  says:  "Si  Deum  omnia  posse 
credis,  et  hoc  consequitur  ut  credas ;  nee  humanis  disputationibus  discernere  curiosus 
insistes,  si  creaturas  quas  de  nihilo  potuit  creare,  has  ipsas  multo  magis  valeat  in 
excelkntioris  naturpe  dignitatem  converiere,  et  in  sui  corporis  substantiam  transfun- 
dere."     The  la.st  phrase  is  nearly  equivalent  to  transubstantiation. 

*  Epistolrr,  Migne,  /.  c.  col.  189-278.  Giesebrecht,  Damberger,  and  "Werner 
have  analy?:ed  and  made  much  use  of  them. 

*  Sermones  ad  populum.     Ibid.  col.  .'^17-340. 

*  Hymni  et  carmina  ecclesiastica.     Ibid.  col.  339-352.    See  above,  §  96,  p.  433. 


2  181.  RODULFUS  GLABER.    ADAM  OF  BREMEN.        785 

minor  compositions,  including  probably  a  life  of  St.  Autbert  > 
His  letters  have  considerable  interest  and  importance  for  the 
history  of  his  age.  The  longest  and  most  important  letter  treats 
of  three  doctrines  which  he  regarded  as  essential  and  fundamen- 
tal, namely,  the  trinity,  baptism,  and  the  eucharist.^ 

From  the  school  of  Gerbert  at  Rheims  proceeded  the  school 
of  Fulbert  at  Chartres,  and  from  this  again  the  school  of  Be- 
rengar  at  Tours— all  equally  distinguished  for  popularity  and 
efficiency.  They  in  turn  were  succeeded  by  the  monastic  school 
of  Lanfranc  at  Bee,  who  came  from  Italy,  labored  in  France, 
opposed  Berengar,  his  rival,  and  completed  his  career  in  Eng- 
land as  archbishop  of  Canterbuiy.  He  was  excelled  by  his 
pupil  and  successor,  Anselm,  the  second  Augustin,  the  father 
of  Catholic  scholasticism.  With  him  began  a  new  and  impor- 
tant chapter  in  the  development  of  theology. 

§  181.  Rodulfus  Glaher.     Adam  of  Bremen. 

I,  Rodulfus  Qi^a.B'ek  {Cluniacensis  monachtts) :  Opera,  in  Migne,  Tom. 

CXLII.  col.  611-720.  The  Historia  sui  temporis  or  Uisforia  Franco- 
rum  is  also  printed  in  part,  with  textual  emendations  by  G.  Waitz 
in  the  Monum.  Oerm.  Script.,  ed.  by  Pertz,  Tom.  VII.  48-72,  and 
the  Vita  Willelmi  abbatis  in  Tom.  IV.  655-658.  Comp.  Ceillier  : 
XIII.  143-147.  W ATT'ES'BA.cn:  Deutschlands  GeschichtsqueUen.  Pott- 
hast:  Bihlioih.  hist,  medii  cpvi,  p.  521. 

II.  Adamus  Bremensis:   Gesta  Hammahtirgensis  ecdesice  Pontificiim,  seu 

Historia  ecclesiastica.  Libri  IV.  Best.  ed.  by  Lappenberg  in  Pertz, 
Mon.  Germ.  Scriptores,  Tom.  VII.  267-389.  German  translation  by 
Laurent,  with  introduction  by  Lappenberg,  Berlin,  1850  (in  "Ge- 
schichtschreiber  der  deutschen  Vorzeit;"  XI.  Jahrh.  B.  VII.).  In 
Migne,  Tom.  CXLVI.  col.  433-566  (reprinted  from  Pertz).— Comp. 
Giesebrecht:  Wendische  Geschichte,  III.  Sl(i  sqq.;  Wattenbach: 
Deidschlands  GeschichtsqueUen  (first  ed.  p.  252  sqq.);  Koitmaxn: 
Die  mittelalterlichen  GeschichtsqueUen  in  Bezug  auf  Hamburg  (1868) ; 


^  Vita  S.  Autberti,  Cameracensis  episcopi.     Ibid.  col.  355-368. 

*  Ep.  V.  (formerly  Ep.  1,  in  Mij^ne,  col.  196  siiq).  De  (ribus  quae  sunt  nfceg- 
sarta  ad  profectum  Christiance  religionis,  from  the  year  1007,  addressed  to  his 
metropolitan  superior.  See  the  extract  on  the  eucharist  above,  p.  784,  note  3. 
50 


78 G  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

PoTTiiAST,  I.  c.  p.  100 ;  C.  Bertheau  in  Herzog^  1. 140  sqq.    Of  older 
notices  see'cEiLLiER,  XIV.  201-206. 

Among  the  historical  writers  of  the  eleventh  century,  Ro- 
DULFUS  Glaber,  and  Adam  of  Bremen  deserve  special  men- 
tion, the  one  for  France,  the  other  for  the  North  of  Europe. 

RoDULFUS  Glaber^  was  a  native  of  Burgundy,  sent  to  a 
convent  in  early  youth  by  his  uncle^  and  expelled  for  bad  con- 
duct ;  but  he  reformed  and  joined  the  strict  Benedictine  school 
of  Cluny.  He  lived  a  while  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Benignus, 
at  Dijon,  then  at  Cluny,  and  died  about  1050. 

His  chief  work  is  a  history  of  his  own  time,  from  1000-1045, 
in  five  books.  Though  written  in  barbarous  Latin  and  full  of 
inaccuracies,  chronological  blunders,  and  legendary  miracles,  it 
is  an  interesting  and  indispensable  source  of  information,  and 
gives  vivid  pictures  of  the  corrupt  morals  of  that  period.^  He 
wrote  also  a  biography  of  St.  William,  abbot  of  Dijon,  who 
died  1031.' 

Adam  of  Bremen,  a  Saxon  by  birth,  educated  (probably)  at 
Magdeburg,  teacher  and  canon  of  the  chapter  at  Bremen  (1068), 
composed,  between  1072  and  1076,  a  history  of  the  Bishops  of 
Hamburg-Bremen.*  This  is  the  chief  source  for  the  oldest 
church  history  of  North  Germany  and  Scandinavia,  from  788 
to  the  death  of  Adalbert,  who  was  archbishop  of  Bremen  from 
1045-1072.     Adam  drew  from  the  written  sources  in  the  rich 


>  t.  e.  Calvus,  Kahlkopf,  Baldhead.  His  proper  name  was  Rodulfns  or  Ra- 
dnlpluis.  Ceillier  {I.  c.  p.  143):  "  Rodulphe  ou  Raoul,  surnomme  Glaber  parce 
qu'il  elait  chauve  el  sans  poil." 

*  This  is  the  judgment  of  Waitz  {3Ion.  Germ.  VIL  49),  and  Giesebrecht  (II. 
567).  Wattenbach  (Deutschtands  GeschichlsqueUen,  first  ed.,  1858,  p.  322)  calls 
it  ''ein  Weric  volt  mcrkwurdicjer  Dinge,  und  mannigfach  belehrend,  aber  ohne  festen 
Plan  und  chrortolof/i^che  Ordnuvq." 

'  The  Vita  S.  Guillelmi  or  Willelmi,  in  Migne,  l.  c.  col.  701-720. 

*  Hamburg  was  the  original  seat  of  the  Northern  episcopate,  and  remained 
so  nominally,  but  owing  to  the  constant  irruptions  of  the  Wends  and  Normans, 
it  was  transferred  to  Bremen. 


2  182.    ST.  PETER  DAMIANI.  787 

library  of  the  church  at  Bremen,  aud  from  oral  traditious/ 
He  went  to  the  Danish  King  Sven  Estrithson,  who  "preserved 
the  whole  history  of  the  barbarians  in  his  memory  as  in  a 
book."  He  is  impartial  and  reliable,  but  neglects  the  chrono- 
logy. He  may  almost  be  called  the  Herodotus  of  the  North 
except  for  his  want  of  simplicity.  He  was  familiar  with  Vir- 
gil, Horace,  Lucian,  and  formed  his  style  chiefly  after  Sallust; 
hence  his  artificial  brevity  and  senteutiousness.^  He  ranks  with 
the  first  historians  of  the  middle  ages.^ 

§  182.  St.  Peter  Damiani. 

I.  Beati  Petri  Damiani  {S.  R.  E.  Cardinalis  Episcopi  Osdensis  Ordinis 

S.  Benedicti)  Opera  ormiia  in  quatuor  iomos  distributa,  studio  et  labore 
Domni  Constantini  Cajetani  (of  Montecassino),  first  publ.  Rom. 
1606-'13;  in  Paris,  1663;  in  Venice,  1783.  Reprinted  witli  VitoR 
and  Prolegomena  in  Migne's  "Patrol.  Lat.,"  Tom.  CXLIV.- aud 
CXLV.  (1853).    Tom.  I.  1060  cols.;  Tom.  11.  1224  cols. 

II.  Three  biographies  of  Damiani,  one  by  his  pupil,  Joannes  monachua, 

who,  however,  only  describes  his  monastic  character.  See  Migne, 
I.  47-204.  Acta  Sanctorum  (Bnlland.),  for  February  23,  T<mi.  III. 
406^27.  Acta  Sanctorum  Ordinis  S.  Bened.,  Saec.  VI.  Also  the 
Annales  Ordinis  S.  Benedicti,  ed.  Mabillon,  Tom.  IV.,  lib.  LVIII.- 
LXII.  (which  extend  from  A.  D.  1039-1066,  and  notice  the  public 
acts  of  Damiani  in  chronological  order). 

III.  Jac.  Laderchi:  Vita  S.  Petri  Damiani  S.  R.  E.  Cardinalis.  Rom. 
1702.  3  Tom.  Albr.  Vogel:  Peter  Damiani.  Jena,  1856.  Comp. 
his  art.  in  Herzog^  III.  466  sqq.  F.  Neukirch:  Das  Leben  de* 
Peter  Dam.  Gottingen,  1876.  Jos.  Kleinermaxxs  (R.  C): /'e^ru* 
Damiani  in  s.  Leben  und  Wirken,  nach  den  Quellen  dargestellt.  Steyl, 
1882.    Comp.  also  Ceillier,  XIII.  296-324.    Neander,  III.  382, 

1  Lappenberg  gives  a  full  account  of  all  his  sources. 

2  Wattenbach  (p.  254) :  " Sein  Vorbild  ist  besonders  Sallust,  der  in  den  Schulen 
vorziigsweife  gelesen  wurde  und  darum  auch  einen  iibergrossen  Einfluss  anf  den 
Stil  der  Zeit  able."  He  adds  (p.  2")5) :  "Jede  gewissenhafle  Forschung  gcht  auf 
Adam  zuriick,  und  seine  Autoritdt  stand  von  Anfang  an  mil  Rcchl  in  hohem  An- 
sehen." 

3  Lappenberg  (in  Mon.  Germ.  VIT.  267):  "  raucimmi  sane  sunt  inter  medii  trvi 
historicos,  qui  rerum  traditarum  gravitate,  perspiruitate,  iudicii  intjenwtate,  fontium 
scriptorum  cognilione,  sermonum  ore  traditorutn  accurata  perceptione  ita  emineant,  ut 
Adamus,  magister  scolarum  Bremensis." 


788  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.D.  490-1049. 

397  and  passim;  Gfrorer  Gregor.  VII.,  Bd.  I.;  Hofler:  Die 
deutschen  Fdpste;  Will:  Die  Anfdnge  der  Restaur ation  der  Kirche 
im  elf  ten  Jahrh. ;  Giesebrecht  :  Gesch.  der  deutschen  Kaizerzeit,  vol. 
II.;  Hefele:   Conciliengesch.,  vol.  TV. 

I.  Life.  Peter  Damianus  or  Damiani  (1007-1072)/  a 
frieud  of  Hildebrand  and  zealous  promoter  of  the  moral  reform 
of  the  clergy,  was  a  native  of  Ravenna,  had  a  very  hard  youth, 
but  with  the  help  of  his  brother  Damianus  (whose  name  he 
adopted),^  he  was  enabled  to  study  at  Ravenna,  Faenza  and 
Parma.  He  acquired  honor  and  fortune  as  a  teacher  of  the 
liberal  arts  in  his  native  city.  In  his  thirtieth  year  he  suddenly 
left  the  world  and  became  a  hermit  at  Fonte  Avellano  near 
Gubbio  (Eugubium)  in  Umbria,  following  the  example  of  his 
countryman,  Romuald,  whose  life  he  described.^  He  soon 
reached  the  height  of  ascetic  holiness  and  became  abbot  and 
disciplinarian  of  the  hermits  and  monks  of  the  whole  surround- 
ing region.     Even  miracles  were  attributed  to  him. 

He  systematized  and  popularized  a  method  of  meritorious 
self-flagellation  in  connection  with  the  recital  of  the  Psalms  ; 
each  Psalm  was  accompanied  with  a  hundred  strokes  of  a  leathern 
thong  on  the  bare  back,  the  whole  Psalter  with  fifteen  thousand 
strokes.  This  penance  became  a  rage,  and  many  a  monk  flogged 
himself  to  death  to  the  music  of  the  Psalms  for  his  own  benefit, 
or  for  the  release  of  souls  in  purgatory.  The  greatest  expert 
was  Dominicus,  who  wore  an  iron  cuirass  around  his  bare  body 
(hence  called  Lorieatus),  and  so  accelerated  the  strokes  that  he 
absolved  without  a  break  twelve  Psalters ;  at  last  he  died  of 

^  There  are  several  distinguished  persons  of  that  name,  (a)  Damianus, 
brother  of  Cosmas;  they  were  physicians  in  Sicily  who  took  no  fees,  and  died 
as  "silverless"  martyrs  of  the  Diocletian  persecution  (303),  and  became  the 
patrons  of  physicians  and  druggists  throughout  the  middle  ages.  The  Greeks 
distinguish  three  pairs  of  these  brothers.  (6)  Damianus,  patriarch  of  Alexan- 
dria, d.  601,  who  leaned  to  Sabellianism  and  Monophysitism.  (c)  D.,  bishop  of 
Pavia,  who  drew  up  a  confession  of  faith  against  the  Monothelites,  A.  D.  679. 

2  As  Eusebius  called  himself  Pamphili  after  his  friend  and  patron  Pamphilus. 

*  See  above,  p.  366  siiq. 


?  182.    ST.  PETER  DAMIANI.  789 

exhaustion  (1063).^  Even  noble  women  ardently  practiced  "  hoe 
purgatorii  genus,"  as  .Damiani  calls  it.  He  defended  this  self- 
imposed  penance  against  the  opponents  as  a  voluntary  imitation 
of  the  passion  of  Christ  and  the  sufferings  of  martyrs,  but  he 
found  it  necessary  also  to  check  unnatural  excesses  among  his 
disciples,  and  ordered  that  no  one  should  be  forced  to  scourge 
himself,  and  that  forty  Psalms  with  four  thousand  strokes  at  a 
time  should  be  sufficient  as  a  rule. 

The  ascetic  practice  which  he  encouraged  by  word  and  ex- 
ample, had  far-reaching  consequences ;  it  became  a  part  of  tiie 
monastic  discipline  among  Dominicans  ^  and  Franciscans,  and  as- 
sumed gigantic  proportions  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries,  especially  during  the  reign  of  the  Black  Death  (1349), 
when  fraternities  of  Flagellants  or  Cross-bearers,  moved  by  a 
spirit  of  repentance,  preceded  by  crosses,  stripped  to  the  waist, 
with  faces  veiled,  made  pilgrimages  througli  Italy,  Germany 
and  England  and  scourged  themselves,  while  chanting  the 
penitential  psalms,  twice  a  day  for  thirty-three  days,  in  memory 
of  the  thirty-three  years  of  our  Lord's  life.' 

Damiani  became  the  leader  of  the  strict  monastic  party  which 
centred  at  Cluny  and  labored,  from  the  sacerdotal  and  theocratic 
point  of  view,  for  a  reformation  of  the  clergy  and  the  church 
at  a  time  of  their  deepest  degradation  and  corruption.  He 
compared  the  condition  of  his  age  to  that  of  Sodom  and  Gomor- 
rah ;  he  opposed  simony  and  the  concubinage  of  priests,  as  the 
two  chief  sources  of  evil.  He  advocated  a  law  which  pnnishcd 
simony  with  deposition,  and  which  prohil)ited  the  laity  from 
hearing  mass  said  by  married  priests.     Such  a  law  was  enacted 

*  See  Damiani's  account  in  Vita  Dominici  Loricati,  c.  10,  in  Migne,  I.  1017. 

'  St.  Dominic,  the  founder  of  the  order  of  the  Dominicans  (1170-1221),  is 
said  to  have  scourged  himself  every  night  three  times,  first  for  himself,  then 
for  his  contemporaries,  and  last  for  the  souls  in  purgatory. 

3  Boileau,  Historia  Flagellantium,  Paris,  1700;  Forstemann,  Die  christl.  Geias- 
lergeselhchaften,  Halle,  1828;  Cooper,  flagellation  and  the  Flagellants,  London, 
1870,  3d  ed.,  1877. 


790  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

by  the  Lateran  Council  of  1059.  He  also  condemned  in  the 
clergy  the  practice  of  bearing  arms,  although  even  Pope  Leo 
IX.,  in  1053,  led  an  array  against  the  pillaging  Normans.  He 
firmly  maintained  that  a  priest  should  not  draw  the  sword 
even  in  defense  of  the  faith,  but  contend  only  with  the  Word 
of  God  and  the  weapon  of  the  Spirit. 

A  man  of  such  talent,  piety  and  energy  could  not  remain 
hidden  in  the  desert.  He  was  drawn  to  Rome,  and  against 
his  will  chosen  bishop  of  Ostia  and  Cardinal  of  the  Roman 
church  by  Stephen  X.  in  1058.  He  narrowly  escaped  the  triple 
crown  in  1061.  He  was  the  spiritual  counsellor  and  censor  of 
the  Hildebrandian  popes  (Gregory  VI.,  Clement  II.,  Leo  IX., 
Victor  II.,  Stephen  X.,  Nicolas  II.,  Alexander  II.),  and  of  Hil- 
debrand  himself.  He  was  employed  on  important  missions  at 
Milan,  Florence,  Montecassino,  Cluny,  Mainz,  Frankfort.  He 
helped  to  put  down  the  papal  schism  of  Cadalous.'  He  had  the 
confidence  of  the  Emperor  Henry  III.  whom  he  highly  praised 
as  a  second  David,  became  confessor  of  the  widowed  Empress 
Agnes,  and  prevented  the  divorce  of  her  son  Henry  IV.  from 
his  wife  Bertha.  He  resigned  his  bishopric,  but  was  again 
called  out  from  his  retreat  by  Hildebrand ;  hence  he  called  him 
his  holy  Satan,  and  also  the  lord  of  the  pope.^  He  despised 
the  vanities  and  dignities  of  high  office.  He  preferred  his 
monastic  cell  in  the  Apennines,  where  he  could  conquer  his 
own  Avorld  within,  recite  the  Psalter,  scourge  himself,  and  for 
a  change  write  satires  and  epigrams,  and  make  wooden  spoons. 
"  What  would  the  bishops  of  old  have  done,"  he  said,  "  had 
they  to  endure  the  torments  which  now  attend  the  episcopate? 

1  Or  Cadalus,  bishop  of  Parma,  very  rich  and  guilty  of  simony. 
3  In  two  of  his  best  epigrams,  he  says  of  Hildebrand  (Migne,  II.  961,  967) : 
"  Vivere  vis  Ronue,  clara  depromito  voce: 

Plus  Domino  papx  guam  Domno  parco  papse. 

******** 

Papam  rite  colo,  sed  te  prostratus  adoro: 

Tu  fads  hunc  Dondnum;  te  facit  iste  Deum." 


§  182.    ST.  PETER  DAMIANI.  791 

To  ride  forth  constantly  accompanied  by  troops  of  soldiers  with 
swords  and  lances,  to  be  girt  about  Avith  armed  men,  like  a 
heathen  general !  Every  day  royal  banquets,  every  day  pa- 
rade !  The  table  loaded  with  delicacies  for  voluptuous  guests  ; 
while  the  poor  pine  away  with  famine  !  " 

His  last  work  was  to  heal  a  schism  in  the  church  of  his 
native  city.  On  his  return  he  died  of  fever  at  Faenza,  Feb.  23, 
1072,  one  year  before  Hildebrand  ascended  the  papal  chair  to 
carry  out  the  reforms  for  which  Damiani  had  prepared  the  way 
with  narrow,  but  honest,  earnest  and  unselfish  devotion. 

II.  The  Works  of  Damiani  consist  of  Epistles,  Sermons, 
Lives  of  Saints,  ascetic  tracts,  and  Poems.  They  are  a  mirror 
of  the  chui'ch  of  his  age. 

1.  The  Epistles  are  divided  into  eight  books.     They  are  ad- 
dressed   (a)    to   contemporary    Roman    Bishops  (Gregory  VI., 
Clement  II.,  Leo  IX.,  A'ictor  II.,  Nicolas  11. ,  Alexander  II., 
and  the  Anti-pope  Cadalous  or  Honorius  II.) ;  (b)  to  the  Car- 
dinal Bishops,  and  to   Cardinal  Hildebrand  in  particular ;  (c) 
to  Patriarchs  and  to  the  Archbishops  of  Ravenna  and  Cologne  ; 
(d)  to  various    Bishops ;  (e)   to    Archpresbyters,    Archdeacons, 
Presbyters  and  other  clergy.     They  give  a  graphic  picture  of 
the  corruptions  of  the  church  in  his  times,  and  are  full  of  zeal 
for  a  moral  reform.     He  subscribes  himself  "  Petrus  pcccator 
monachus"      The  letters  to  the  anti-pope  Cadalous  show  his 
power  of  sarcasm ;  he  tells  him  that  his  very  name  from  cado, 
to  fall,  and  /l«oc,  people,  was  ominous,  that  he  deserved  a  triple 
deposition,  that  his  new  crime  was  adultery  and  simony  of  the 
worst   sort,   that   he   had   sold   his   own   church  (Parma)  and 
bought   another,  that  the  church  was    desecrated    to  the  very 
top  by  such  adulteries.     He  prophesied  his  death  within  one 
year,  but  Cadalous  outlived  it,  and  Damiani  defendal  his  pro- 
phecy as  applying  to  moral  death. 

2.  Sermons,  seventy-four  in  number.*     They  are  short  and 
»  Migne,  I.  506-924. 


792  FOURTH  PERIOD.    A.  D.  590-1049. 

treat  of  church  festivals,  apostles,  the  Virgm  Mary,  martyrs, 
saiuts  relics  and  enjoin  a  churchly  and  ascetic  piety. 

3.  Lives  of  Saints,  of  the  Benedictine  order,  namely,  Odilo 
of  Cluny,  Romuald,  Rodulphus,  and  Dominicus  Loricatus  (the 
hero  of  self-flagellation),  whose  examples  are  held  up  for  imi- 
tation.' 

4.  Dogmatic  Discussions,  i)e  i^z'cZe  C'a^AoZ/ca  ;  Contra  Judceos; 
Dialogus  inter  Judceumet  Christianum ;  De  Divina  Omnipotentla ; 
De  Processione  Spiritus  Sancti  (against  the  Greeks),  etc.^ 

5.  Polemic  and  ascetic  treatises.  The  most  important  is  the 
Liber  GomorrJiianus  {1051),  n  fearless  exposure  of  clerical  immo- 
rality which  appeared  to  him  as  bad  as  the  lewdness  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  (hence  the  title).^  It  is  addressed  to  Pope  Leo 
IX.  and  calls  on  him  to  exercise  his  authority  in  removing 
the  scandals.  The  Liber  Gratissimus,  addressed  to  Henry, 
archbishop  of  Ravenna,  is  directed  against  simony.*  He  wrote 
also  tracts  on  the  contempt  of  the  world,  on  monastic  perfec- 
tion, on  the  life  of  hermits,  on  sacerdotal  celibacy,  against  in- 
temperance, against  avarice,  etc.^ 

6.  On  Miracles  and  Apparitions.® 

7.  On  the  Pictures  of  the  chief  Apostles,  especially  Peter 
and  Paul.^ 

8.  Exposition  of  the  Canon  of  the  Mass,  and  other  liturgi- 
cal topics.® 

9.  Exegetical  Fragments  on  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.^ 

10.  Poems,  satires,  epigrams  and  Prayers.^"  His  best  hymn 
is  on  the  glory  of  Paradise,  based  on  poetic  prose  of  St.  Augus- 
tin  :  "  Ad  perennis  vitce  fontem  mens  sativit  arida."  ^^ 

1  Migne,  925-1024.  ^  n   20  sqq.  and  595  sqq.      ^  jj  159-190. 

*  II.  99  sqq.  5  II,  191  sqq,  6  n.  571  gqq 

'  II.  590  sqq.  8  n   979  ^^^  9  n,  392  sqq.  and  985  sqq. 

i»  II.  918  sqq.  11  II.  862.  See  above,  p.  431  sq. 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


Acta   Sanctorum   (Bolland.)   often 

quoted  in  Lit. 
Adam  of  Bremen,  110 ;  life  and  writ- 
ings, 785  sqq. 
Adan  or  call  to  prayer,  193 
Adeibert,  91 
Adoptionism   and  Adoptionist  Contro- 

versj',  .511  sqq. 
Aelfric,  567,  (520 
Agatho,  Pope,  495. 
Agobard  of  Lyons,  against  ordeals,  347  ; 

against  image-worship,  471  sqq. 
Aidan, 38 
Alcuin,  against  Adoptionism,  512,  516  ; 

at  the  head  of  Charlemagne's  palace 

school,  615 ;  his  life  and  writings,  684 

sqq. 
Alexandria,  library  of,  586 
Alfonso  the  Wise,  350 
Alfred,  King  of  England,  394;  618  sqq. 
Al-Kaaba,  157  sq. 
All  Saints,  festival  of,  445  sq. 
All  Souls,  festival  of,  446 
Allegorical  Interpretation,  614  sq. 
Amalarius  of  Metz,  life  and  writings, 

701  sqq. 
Anastasius,   Bibliothecarius,    life    and 

writings,  774  sqq. 
Anathema,  179 
Andrew  of  Crete,  409 
Anglo-Saxons,  conversion  of,  27  sqq. 
Ansgar,  112  sqq. 
Antichrist  in  Rome,  291 
Areopagite,  Dionysius  the,  589  sqq. 
Arianism,  among  the  Goths  and  other 

German  tribes,  77  sqq. 
Armagh,  Book  of,  57 
Arnulf  of  Orleans,  290,  779 


Arnulf  of  Rheims,  290,  779,  782 
Athingians,  579 

Augustiu   of    Canterbury,  31,  33,  37 
Augustiuianism  and  Semi-Augustinian- 

ism,  523  sqq. 
Avitus,  against  ordeals,  347 
Aymardus,  368 

Bach,  534 

Bahr,  583  sq.  and  often  in  'Lit.  last  eh. 

Balmez,  327 

Baroniu.s,  292,  779,  and  passim 

Bartsch,  417 

Baur,  551,  565,  and  referred  to  in  Lit. 
and  notes 

Beatus,  515. 

Bede,  40  sqq. ;  his  hymns,  423 ;  his  schol- 
arship, 610, 612 ;  his  life  and  writings, 
669  sqq. 

Bell  (church),  440  sq. 

Benedict  VIII. , 296  sq 

Benedict  IX.,  297  sq. 

Bertram,  see  Ratramnus 

Berengar,  554  sqq. ;  his  theory  on  the 
Lord's  Su])per,  564  sqq. 

Benedict  of  Aniane,  364 

Biblical  Studies,  613  sq. 

Bickell,  402 

Black  Stone,  158. 

Boethius,  605  sqq. 

Bogomilcs,  579  sq. 

Boniface  or  "Winfrid,  92  sqq.,  sermon  of, 
96  sq.,  pupils  of,  100  sqq. 

Boniface  III.,  230 

Boniface  IV.,  230 

Bonizo  (Bonitho),  299 

Brace.Ch.  L.,  326,  34S  ;  on  torture,  354 

Britons,  conversion  of,  22  sqq. 

793 


794 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


Bruno,  Count,  first  abbot  of  Cluny,  368 
Bruno,  Bishop  of  Toul,369,  see  Leo  IX 
Bulgarians,  conversion  of,  134  sq. 

CiEDMON,  41 

Cserularius,  304,  318  sqq. 

Canonical  life,  332 

Capitula  Carisiacensia,  535 

Capitularies  of  Charlemagne,  390  sqq. 

Caroline  Books,  465  sq. 

Cassiodorus,  605,  612 ;  life  and  writings, 
653  sqq. 

Catenae,  589 

Celibacy,  332 

Charity,  Christian,  355  sqq.  ;  Gregory 
upon,  358  sqq.    See  Hospitals 

Charlemagne,  103  sqq. ;  character  and 
aim  of,  238  sq. ;  his  reign,  239  sq. ; 
appearance  and  habits,  240  sq. ;  zeal 
for  education,  241  sq. ;  his  vices,  242 
sq. ;  his  death  and  burial,  243  sq. ;  his 
personal  character,  245  sq. ;  canoni- 
zation of,  249  ;  monogram  of,  249  ;  as 
legislator,  390  sqq. ;  on  image  wor- 
ship, 467  sq. ;  the  Carolingian  age  of 
learning,  615  sqq. 

Charles  the  Bald,  promotes  learning  in 
France,  618 

Childeric  III.,  233  sqq. 

Christlieb,  on  Scotus  Erigena,  761,  771, 
773. 

Church  and  State,  386  sqq. 

Claudius  of  Turin,  472  sqq. 

Clemens,  91 

Clerical  Morals,  330  sqq. 

Clovis  and  the  Franks,  conversion  of, 
80  sqq. 

Cluny,  convent  of,  367  sqq ;  786,  789, 
791. 

Columba,  65  sqq. 

Columbanus  and  the  Irish  missionaries, 
84  sqq.,  90 

Concilium  Quinisextum,  507  sqq. 

Coiistans,  497 

Constantine  Pogonatus,  495 

Constantine  V.,  457 

Constantine-Sylvanus,  575 

Constantinople,  fall  of,  324;  literary 
centre  of  the  Eastern  Church,  586 


Constantinople,  oecumenical  council  of, 
499.     See  Council. 

Convents,  363  sqq.;  of  Cluny,  367  sqq. 

Cosmas  of  Jerusalem,  406 

Council,  the  sixth  oecumenical,  499 
sqq. ;  Quinisextum,  507  sqq. ;  seventh 
oecumenical,  459  sqq.  National  and 
Provincial  Councils  often  referred  to 

Culdees,  72  sqq. 

Cuthbert,  64 

Cyrillus  and  Methodius,  128  sqq. 

CyxUIa  of  Spain,  hymn  of,  432 

Damiani,  Life  of  Eomuald,  367 ;  hymns 
of,  431  sq. ;  life  and  writings,  787  sqq. 

Daniel,  416 

Dante,  on  Mohammed,  196 ;  on  Con- 
stantine, and  Church  and  State,  236 ; 
on  Dionysius,  595  :  on  the  Celestial 
Hierarchy,  598 ;  on  Boethius,  606 

Denmark,  Christianization  of,  110  sqq. 

Dervishes,  194 

Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  589  sqq. 

Dionysian  Legends,  600  sqq. 

Discipline,  371 

Dollinger,  on  Johanna  Papessa,  266 ; 

on  Honorius,  500,  503  ;  on  Sylvester 

II.,  780 
Druthmar,  life  and  writings,  739  sq. 
Diimmler,  288,  and  often  referred  to  in 

Lit.  last  ch. 
Dunstan,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  370 
Dyotheletism,  492  sq. 

Eastern  and  Western  Churches  and 

their  separation,  304  sqq. 
Ebert,   418,   584,   608,   and  passim  in 

last  ch. 
Eginhard  or  Einhard,  on  Charlemagne, 

237  ;  245  sqq. ;  326  ;  life  and  writings, 

704  sqq. 
Eigil,  life  and  writings,  699  sqq. 
Ekthesis,  496 
Elias,  Greek  hymnist,  412 
Elipandus,  514 
Engelhardt,  on  the  Pseudo-Dionysian 

writings,  590 
English  legislation  on  religion,  392  sqq. 
English  culture,  618  sqq. 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


795 


Ethelbert,  32  sq. 
Etlierius,  515 

Eucharistic  controversies,  543  sqq. 
Eucherius  of  Lyons,  on  biblical  inter- 
pretation, 614 
Euchites,  578  sqq. 

Eustathius  of  Tliessalonica,  648  sqq. 
Euthymius  Zigabenus.     See  Zigabenus 
Excommunication,  377  sqq. 

Felix  of  Urgel,  514 

Ferrara-Florence,  council  of,  323 

Feuds,  339  sqq. 

Filioque  controversy,  476  sqq. 

Flagellation.  Flagellants,  788 

Floras    Magister,   522,   532;    life  and 

writings,  733  sqq. 
Floss,  288,  761,  772 
Fortunatus,  bis  hymns,  422 
Frankfort,  synod  of,  468 
Frederick  II.,  258 

Freeman,  on  Alfred  the  Great,  618,  620 
Fridold  or  Fridolin,  89 
Fulbert  of  Chartres,   hymns  of,  433  ; 

life  and  writings,  782  sq. 

GAM.S,  514 

Gall,  St.,  88. sq. 

Gentilly,  synod  of,  466 

Gerbert,  292,  552,  777  sqq.  See  Sylves- 
ter II. 

Germanic  or  Teutonic  nations,  9 

German  Confederation,  262 

German  Empire,  259  sqq. ;  decline  and 
f:\ll  of,  260  sqq. ;  the  new,  262  sq. 

Germanus,  409 

Gfrorer,  203,  778,  781,  and  passim 

Gibbon,  321 ;  on  Justinian  II.,  508;  on 
Paulicians,  573  ;  on  Byzantine  learn- 
ing, 587  ;  on  Boethius,  607  sq. 

Giesebrecht,  on  Charlemagne,  248,  391  ; 
on  Henry  II.  and  Kunigunde,  297 
(note);  on  Gerbert,  778;  Rodulfus 
786,  and  passim 

Gieseler,  317,  and  very  often  in  Lit  and 
foot  notes 

Glaber,  sff  Rodulfus 

Gottschalk  and  the  predestinarian  con- 
troversy, 522  sqq.,  530  sqq. 


Godescalcus,  hvmns  of,  433 

Godwin,  on  Charlemagne,  248 

Goldast,  447 

Gratry,  501 

Greek  church,  in  relation  to  the  Latin, 
306  sqq. 

Greek  nationality,  11 

Greek  learning  in  the  West,  608  sqq. 

Gregory  and  Augustin,  Anglo-Saxon 
mission  of,  30  sqq. 

Gregory  I.,  (Pope)  the  Great,  211  sqq.; 
estimates  of,  216;  the  Universal  Epis- 
copate, 218  sqq. ;  writings  of,  225  sqq. ; 
representative  of  mediceval  charity, 
358, 360;  on  the  mass  and  purgatory, 
397 ;  as  preacher,  400 ;  his  hymns,  423 ; 
on  predestination,  524 ;  patron  of 
learning,  604  sq. 

Gregory  II.,  231 

Gregory  III.,  231 

Gregory  V.,  292,  294  sq. 

Gregory  VI.,  299 

Gregory  VII.     See  Hildebrand 

Gregory  IX.,  258 

Gregory  of  Tours,  326,  601 ;  life  and 
writings,  658  sqq. 

Gregory  of  Utrecht,  101 

Gualbert,  St.  John,  369 

Guizot,  on  Charlemagne,  248;  on  civili- 
zation, 326,  and  passim 

Hadrian  I.,  Pope.,  249,  466 

Hadrian  11.,  277 

Hahn  on  heresies,  ."^SO  sq. 

Hakon  the  Good,  121  sq 

Hallam  on  Charlemagne,  247 ;  on  the 

Dark  Ages,  602 
Hauck,  778.  781 
Haymo,    of     Halberstadt,    life     and 

writings,  728  sq. 
Hefele,  305,  317,  326,  .341,  353,  448,  464, 

466,  468,  501 ;  on  tlie  heresy  of  Hono- 

rius,  ,506 ;   and  oft€n  quoted  in  lit. 

and  foot  notes 
Heliand,  105 
Henry  II.,  296  sq. 
Henry  III.  and  the  synod  of  Sntri,  299 

sq. 
Henry  IV.  and  firegory  VII.,  257  sq. 


796 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


Heretical  sects,  573 

Hergenrother,  305,  317,  321,  501;  on 
the  heresy  of  Honorius,  507 

Hildebrand,  believer  in  ordeals,  343 ; 
relation  to  the  reform  party  in  Cluny, 
368  sq. ;  his  relation  to  Berengar  and 
the  real  presence,  556,  558,  561  sq. ; 
relation  to  Damiani,  788,  790 ;  be- 
comes pope,  791 

Hincmar  of  Rheims,  controversy  with 
Pope  Nicolas,  276  sq. ;  with  Gott- 
schalk,  528,  534  sq. ;  on  the  real 
presence,  552  ;  his  life  and  writings, 
780  sqq. 

Hirsau,  congregation  of,  369 

Hohenstaufen,  house  of,  257  sq. 

Holy  Spirit,  procession  of,  307  sqq. 

Homiliaria,  401. 

Honorius  I.,  495;  heresy  of,  500  sq. 

Hospitals,  356 ;  founders  of,  356,  357  ; 
management  and  support,  360 

Hugo  Capet,  290,  779,  782 

Hugo  of  Cluny,  368 

Hymns  and  hymnists  of  the  Greek 
church,  402  sqq. 

Hymns  and  hymnists  of  the  Latin 
church,  420  sqq. 

Iconoclastic  theory,  451.  See  Image- 
worsliip 

Iconoclastic  war,  454  sqq. 

Image-worship,  controversy  on,  447 
sqq. ;  council  of  Trent  on,  453 ;  restora- 
tion of,  459  ;  final  triumph  of,  464  sqq. 

Indulgences,  384 

Innocent  III.,  258 

Innocent  IV.,  259;  and  the  Inquisition, 
351  ;  visited  Cluny,  369 

Inquisition,  351  sqq. 

Interdict,  379 

Ireland,  conversion  of,  43 sqq.;  subj.c- 
tion  to  English  and  Roman  rule,  5S 
sqq. 

Irene,  Empress,  459  sqq. 

Irish  bull-papal,  59  sq. 

Irish  church  after  St.  Patrick,  52  sq. 

Isidor  of  Seville,  hymn  of,  432  ;  schol- 
arship, 610,  612 ;  life  and  writings, 
662  sqq. 


Isidorian  Decretals.    See  Pseudo-Isidor 
Islam.     See  Mohammedanism. 

Jacobi,  402 

Joannes,  Geometra,  412 

John  VIII.,  282 

John  X.,  285 

John  XII.,  287 

John  XV.,  292 

John  of  Damascus,  405  sq. ;  447,  588  ; 

life  and  writings,  626  sqq. 
John  Scotus  Erigena.      See  Scotus  Eri- 

gena 
Johanna  Papessa,  myth  of,  265  sq. 
Jonas  of  Orleans,  474 ;  life  and  writings, 

711  sqq. 
Joseph,  called  Hymnographus,  411 
Joseph  of  the  Studium,  411  sqq 
Judgment  of  God,  341  sqq 
Justinian  code,  388 
Justinian  II.,  507  sq. 

Kakbeas,  576 

Kasias,  412 

Kayser,  418 

Kehrein,  416,  417 

Keltic  church,  extinction  of,  76  sqq. 

Keltic  race,  7 

Kentigern,  St.,  63  sq. 

Kilian  or  Kyllina,  89 

Koch,  418 

Koran  and  the  Bible,  174  sqq. 

Kunigunde,  Empress,  297 

Lanfranc,  556,  567  sqq. 
Lappenberg,  785,  787 
Latin  Empire  in  the  East,  320  sq. 
Lea,  341,  348,376;  on  the  inquisition, 

252 
Learning,  position    of    the    medieval 

church  towards,  604 
Lecky,  326,  330 ;  on  torture,  353  sqq. ;  on 

Christian  charity,  361  (note  1),  362  sq. ; 

on  influence  of  monks,  364  (note) 
Legislation,  386  sqq. ;  Roman  law,  388 

sqq. ;    Carolingian     legislation,    390 

sqq. ;  English  legislation,  392  sqq. 
Leo  Allatius,  305 
Leo  III.,  455 
Leo  IV.,  459 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


>'J7 


Leo  VIII,  290 

Leo  IX.,  319,  369,  790 

Leo  the  Philosopher,  317  sq. 

Libraries  in  the  Middle  Ages,  603  sq., 
670,  695,  719,  733,  737 

Liudger,  life  and  writings,  691  .sqq. 

Llorente,  on  the  inquisition,  352 

Lord's  Supper,   controversies  on,  643 
sqq. 

Lupus.    See  Servatus  Lupus 

Luther,  on  Mohammed,  197 ;  on  predes- 
tination, 524 

Lyons,  council  of^  322 

Magyars,  conversion  of,  135 

Maimbourg,  305, 448 

Manichoeans.     See  Xew  Manichsans 
Mansi,  Concilia,  often  referred  to  in  lit. 

and  foot  notes 
Maronites,  511 
Majolus,  3G8 
Marozia,  284,  286 
Martin  I.,  Pope,  497 
Mars,  397  sqq. 
Mauguin,  522 
Maropus,  412 
Ma.ximus,  the  confessor,  409,  496,  498, 

588;  life  and  writings,  622  sqq. 
Mecca,  156  sq. 
MediiEval   Christianity,   literature  on, 

I  sqq. ;  limits  and  general  character  of, 
5  sqq. ;  nations  of,  7  sqq. ;  genius  of, 

II  sqq. ;  periods  of,  14 
Mctaphrastes.    See  Simeon  Met. 
Methodius,  412 
Methrophanes,  412 

Michael,  festival  of,  446 

Migne,  his  "  Cursus  Patrolog.,"  quoted 
p.  3,  and  very  often,  especially  in  the 
last  two  chapters 

Migetius,  514,  (note  3) 

Milman,  on  Mohammed,  198 ;  on 
Charlemagne,  247 ;  on  Uonian  law, 
389  sq 

Missions,  medifeval,  charncterof,  17  sqq. 

Mohammed,  his  life,  160  sqq.;  his  char- 
acter, 168  sqq. 

Mohammedanism,  literature  on,  143 
sqq.;  its  home  and  antecedents,  155 
sqq. ;  conquests  of,  172 ;  ethics  of,  182 ; 


God  in,  184  sq. ;  Christ  in,  185  sq. ; 

Polygamy,    18.S   sq. ;    Slavery,    190; 

Worshij),  190 sqq. ;  Cliristiau  polemics 

against,  196  sqq.    See  Koran 
Monasticism,  363  sqq. 
Mone,  416 
Monks,  dilference  between  Ka-steni  and 

AVe-stern,  363 
Monetheletic  controversy,  489  sqq. 
Morals  and  Religion,  326  sqq. 
Morel,  417 

,Mormonism,  note  on,  201  sq. 
Muir,  on  Mohammed,  190  sqq. 

Napoleon,  Empire  of,  261  sq. ;  reply 

to  invitatiiin  t<>  visit  Cluny,  370 
Neale,  John  Mason,  417,  419 
Neander,  326  ;  and  very  often  referred 

to  in  lit.  and  notes 
Newman,  416,  418 
Neo-Platonism,  590, 596 
New  Manichaeans,  673,  580  sqq. 
Nicica,  second  council  of,  459  .<iqq. 
Nicetas  Acominatos,  life  and  writings, 

652  sq. 
Nicolas  I.,  Pope,  273  sqq. ;   Xic.  and 

Phntius,  275  ;  and  Lothair,  275;  and 

Ilincmar,  276 
Nilus  Ros-sanensis,  365,  366 
Nilus  Xanthopolus,  412 
Ninian,  62  sq. 

Nomocanon  of  Photius,  640 
Norway  and  Iceland,  CItristianizatioo 

of,  120  sqq. 
Notker,  hymns  of,  429  sqq. 

OcTAViAN.    See  .lohn  XII. 

Odilo  of  Cluny,  368 

Odo  of  Cluny,  368 ;  hymns  of,  432 

Oecumeniu.">,  5S9  ;  life  and  writings,  043 

Olleris,  on  Gerbert,  777,  77ti 

Ordeal,  341  sqq. 

Organ,  439 

Orestes,  Greek  hvmnist,  413 

Olfrid,  106 

Otho  the  Great,  257,  288 

Otho  II..  289,  290 

Otho  III.,  294  sq.,  778,  780 

Ozanam,  417 


798 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


Papacy,  general  literature  on  the,  203 
sqq. ;  from  Gregory  I.  to  Gregory  II., 
23U;  from  Gregory  11.  to  Zacharias, 
231 ;  under  the  new  monarchy  of  the 
Franks,  232  sqq. ;  relation  to  the  Em- 
pire from  tlie  death  of  Charlemagne 
to  Nicolas  I.,  264  sq. ;  degradation 
of,  279  sqq.;  protest  against  corrup- 
tion, 290  sqq. ;  from  Otho  I.  to  Henry 
III.,  293  sqq.    See  Popes 

Paschasius  Iladbertus,  on  the  euchar- 
ist,  543,  546  sq. ;  on  the  birth  of 
Christ,  553  ;  his  life  and  writings,  741 
sqq. 

Patriarch  and  the  Pope,  312  sqq. 

Patrick,  St.,  45  sqq. ;  note  on,  48  sqq. : 
hymn  of,  50  sq. 

Paulicians,  574  sqq. 

Paulas  Diaconus,  401  ;  hymns  of,  432; 
life  and  writings,  677  sqq. 

Pelagianism  and  Semi-Pelagianism,  523 
sqq. 

Penance,  381  sqq. 

Penitential  Books,  .371  sqq. 

Pennachi,  501 

Pepin,  234  sqq. 

P(Ttz,  Monumenta  German.  Often 
quoted  in  Lit. 

Peter  Damiani.    See  Damiani 

Peter  the  Venerable,  369 

Photius,  304,  312  sqq.;  588,  594;  life 
and  writings,  636  sqq. 

Pichk-r,  304 

Pitra.  402,  and  passim 

Platonisni,  Christian,  590  sqq.  See 
Dionysius  the  Areopagite 

Popes,  chronological  table  of,  205  sqq. 

Pontius,  369 

Predestination,  controversy  on,  530  sqq. 

Prideaux,  on  Mohammed,  198 

Procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  307  sqq., 
476  sqq. 

Prudentius  of  Troyes,  522,  530,  537,  542 

Psellus,  578,  589;  life  and  writings,  646 

Pseudo-Isidor  and  Pseudo-Isidorian 
Decretals,  contents  of,  268  sq.;  sa- 
cerdotal system  of,  269 sq.;  aim  of, 
270;  genuineness,  270;  authorship, 
271 ;  significance,  272  sq. 


QUADEIVIUM,  611 

Quinisextum  Concilium,  507  sqq. 

Eabanus  Maurus,  hymns  of,  424  sqq. ; 
controversy  with  Gottschalk  on  pre- 
destination, 522, 525  sqq.,  531,  534 ;  on 
biblical  interpretation,  614  sq. ;  life 
and  writings,  713  sqq. 

Radbert.    See  Paschasius  Radbertus^ 

Rambacli,  416 

Ratherius  of  Verona,  life  and  writings, 
776  sq. 

Ratramnus,  304  ;  on  predestination,  532 ; 
on  the  Lord's  Supper,  549  sqq. ;  on 
the  supernatui'al  birth  of  Christ,  553; 
life  and  writings,  746  sqq. 

Remigius  of  Lyons,  530,  532 

Renter,  on  Berengar,  523,  554;  on  Ger- 
bert,  780 ;  on  Fulbert,  783,  &nA passim. 

Richer,  778,  782 

Rimbert,  115 

Robert  King  of  France,  hymns  of,  427 
sqq. 

Rodulfus  Glaber,  life  and  writings,  785 
sq. 

Roman  Emperors,  chronological  table 
of,  265  sqq 

Roman  Empire,  founding  of,  250  sqq. ; 
coronation  of  Charles,  251  sq. ;  sig- 
nificance of  the  act,  252  sq. ;  relatiua 
of  pope  and  emperor,  253  sqq. 

Roman  law,  388  sqq. 

Romanic  or  Latin  nations,  7 

Romanus,  410 

Romuald,  366,  367 

Rossauo,  365 

Russia,  Christianization  of,  138  sqq. 

Sabiantts,  230 

Saints,  table  of,   329;  worship  of,  442 

sqq. 
Saxon  &  British  clergy,  antagonism  of, 

35  sq. 
Saxons,  conversion  of,  102  sq. 
Scandinavia,  conversion  of,  106  sqq. 
Scandinavian  heathenism,  107  sq. 
School  of  the  Palace,  617 
Schrockh,  often  referred  to  in  lit.  and 

foot  notes 
Scotland,  conversion  of,  61  sq. 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX. 


799 


Scotus  Erigena,  doctrine  of  predestina- 
tion, 53!)  sqq. ;  on  tbo  Lord's  Supper, 
551;  on  Dionysius  Areopagita,  595; 
his  Greek  scholarship,  611 ;  his  life 
and  writings,  761  sqq. 

Semi-Augustinianism  and  Semi-Pelag- 
ianism,  537  sq. 

Sergius  of  Constantinople,  408,  495 

Sergius  III.,  Pope,  285 

Sergius,  the  Paulician,  575 

Sermon,  399  sqq. 

Servatus  Lupus,  530,  532;  life  and  writ- 
ings, 735  sqq. 

Seven  Sacraments,  436  sqq, 

Simeon  Metaphrastes,  589,  642  sq. 

Slavery,  334  sqq. 

Slavonic  or  Slavic  races,  10 

Slavs,  Christianization  of  124  sq. 

Smaragdus.  life  and  writings,  709  sqq. 

Sophronius,  495  sq. 

Spanheim,  448 

Stephen  III.,  234 

Stephen  the  Sabaite.  415 

Strabo,  Walahfrid.     See  Walahfrid.  — 

Sturm,  Abbot  of  Fulda,  101  sq. 

Sudendorf,  on  Berenger,  544,  561  sqq, 

Sui.ias,  589 

Sunday  of  Orthodoxy,  465 

Sura  of  Praise  and  Prayer,  182  sq. 

Sutri,  Synod  of,  299 

Sweden,  Christianization  of,  118  sqq 

Sylvester  (or  Silvester)  II.,  292,  295 
sq. ;  life  and  writings,  777  sqq, 

Sylvester  III.,  Anti-pope,  298, 

Tarasius,  412 

Tetragamy,  317 

Theoctistus  of  the  Studium,  411 

Theodora,  464 

Theodore  of  Canterbury,  40 ;  his  Peni- 
tential Book,  373  sqq. ;  introduces 
Greek  learning  in  England,  611 

Theodore  of  the  Studium,  464 

Theodulph  of  Orleans,  promotes  popu- 
lar education,  616 ;  life  and  writings, 
695  sqq. 

Thcophanes,  407 

Theophylact,  643  sq. 

Theophylact,  Pope.    See  Benedict  IX. 


Thitmar  of  Merseburg,  297 

Thomas    Aquiua.s,    on    transubstanti- 

ation,  571;  on  Dionysius  the  Areo- 

pagitc,  595 
Thomasius,  416 
Tlioudracians,  579 
Torquemada,  352 
Torture,  348  sqq. 

Transubstantiation,  564,  567,  570  sqq. 
Trench,  417  ;  on  Berenyar,  554,  note 
Trivium,  611 
Truce  of  God.  .340  sq, 
'Trullan  Council,  507 
Trygveson.  122 
Tusculau  Popes,  297 
Type,  .97 

Uhlhorn,  quoted,  361 
Ussher,  522 

Valence,  synod  of,  532 
Vallombrosa,  congregation  of,  369 
Vetault,  on  Charlemagne,  248 
\'ladimir,  140  sq. 
V'ogel,  on  Ratherius  of  Verona,  776  ;  on 

Fulbert,  782  ;  on  Damiani,  787 
Voltaire,  on  Mohammed,  198 

Wackernagel,  417 

Walahfrid    Strabo,  life  and   writings, 

729  sqq. 
Walch,  44S.  464,  466.  521.  578 
Wattenbach,  204, 785,  787,  quoted  in  Lit 
Wasserschleben,  371,  373 
Waczo,  582 

Weizsackcr,  Jul.,  522,  538 
Wends,  Christian  mission  among,  126 nq, 
Westcott,  on  the  Diouysian  writings, 590 
Widukind,  103 
Wilfrid,  39  sq. 
Winfrid.     Sec  Boniface 
William    of     Aquitania,    founder    of 

Cluny,  368 
Willebrord,  90 
Willibald,  St.,  100 

XlMEXES,  353 

Zacharias,  Pope,  232  sq. 
Zigabenus,  (or  Zigadenus)  EathTmios. 
589,  647  sq. 


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